#26 – Ernst Haeckel – Druid

In general, the Druid is usually presented as a weird sort of combination between the practical and the spiritual. Yes, says your basic Druid, I believe in the fundamental oneness of all things and the undying beauty and power of nature, but it just so happens that I use that belief to sic bears on marauding monsters. In the same way, Ernst Haeckel was an amazing artist, but he used his skills to describe something like 150 new species, a feat which included the majority of the Kingdom Protista.

Haeckel himself was an intriguing combination of spiritual and practical. He was an expert biologist, naturalist, and physician, but was also a world class philosopher and artist. He supported the then-new theory of evolution, and yet also supported the German Romantic movement. Heck, Haeckel coined a large number of the terms we use for basic biological concepts (including “phylum,” “ecology,” and “stem cell”), and yet he founded a group called the Monist League whose only purpose was to spread his religious and philosophical beliefs. I suppose half the reason he’s included here is just because I find him an endlessly fascinating contradiction.

Category: 2011, Fantasy