Author: Ostwald, Wilhelm [1853-1932] ; International Committee of Monism
Title: La Monisme comme but de la civilisation
Description: Hamburg, Comité International... 1913. orig. wrappers. 22x15cm, 37 pages. At the head of title: "Comité International du Monisme".. Some wear. Corner bumps. Good. ¶ ["Ostwald is credited with being one of the founders of the field of physical chemistry...He received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1909 for his scientific contributions to the fields of catalysis, chemical equilibria and reaction velocities. Following his 1906 retirement from academic life, Ostwald became much involved in philosophy, art, and politics. He made significant contributions to each of these fields. Ostwald has been described as a polymath....Ostwald's interest in unification through systematization led to his adaptation of the philosophy of Monism. Initially, Monism was liberal, pacifist, and international, seeking in science a basis of values to support social and political reforms. Ostwald himself developed a system of ethics based on science, around the core idea that one should 'not waste energy, but convert it into its most useful form'. Ostwald became President of the Deutscher Monistenbund ( Monistic Alliance), founded by Ernst Haeckel, in 1911. Ostwald (and other Monists) promoted eugenics and euthanasia, but only as voluntary choices with the intention of preventing suffering. Monist promotion of such ideas is suggested to have indirectly facilitated acceptance of the later Social Darwinism of the National Socialists. Ostwald died before the Nazis adopted and enforced the use of eugenics and euthanasia as involuntary government policies, to support their racist ideological positions. Ostwald's Monism also influenced Carl G. Jung's identification of psychological types..." - wikipedia].

Keywords: History of Science, Physical Chemistry, Monism, Philosophy, Monist, , , ,