Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

ERNST MAYR AS A LIFE-LONG NATURALIST

2005; Issue: 58 Linguagem: Inglês

10.2307/40587707

1941-2282

M. Ross Lein,

Plant and animal studies

Ernst Mayr last attended meeting of the American Ornithologists' Union (AOU) in 1983, and several generations of ornithologists know him only through his publications. Students (and younger ornithologists) probably associate his name primarily with the Biological Species Concept that he championed for more than 60 years, or identify him as an architect of the Evolutionary Synthesis that revolutionized thinking about evolution in the 1940s. Those with theoretical or historical bent will be familiar with his contributions to the history and philosophy of biology, as exemplified by The Growth of Biological Thought (1982), Toward New Philosophy of Biology (1988), and One Long Argument (1991), all published after Mayr's retirement. Older AOU members will recall his early contributions to avian systematics and biogeography, which came full circle in 2001 with the publication of The Birds of Northern Melanesia by Mayr and Jared Diamond. Many of Mayr's writings express his deep admiration of Charles Darwin and argue that Darwin's contributions resulted, in no small measure, from the fact that he was naturalist who was fascinated with and stimulated by the immense diversity of life in the world around him. I argue that, in addition to his well-deserved recognition as ornithologist, systematise evolutionist, historian, and philosopher, Ernst Mayr is naturalist in the Darwinian tradition. To support this thesis, I present accounts of his early activities and his interactions with amateur ornithologists (especially youthful ones), content analysis of one of his seminal works, and discussion of the careers and personal experiences of the graduate students he supervised. I conclude that Mayr meets Futuyma's definition of naturalist as a person who is inexhaustibly fascinated by biological diversity, and who does not view organisms merely as models, or vehicles of theory but, rather, as the [thing] . . .that excites our admiration and our desire for knowledge, understanding, and preservation (Futuyma 1998:2). Resumen. Ernst Mayr asisitio por ultima vez un congreso de la American Ornithologists' Union (AOU) en 1983, y muchas generaciones de ornitologos solo lo conocen traves de sus publicaciones. Los estudiantes (y ornitologos mas jovenes) probablemente asocian su nombre principalmente con el concepto biologico de especie por el que abogo por mas de sesenta anos, o lo identifican como uno de los arquitectos de la sintesis evolutiva que revoluciono el pensamiento sobre la evolucion en la decada de 1940. Aquellos con un interes mas teorico o historico estaran familiarizados con las contribuciones de Mayr la historia y la filosofia de la biologia, ejemplificadas por tres libros publicados luego de su retiro: El Crecimiento del Pensamiento Biologico (The Growth of Biological Thought, 1982), Hacia una Nueva Filosofia de la Biologia (Toward New Philosophy of Biology, 1988) y Un Argumento Largo (One Long Argument, 1991). Los miembros mayores de la AOU recordaran sus contribuciones la sistematica y biogeografia de las aves, que se cristalizaron en 2001 con la publicacion de Las Aves del Norte de Melanesia (The Birds of Northern Melanesia) por parte de Mayr y Jared Diamond. Muchos de los escritos de Mayr expresan su profunda admiracion hacia Charles Darwin y aducen que las contribuciones de Darwin fueron, no en pequena medida, el producto de su condicion de naturalista fascinado con y estimulado por la inmensa diversidad de la vida en el mundo que lo rodeaba. En este ensayo, propongo que ademas de su bien merecido reconocimiento como ornitologo, sistematico, evolucionista, historiador y filosofo, Ernst Mayr fue un naturalista en la tradicion de Darwin. Para apoyar esta tesis, presento recuentos de sus actividades tempranas y sus interacciones con ornitologos aficionados (especialmente con los jovenes), un analisis de uno de sus trabajos seminales y una discusion de las carreras y experiencias personales de los estudiantes que el superviso. Concluyo que Mayr satisface la definicion de naturalista de Futyuma, como una persona incansablemente fascinada con la diversidad biologica, que no ve los organismos simplemente como modelos o como objetos para plantear teorias, sino como aquello que excita nuestra admiracion y deseo de conocimiento, entendimiento y preservacion (Futuyma 1998:2). 'E-mail: mrlein@ucalgary.ca