Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Corbin and Portmann at Eranos


This undated photo is from the Eranos Archive. Adolf Portmann (1897-1982) was a Swiss biologist and a major figure at the Eranos Conferences where he lectured for many years. Selected writings have been collected as The Living Form and the Seeing Eye: Essays in Philosophical Biology (1991). His phenomenological approach to the study of animal form and behavior provides an important complement to the dominant contemporary paradigms. A complete bibliography (in German) can be found here. Noted philosopher of science Marjorie Grene devotes a chapter to Portmann in her book The Understanding of Nature: Essays in Philosophical Biology (1974).