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From Histories of Life: Searching for Order
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Haeckel, Evolution of Man
In many variants of early evolutionary thinking, evolution meant progress toward some goal. In this diagram, German biologist Ernst Haeckel represented man as the pinnacle of creation. In Haeckel’s natural order, evolution drove animal development from lower to higher forms and eventually to the perfection of “Man.” This view was at odds with Darwin’s theory of natural selection, which did not suggest any purposeful development.
Ernst Haeckel (1834–1919). Evolution of Man.... Vol. 2. New York: Appleton, [1874] 1879.
