Evolutionary Theism of Henryk Levittoux in Polish and International Context

Abstract

Henryk Levittoux (1822-1879) is currently best known as the model of Jan Matejko who posed for him as Nicolaus Copernicus. Less known, however, is his concept of evolution, which he presented as a part of his philosophical system and which caused a heated debates among Polish intellectuals in the second half of the nineteenth century. Levittoux's theory, which was trying to combine religious dogma with the achievements of contemporary science, breaks out of the popular historical narrative, in which it is assumed that the discussions about the evolutionism were dominated by creationists and pro-Darwinian positivists. The aim of this article will be to present Levittoux's theory of evolution and to show how he combined the ideas of evolution with the concept of Divine creation. Secondary focus of the article will be to place his theory in the broader context of scientific and philosophical changes, that took place in the nineteenth century. Attention will be paid to the way in which the professionalization of science affected natural philosophers, such as Levittoux, who were refusing to accept the rigorous positivist methodology. It will also be shown how Levittoux’s evolutionism became part of the so-called "developmental evolutionism" which promoted a completely different vision of evolution than Darwinism. The non-Darwinian nature of Levittoux's evolutionism was inspired by Étienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire’s theory. Levittoux adopted his idea that species evolve thanks to the environmental stimulus which affects their ontogenesis. However, this idea will be extrapolated in Levittoux’s writings to the whole Earth. So, he will conclude that the Earth is the equivalent of the womb in which, like the fetus, all Life develops. All changes of species, in his opinion, are additionally controlled by a universal principle which he called the law of attraction-repulsion. This law was also the tool by which God created the world. The Levittoux’s concept is one of the first attempts to create a synthesis of evolutionism and religious thought in the Polish post-Darwinian philosophy of nature. Levittoux, as a continuator of Saint-Hilaire's thought, is also an interesting example of an attempt to instill in Polish philosophy French evolutionist thought.