Carl von Linné: The Development of the Idea of Binomial Nomenclature

Abstract

Due to binomial classification system defined by Carl von Linné, it has been shown that living things that were thought to be independent from each other are actually in a relationship. This "binomial classification" idea corresponds to a leap in the history of human thought. Carl von Linné's original idea is a product of the specific conditions of the period, particularly the renaissance and reform movements and geographical discoveries, rather than an idea he produced alone. These movements are part of a chain of ideas that stretches from antiquity to the Medieval and then to the period called the Enlightenment. The aforementioned transformations generally affected the scientist, albeit indirectly, even in geographies far from Sweden, where Carl von Linné spent most of his life. As such, the binomial classification system stands before us as a result of scientific breakthroughs in central Europe. In this study, it will be tried to be explained by taking the opus magnum of Carl von Linne as an example, taking into account the course of scientific developments, which we can attribute to the European civilization, and the philosophical and social texture.

Introduction

In this article, the method, known as binomial nomenclature in biological sciences and developed by Swedish scientist Carl von Linné, will be centered and the effects of this method in the transition from early modernity to modernity and its relation with the advancements in the social fabric will be evaluated. In this context, firstly, Carl von Linné will be discussed from the beginning of his education life in terms of being the starting point of this article. Afterwards, the reasons for the emergence of von Linné, geographical features, the background of the period and social conditions will be tried to be deciphered and the subject will be explained in the light of these contexts. Finally, examples from the scientists who were influenced by von Linné's idea will be given and the up-to-dateness of von Linné will be discussed.

As a result of following the flow chart explained above, the importance of the classification based on binomial nomenclature developed by von Linné in terms of the transformation and development of human consciousness will be addressed in the sense of scientific facts and this subject will be accounted as a comprehensive manner.

Carl von Linné’s early life and education

Carolus Linnaeus was born in the early 18th century, in 1707, in the small town of Råshult in Sweden. ¹ His father was a clergyman, and therefore it would be considered to follow this path as a family tradition, however he was interested in natural sciences, particularly in botanics, during his childhood. He completed his primary education at the Växjö Gymnasium and then began his higher education at the medical faculty at Lund University in 1727. ² A year later, he moved to Uppsala University and started to work as an assistant in the Botanical Garden of the same university in 1730. ² The same year he met two professors, Olof Celcius and Olof Rudbeck Jr, who opened up their library to him. ² He went on a scientific trip to Lapland from May to October in 1732. In 1733, he made another scientific journey to Falun where was one of the most important mining area. In this time, he was focused on mineralogy This journey, a distance of almost 6100 kilometers, was mostly travelled without any vehicle. His findings and observations were published in “Flora Lapponica” in 1737. ¹ He continued his works as both a researcher and an instructor until the end of his life.

