Helmut Rehder
Helmut Rehder (born October 7, 1927 in Hamburg ) is a German philosopher and botanist specializing in ecology .
Life
After attending school in Hamburg, Helmut Rehder studied biology, chemistry and geography and received his doctorate with a thesis on ecology. He then became an assistant to the plant ecologist Heinrich Walter in Stuttgart, married in 1959 and followed his teacher Heinz Ellenberg to the ETH Zurich . During this time he also participated in the world climate diagram atlas by Walter and Lieth. In 1962 he moved to the Technical University of Munich because he was able to do his habilitation there, and in 1964 he found his home in Eichenau.
Rehder worked as a plant systematist . The diversity of plant species and their complexity, which has arisen in the course of evolution , led him to deal with questions about the origin of life from a scientific point of view.
Excursions with students and his ecological research have taken him particularly to the Alpine region, but also almost every year to the Mediterranean region. With DFG funding, he worked on Mount Kenya, where he and colleagues created a vegetation map of the summit region. The diploma and doctoral theses supervised by him often dealt with the vegetation in need of protection in the near and far surroundings of Munich.
Although he has been retired since 1993, Helmut Rehder continues to go on excursions and give lectures.
Working on vitalism
Helmut Rehder came to a different view of evolution than Charles Darwin , whose successors see the whole world of life arise from inanimate matter through mutation and selection . Helmut Rehder reverses the point of view and sees inanimate matter only as a particularly inert form of life. After all, in this way a lot of inanimate matter in the rocky world of the mountains was created from the remains of life.
Helmut Rehder considers the theory of Darwin's successors to be scientifically not verifiable from experience and illogical, and he turned to " vitalism " based on the thoughts of Aristotle and Goethe . He understands evolution as an active process of life and not of chance and as one of many manifestations of life. The laws of nature on which physics and chemistry are based describe precisely what life has produced. Without the need for an unscientific transcendence or the explanatory patterns of religions, he describes in several small writings an undogmatic natural science that does not follow the mainstream . It has the protection of nature and the joy of living as a logical consequence and leads to the need for nature protection as a guide for human life. This also led him to environmental protection at his home town of Eichenau.
He took part in the environmental brochure for Eichenau and, together with local councilor Martin Prem, became spokesman for the newly created environmental advisory council for the municipality of Eichenau.
In the series “Scientists in the District”, Helmut Rehder was featured in the Süddeutsche Zeitung on July 3, 1997 on the occasion of his upcoming 70th birthday.
Works (selection)
- On ecology, especially nitrogen supply of subalpine and alpine plant communities in the Schachen nature reserve (Wetterstein Mountains) , Cramer Verlag, Studium, 1970
- Tropical growth forms and their habitats in southern Kenya , Naturw. Rundschau 28, 1975, pp. 250-258
- Evolution seen differently , Pfeil Verlag, Munich, 1986
- Thinking steps in vitalism , Pfeil Verlag, Munich, 1988
- The vegetation of Mount Kenya , in: Naturwissenschaften Vol. 79, 1992, pp. 492-498
- Helmut Rehder et al .: The vegetation of the Uludag Mountains (Anatolia), Phytocoenologia 24, 1994, pp. 167-192
- The natural environment of Eichenau , in: Geschichte im Schatten einer Großstadt, Eichenau, 2007
- What is evolution , Pfeil Verlag, Munich, 2009
literature
- Ursula Sautmann, In: Süddeutsche Zeitung, LK Fürstenfeldbruck, July 3, 1997, "Scientists in the district", appreciation for the 70th birthday.
Individual evidence
Web links
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Rehder, Helmut |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German philosopher and botanist |
| DATE OF BIRTH | October 7, 1927 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Hamburg |