Eugenio Vittorio Rignano (31 May 1870 in
Livorno – 9 February 1930 in
Milan) was a Jewish Italian
philosopher.[1]
Biography
He was born in Livorno to Giacomo Rignano and Fortunata Tedesco, into a
Jewish family.[2] Rignano edited the journal Rivista di scienza, later known as Scientia(it). His book The Psychology of Reasoning (1923) influenced the social anthropologist
Edward Evans-Pritchard.[3] His book Man Not a Machine (1926) was replied to by
Joseph Needham's Man A Machine (1927).[4] In 1897 he married
Costanza "Nina" Sullam, also from a Jewish family.
Rignano took interest in
biology and wrote a book that argued for the
inheritance of acquired characteristics.[5] He advanced a moderated
Lamarckian hypothesis of inheritance known as "centro-epigenesis".[6][7] His views were controversial and not accepted by most in the
scientific community.[8] His book The Nature of Life (1930) was described in a review as presenting a "militant, at times almost an evangelical exposition and defense of an energetic vitalism."[9] However, historian
Peter J. Bowler has written that Rignano rejected both
materialism and
vitalism and adopted a similar position to what was known as
emergent evolution.[10]Li Dazhao, one of the founders of the
China Communist Party, was an avid reader of Rignano's works.[11]
Rignano's views on acquired characteristics and organic memory are discussed in detail by historian
Laura Otis and psychologist
Daniel Schacter.[12][13]
Works
Per una riforma socialista del diritto successorio, 1920
Di un socialismo in accordo colla dottrina economica liberale, Torino,
Fratelli Bocca, 1901.
(in German)Über die Vererbung erworbener Eigenschaften, Leipzig, Verlag von Wilhelm Engelmann, 1905.
Sulla trasmissibilità dei caratteri acquisiti. Ipotesi d'una centro-epigenesi, Bologna, Zanichelli, 1907.
L'adattamento funzionale e la teleologia psico-fisica del Pauly, Bologna: Zanichelli, 1907.
(in French)La valeur synthétique du transformisme, Paris, Editions de la Revue du Mois, 1907.
Che cos'è la coscienza?, Bologna, Zanichelli, 1907.
(in French)Le matérialisme historique, Bologna, Zanichelli, 1908.
(in French)Le psychisme des organismes inférieurs: (à propos de la théorie de Jennings), Estratto da: «Scientia», anno II, volume 3, Bologna, Zanichelli, 1908.
(in French)La mémoire biologique en énergétique, Bologna, Zanichelli, 1909.
Il fenomeno religioso, Bologna, Zanichelli, 1910.
Il socialismo, Bologna, Zanichelli, 1910.
Dell'attenzione. Parte 1: contrasto affettivo e unità di coscienza , Bologna, Zanichelli, 1911.
Dell'origine e natura mnemonica delle tendenze affettive, Bologna, Zanichelli, 1911.
Per accrescere diffusione ed efficacia alle università popolari, Milano, La compositrice, 1911.
La vera funzione delle università popolari, Roma, Nuova Antologia, 1911.
Dell'attenzione. Parte 2: vividità e connessione, Bologna, Zanichelli, 1912.
(in French)Le rôle des théoriciens dans les sciences biologiques et sociologiques, Bologna, Zanichelli, 1912.
L'evoluzione del ragionamento, Bologna, Zanichelli, 1913.
Il nuovo programma dell'Un. pop. milanese: primo anno d'esperimento, Como, Premiata Tipografia Cooperativa comense Aristide Bari, 1913.
Le forme superiori del ragionamento, Bologna, Zanichelli, 1915.
The Social Significance of the Inheritance Tax. Translated by William John Schultz, New York: A.A. Knopf, 1924. Introduction by
Edwin R. A. Seligman. English ed. (1925) as The Social Significance of Death Duties, with an introduction by Sir
Josiah Stamp.
Man Not a Machine: A Study of the Finalistic Aspects of Life, London: K. Paul, Trench, Trubner & Co., Ltd., 1926. With a foreword by Professor
Hans Driesch.
The Aim of Human Existence: Being a System of Morality Based on the Harmony of Life. Translated from the French by Paul Crissman and Edward L. Schaub, Chicago: The Open Court Pub. Co., 1929. Reprinted from The Monist, January, 1929.
The Nature of Life. Translated by N. Mallinson, London: K. Paul, Trench, Trubner & Co., Ltd.; New York: Harcourt, Brace and Company, 1930
^Mary Douglas, Edward Evans-Pritchard, 1980, pp.20–21
^Colin Lyas, 'Rignano, Eugenio', in Stuart C. Brown et al, eds., Biographical dictionary of twentieth-century philosophy, 1996, p.668
^M. Lightfoot Eastwood. Reviewed Work: Eugenio Rignano Upon the Inheritance of Acquired Characters by C.H. Harvey.
International Journal of Ethics Vol. 23, No. 1 (Oct., 1912), pp. 117-118.