Important Philosophical and Technological Advances in Early Modernity in Europe

Linné was an eminent intellectual who lived in a century of upheaval, i.e. 18th century. The wealth seen as a result of geographical discoveries and later increased input of capital, the renaissance and the reformation and the subsequent humanism movement seen in the entire Western and Northwestern Europe, were among the events that occurred before the emergence of von Linné. As a result, these developments caused a radical transformation in the social fabric of Europe. Linné lived during such a period and died shortly before the French Revolution which deeply affected the world. Before Linné, in the medieval period, the scholastic thought which was build around the work and the interpretations of Aristotle was monopolized by the Catholic Church. ³ Aristotle's thought which is totally approved as dogma was eliminated all possibilities of development at the intellectual level. As it is known, Aristo who was a great philosopher, had several and original ideas and he wrote many books on many subjects. In the context of our subject, it was not possible to go beyond the concept designed by Aristotle and named as the great chain of being. According to this chain, living things consisted primarily of minerals and then plants, animals and humans respectively. At the end of the chain were heaven, angels and god. ⁴ Although this classification has correspondence in today's science, the important point was that even in the periods before Christ, philosophers believed that life may be understood easier when "things" are clustered. In Aristotle, this thought is clear. This is crucial because Aristotle's ideas have been the dominant thought in Europe for hundreds of years. Although Linné's classification was made with a completely different method, we find the core of Linné's ideas in Aristotle's thought also known as scholasticism. Aristotle's philosophy was the first step in the historical line to Linné. However it is more possible to find the conditions that created him in the thought of Enlightenment which is directly opposed to the scholasticism. Opposition to scholastic philosophy, which reached its zenith in the Enlightenment age, did not happen immediately. First, some of his ideas were criticized and some sort of hybrid methods were developed before being directly rejected. According to this thought, there was a separation of body and mind and while the body occupied place in space, the mind was responsible for thinking. ⁵ This was a groundbreaking approach because it claimed to offer some kind of alternative to centuries-old dogma. After descartes as a progressive step, directly opposition to scholasticism was seen in two intellectuals, John Locke (1632-1704) and David Hume (1711-1776). ⁶ This attitude of opposition was especially in the denial of all metaphysical concepts in David Hume, one of the most important figures of the Scottish Enlightenment. ⁷ In parallel with these progressions in the intellectual field, technological developments are also observed in the same period. The emergence of steam machines and fabrication developed by inventors who were Linné's contemporary, changed life as a irreversible manner. The Industrial Revolution, which is generally accepted to have started in the UK, started with the invention of the steam machines. These machines were developed by three successive and innovative figures who were Thomas Savery (1650-1715), Thomas Newcomen (1664-1729) and James Watt (1736-1819).^8,9 In this way, steam trains and ships were made in a short time and the transfer of either the individuals or the raw material between countries and continents was facilitated. As mentioned above, on the one hand, while developments in steam engines continued, fabrication was also progressing rapidly in the same period. Prominent figure in the 18th century in terms of invention was John Kay (1704-1779) who invented flying shuttle, one of the key development in industrialization of weaving. Shortly after, the shuttle device developed by James Hargreaves (1721-1778) and named “spinning jenny” was invented.^10,11 Finally, Richard Arkwright (1732-1792) invented the cotton weaving machine that allows movement with the water power. ¹² These developments were both the starting points and the driving forces of the industrial revolution. In sum, the philosophical and technological achievements in Europe at the time of Linne's emergence were in this state.

Renaissance/Reformation and Human's Struggle for Freedom after Geographical Discoveries

The well-being of Europe in the 18th century was directly related to monetary wealth. The origin of this monetary wealth is the products brought from different lands to Europe through geographical discoveries. In this context, geographical discoveries should be evaluated in detail. Geographical discoveries first started under the patronage of the Portuguese Prince Henry (1394-1460) and in less than a century, almost all of the lands and waters in the world were colonized by Europeans. ¹³ According to our modern human mind, colonization in all aspects, is not a logical and humanitarian practice. Although this interpretation is correct in one aspect, it is a fact that should be evaluated in terms of the increase of the welfare environment in Europe and the environment of freedom that follows. These developments emerged in the period of humanism, which is based on the liberation of the individual and located the individual at the center, and today we name it renaissance. The main tendency of the Renaissance period was the turning back to the ancient Greek before the scholastic period. ¹⁴ In this attitude, there was an implicit opposition to the previous mainstream philosophy, the doctrine of the Catholic Church based on Aristotle, as did the philosophers of the 17th and 18th centuries. Another development in Europe as much as the Renaissance and perhaps more important is the emergence of the Protestantism that we call the Reformation. ¹⁵ As it is known, the founder of this movement was Martin Luther (1483-1546) and as a result of his opposition, the Catholic-Protestant distinction occurred clear. Due to this movement, the transfer of ownership (from the Catholic Church to the Protestant principalities) occurred, especially in the Northern Europe.^16,17 When Protestantism emerged, one of the most important issues was translating the Bible into native languages. The fact that ordinary people had access to the Bible in their native language, interrupted the Catholic Church's monopoly on its knowledge. Herein, perhaps the most important problem was to multi copy the Bible in local dialects. The printing press developed by Gutenberg in 1440 helped in overcoming this problem. ¹⁸ Protestantism gained momentum as a result of the described developments and found many supporters especially in Northern Europe where Linné lived. ¹⁹ Although Scandinavia, including Sweden, might seem at first glance outside of the great changes in Europe (geographical discoveries, Renaissance, Reformation), this was not exactly true. Sweden’s circumstance in particular and Scandinavia's situation in general circumstance will be discussed below.

