caa a22 4500 606196846 CHVBK 20210128100926.0 cr unu---uuuuu 210128e20151201xx s 000 0 ger 10.1007/s00048-015-0130-3 doi (NATIONALLICENCE)springer-10.1007/s00048-015-0130-3 Tamborini Marco PAN, Perspektiven auf Natur, Leibniz-Institut für Evolutions- und Biodiversitätsforschung, Museum für Naturkunde, Invalidenstraße 43, 10115, Berlin, Germany aut Die Wurzeln der Idiographischen Paläontologie: Karl Alfred von Zittels Praxis und sein Begriff des Fossils [Elektronische Daten] [Marco Tamborini] The Roots of Idiographic Paleontology: Karl Alfred von Zittel's Methodology and Conception of the Fossil Record This paper examines Karl Alfred von Zittel's practice in order to uncover the roots of so-called idiographic paleontology. The great American paleontologist Stephen Jay Gould (1941-2002) defined the discipline of idiographic paleontology as illustration and description of the morphological features of extinct species. However, this approach does not investigate macroevolutionary patterns and processes. On the contrary, the paleobiological revolution of the 1970s implemented an epistemic methodology that illustrates macrovelutionary patterns and laws by combining idiographic data with a nomothetic form of explanation. This article elucidates the features of the idiographic data as well as the acquired knowledge coupled with this approach. First of all, Heinrich G. Bronn's (1800-1862) statistical method is analyzed. Zittel's practice arose as a reaction against the approximate conclusions reached by Bronn's quantitative approach. Second, the details of Zittel's methodology are described in order to bring out its peculiarities. The microscope played a pivotal role in creating and forming Zittel's morphological data. This analysis sheds new light on the reasons behind the so-called ideographic paleontology, thus revising Gould's historical reconstruction, as well as on the notion of paleontological data. However, even though Zittel aimed at reaching precise and stable conclusions, his data cannot be used for elucidating evolutionary mechanisms: they are scientific in a purely descriptive sense, but completely useless for biological investigations. Finally, this paper examines how Zittel's methodology affects the contemporary paleobiological enterprise and thereby reflects upon the notion of natural history. Springer Basel, 2015 Paleontology nationallicence paleobiology nationallicence the fossil record nationallicence data nationallicence macroevolution nationallicence Paläontologie nationallicence Paläobiologie nationallicence Fossil nationallicence Daten nationallicence Makroevolution nationallicence NTM Zeitschrift für Geschichte der Wissenschaften, Technik und Medizin Springer International Publishing 23/3-4(2015-12-01), 117-142 0036-6978 23:3-4<117 2015 23 48 https://doi.org/10.1007/s00048-015-0130-3 text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI BK010053 XK010053 XK010000 Metadata rights reserved Springer special CC-BY-NC licence nationallicence 1 research-article jats NATIONALLICENCE NATIONALLICENCE NL-springer NATIONALLICENCE 856 40 https://doi.org/10.1007/s00048-015-0130-3 text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI NATIONALLICENCE 100 1- Tamborini Marco PAN, Perspektiven auf Natur, Leibniz-Institut für Evolutions- und Biodiversitätsforschung, Museum für Naturkunde, Invalidenstraße 43, 10115, Berlin, Germany aut NATIONALLICENCE 773 0- NTM Zeitschrift für Geschichte der Wissenschaften, Technik und Medizin Springer International Publishing 23/3-4(2015-12-01), 117-142 0036-6978 23:3-4<117 2015 23 48