Eugenio Vittorio Rignano (31 May 1870 in
Livorno – 9 February 1930 in
Milan) was a Jewish Italian
philosopher.[1]
Biography
He was born in Livorno to Giacomo Rignano and Fortunata Tedesco, into a
Jewish family.[2] Rignano edited the journal Rivista di scienza, later known as Scientia(it). His book The Psychology of Reasoning (1923) influenced the social anthropologist
Edward Evans-Pritchard.[3] His book Man Not a Machine (1926) was replied to by
Joseph Needham's Man A Machine (1927).[4] In 1897 he married
Costanza "Nina" Sullam, also from a Jewish family.
Rignano took interest in
biology and wrote a book that argued for the
inheritance of acquired characteristics.[5] He advanced a moderated
Lamarckian hypothesis of inheritance known as "centro-epigenesis".[6][7] His views were controversial and not accepted by most in the
scientific community.[8] His book The Nature of Life (1930) was described in a review as presenting a "militant, at times almost an evangelical exposition and defense of an energetic vitalism."[9] However, historian
Peter J. Bowler has written that Rignano rejected both
materialism and
vitalism and adopted a similar position to what was known as
emergent evolution.[10]Li Dazhao, one of the founders of the
China Communist Party, was an avid reader of Rignano's works.[11]
Rignano's views on acquired characteristics and organic memory are discussed in detail by historian
Laura Otis and psychologist
Daniel Schacter.[12][13]
Works
Per una riforma socialista del diritto successorio, 1920
Di un socialismo in accordo colla dottrina economica liberale, Torino,
Fratelli Bocca, 1901.
(in German)Über die Vererbung erworbener Eigenschaften, Leipzig, Verlag von Wilhelm Engelmann, 1905.
Sulla trasmissibilità dei caratteri acquisiti. Ipotesi d'una centro-epigenesi, Bologna, Zanichelli, 1907.
L'adattamento funzionale e la teleologia psico-fisica del Pauly, Bologna: Zanichelli, 1907.
(in French)La valeur synthétique du transformisme, Paris, Editions de la Revue du Mois, 1907.
Che cos'è la coscienza?, Bologna, Zanichelli, 1907.
(in French)Le matérialisme historique, Bologna, Zanichelli, 1908.
(in French)Le psychisme des organismes inférieurs: (à propos de la théorie de Jennings), Estratto da: «Scientia», anno II, volume 3, Bologna, Zanichelli, 1908.
(in French)La mémoire biologique en énergétique, Bologna, Zanichelli, 1909.
Il fenomeno religioso, Bologna, Zanichelli, 1910.
Il socialismo, Bologna, Zanichelli, 1910.
Dell'attenzione. Parte 1: contrasto affettivo e unità di coscienza , Bologna, Zanichelli, 1911.
Dell'origine e natura mnemonica delle tendenze affettive, Bologna, Zanichelli, 1911.
Per accrescere diffusione ed efficacia alle università popolari, Milano, La compositrice, 1911.
La vera funzione delle università popolari, Roma, Nuova Antologia, 1911.
Dell'attenzione. Parte 2: vividità e connessione, Bologna, Zanichelli, 1912.
(in French)Le rôle des théoriciens dans les sciences biologiques et sociologiques, Bologna, Zanichelli, 1912.
L'evoluzione del ragionamento, Bologna, Zanichelli, 1913.
Il nuovo programma dell'Un. pop. milanese: primo anno d'esperimento, Como, Premiata Tipografia Cooperativa comense Aristide Bari, 1913.
Le forme superiori del ragionamento, Bologna, Zanichelli, 1915.
The Social Significance of the Inheritance Tax. Translated by William John Schultz, New York: A.A. Knopf, 1924. Introduction by
Edwin R. A. Seligman. English ed. (1925) as The Social Significance of Death Duties, with an introduction by Sir
Josiah Stamp.
Man Not a Machine: A Study of the Finalistic Aspects of Life, London: K. Paul, Trench, Trubner & Co., Ltd., 1926. With a foreword by Professor
Hans Driesch.
The Aim of Human Existence: Being a System of Morality Based on the Harmony of Life. Translated from the French by Paul Crissman and Edward L. Schaub, Chicago: The Open Court Pub. Co., 1929. Reprinted from The Monist, January, 1929.
The Nature of Life. Translated by N. Mallinson, London: K. Paul, Trench, Trubner & Co., Ltd.; New York: Harcourt, Brace and Company, 1930
^Mary Douglas, Edward Evans-Pritchard, 1980, pp.20–21
^Colin Lyas, 'Rignano, Eugenio', in Stuart C. Brown et al, eds., Biographical dictionary of twentieth-century philosophy, 1996, p.668
^M. Lightfoot Eastwood. Reviewed Work: Eugenio Rignano Upon the Inheritance of Acquired Characters by C.H. Harvey.
International Journal of Ethics Vol. 23, No. 1 (Oct., 1912), pp. 117-118.