Rupert Sheldrake

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Rupert Sheldrake (2008)

Rupert Sheldrake (born June 28, 1942 in Newark-on-Trent , Nottinghamshire ) is a British author and biologist . In 1981 he put forward a hypothesis according to which so-called morphic fields exist that are supposed to influence the development of structures. His hypotheses are widely rejected in the natural sciences . From 2005 to 2010 he led a parapsychological research project funded by a foundation administered by the University of Cambridge .

Career

Sheldrake studied biology and biochemistry at Cambridge and later philosophy at Harvard University . At Cambridge University , Tim Hunt was his close fellow student; in 1967 he received his doctorate in biochemistry, taught at the local Clare College and was there until 1973 research director for biochemistry and cell biology. There, as well as at the Royal Society , he dealt with the holistic tradition in biology, carried out research on the development of plants and cell aging, and formulated the theory of what he called morphic fields , his basis for the hypothesis of nature's memory .

The time in India

In Hyderabad in South India he studied the physiology of tropical vegetables for about six years. From 1974 to 1978 he researched the physiology of tropical legumes as a senior plant physiologist at the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT). Until 1985 he worked as a consultant for this institution.

His contact with Indian philosophy and transcendental meditation led him to Father Bede Griffiths , an English Benedictine monk who lived in a small Christian ashram in southern India and tried to combine the Christian with the Eastern tradition. Early 80s lived Sheldrake for one and a half years in the Ashram and wrote in 1981 his first book A New Science of Life (German: A New Science ), which he dedicated to Griffiths. In it Sheldrake put forward the hypothesis of the causes of formation and postulated that nature has an inherent memory .

Morphic fields

Main article: Morphic field

In A New Science of Life (1981) Sheldrake presents his hypothesis of shaping causation , which postulates the existence of so-called morphogenetic fields that are supposed to influence the formation of form in nature. Since then the hypothesis has been expanded in various ways. For example, the morphogenetic fields should not only extend to forms, but to the laws of nature themselves, which thus become “habits of nature”. With the morphogenetic fields , Sheldrake gives a term from developmental biology coined in the 1920s a new meaning that has nothing in common with the original idea except for the basic theme of design. Taking up the morphogenetic fields, Sheldrake investigated the supposed extra-sensory abilities of humans and animals.

Sheldrake's hypotheses, largely ignored in the scientific community after initial interest, are viewed as pseudoscientific . Some quantum physicists , including David Bohm and Hans-Peter Dürr , have advocated serious investigation of the hypothesis. She also continues to experience great interest in the para-scientific field, especially in the context of the New Age movement.

Trinity College Cambridge Perrott-Warrick Project

From 2005 to 2010 Sheldrake was the director of the Perrott-Warrick Project , funded by a foundation donated to Trinity College , Cambridge. The project examined unexplained abilities attributed to humans and animals. These include animal experiments, which examined whether pets can sense the arrival of their owner in advance.

Works

  • A New Science of Life. 1981
    • German edition: The creative universe. The theory of the morphogenetic field. Translated from the English by Waltram Landmann and Klaus Wessel. Ullstein, Frankfurt am Main / Berlin 1983, new edition 2009, ISBN 978-3-548-37259-4 .
  • The Presence of the Past (1988), German: Das Gedächtnis der Natur. The secret of the origin of forms in nature (1990) ISBN 3-502-19661-3 .
  • The Rebirth of Nature (1990), German: Die Wiedergeburt der Natur (1991)
  • together with Ralph Abraham and Terence McKenna : Trialogues at the Edge of the West: Chaos, Creativity, and the Resacralization of the World (1992), German: Denk am Rande des Untenkbaren (1993) ISBN 3-492-22004-5 .
  • Seven Experiments That Could Change the World (1994), German: Seven Experiments That Could Change the World (1994) ISBN 3-502-19663-X .
  • together with Matthew Fox : Natural Grace (1996), German: The soul is a field. The Dialogue Between Science and Spirituality (1998)
  • together with Matthew Fox : The Physics of Angels (1996), German: Engel: die kosmische Intellektiven (1998)
  • together with Ralph Abraham and Terence McKenna: The Evolutionary Mind: Trialogues at the Edge of the Unthinkable (1998), German: Cyber-Talk. Courageous Impetus for Networking Scientific Progress and Healing the Earth (1998)
  • Dogs That Know When Their Owners Are Coming Home (1999), German: The Seventh Sense of Animals (1999) ISBN 3-548-84019-1 .
  • The Sense of Being Stared At (2003), German: The seventh sense of the human being (2003) ISBN 3-502-15682-4 .
  • Science Delusion also as Science Set Free: 10 Paths to New Discovery (2012).
    • German by Jochen Lehner: Der Wissenschaftswahn: Why materialism has had its day . OW Barth Verlag, Munich 2012, ISBN 978-3-426-29210-5 .
  • The rediscovery of spirituality. 7 Practices in the Focus of Science. OW Barth Verlag, Munich 2018, ISBN 978-3-426-29288-4 .

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Introduction by Hans-Peter Dürr to the book "Rupert Sheldrake in Discussion"
  2. ↑ Max Rauner: Rupert Sheldrake: The one with the seventh sense. In: Zeit Online. April 10, 2012, Retrieved April 26, 2012 .
  3. ^ Anthony Freeman: The Sense of Being Glared At . In: Journal of Consciousness Studies , 12, No. 6, 2005, pp. 4-9. Online edition (PDF; 67 kB)
  4. ↑ John Maddox , A book for burning? (Editorial) . In: Nature 293: pp. 245-246 (September 24, 1981)
  5. ^ Brad Lemley: Rupert Sheldrake . In: Discover . August 2000.
  6. ↑ Article in The Times, September 7, 2006
  7. ↑ Rupert Sheldrake: The expanded consciousness. Extra-sensory abilities of humans and animals. In: Tattva Viveka , No. 21, 2004 ( [1] ).

Web links

Commons : Rupert Sheldrake  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files
personal data
SURNAME Sheldrake, Rupert
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British author and biologist
DATE OF BIRTH June 28, 1942
PLACE OF BIRTH Newark-on-Trent, Nottinghamshire