Was J.B.S. Haldane a Marxist when he produced his theory on the origins of life?

Simon Gouz (1)

1 LEPS - Laboratoire d'Etude du Phénomène Scientifique

In this paper, I deal with the issue of the possible links between J.B.S. Haldane's production of an evolutionary theory of abiogenenis in 1929 and his political and intellectual commitment to Marxism in the thirties. Such a relationship has often been asserted, and this idea has certainly been strengthened by the fact that the same question arise with Oparin (who independently produced a theory of abiogenesis and also claimed to be a Marxist). My examination of the ways we can determine when Haldane became a Marxist leads to the conclusion that Haldane cannot have been directly influenced by dialectical materialism in 1929. However, I discuss how his work on the origins of life at the time can be understood in the context of the intellectual process that was to lead him to adopt Marxism and dialectical materialism as a philosophy (and in particular as a philosophy of science) in the mid-thirties.

Mots clés: J.B.S. Haldane; Marxism; dialectical materialism; abiogenesis

Domaines: Histoire, Philosophie et Sociologie des sciences

Simon Gouz. Was J.B.S. Haldane a Marxist when he produced his theory on the origins of life?. 2011. ⟨hal-00576197⟩