Prominent Scientific and Philosophical Figures in Northern Europe

We can briefly summarize the developments in Europe regionally, geographical discoveries began from the Iberian Peninsula, the Renaissance sprouted in the location we know today as Italy, the Reformation was a crop of the area known today as Germany, and finally the steam engines was emerged in the United Kingdom today we name this particular event as the Industrial Revolution. If we review the developments in Europe by dividing them into regions, a perception arises that the two regions do not contribute to the developments; Eastern and Northern Europe. Eastern Europe had an exceptional situation, particularly since it is under Ottoman pressure from the south and Russia from the north and the east. Therefore Eastern Europe was not accounted as one of the main drivers of developments in the continent, however similar inference cannot be asserted for Northern Europe. When the Northern European geography is evaluated together with the Scandinavian countries and the Netherlands, these countries may be evaluated as both the affecting and the affected by the developments described previously. In particular, the Netherlands, with its large imperial network, was making commerce with the Baltic and Northern seas. In addition colonized remote islands in the oceans from the end of the 1500s to the 1800s and reached a significant wealth.^19,20 As always, the ambience of freedom that came after wealth allowed different philosophical ideas to be emerged. In the 17th century, Baruch Spinoza (1632-1677), a pioneering philosopher, wrote his ideas in such an environment. ²¹ Spinoza influenced the successors Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900) and Albert Einstein (1879-1955) with his ideas. Considering the effects of Nietzsche on philosophy and Einstein on science, importance of Spinoza is clearly understood.^22,23 Despite being a 19th century philosopher, another example figure for understanding the intellectual activity of the Northern countries is Søren Kierkegaard (1813-1855). He was the founder of the existentialism, and this idea is affected entire Europe by Hegel, Kant, Marx, Husserl and laterly through French intellectuals from 19th to 20th century. ²⁴ Two philosophers mentioned here, Spinoza and Kierkegaard, one lived before and the other lived after Linné, but what is meant to be taken into consideration here is that Northern Europe is a geography that contributes to intellectual development in parallel with the other parts of the continent. Finally, René Descartes (1596-1650), the founder of modern philosophy, lived his last days in Stockholm, Sweden and passed away there. Descartes was a versatile scholar. He had several writings on different interests, from mathematics to philosophy. But more importantly, he was a pioneer and the first thinker symbolizing the break from antiquity to modernity. Descartes, a French philosopher, was in Sweden because the Swedish Queen Christina invited him to her country as an instructor. ²⁵ Just before 50 years of Linné’s birth, this invitation is an important example in terms of showing the attitude of the Swedish society against philosophical developments in general.

From Linnaeus to von Linné: The Process Leading to Taxonomy, The Birth of the Idea of Binomial Nomenclature and Its Reflections on Today

Linné spent his entire life in Sweden in the 18th century, but he has carried out very important works that continue to reverberate today. Linné’s genius and diligence cannot be denied, but it should not be forgotten that the social environment is at least as essential as personal skills in the emergence and subsequent development of the individual. In other words, Linné was the son of the age of reason. Carolus Linnaeus, whom we know today as Carl Linné, was known by this name until 1761. In 1761 he was accepted ennoblement and changed his name as Carl von Linné. ¹ His greatest contribution to human history is undoubtedly the development of binomial nomenclature. He did not reach this idea at once. Like every other groundbreaking ideas, there was a long process behind it. This process was the individual history of both Europe and Linné. He was a good instructor and keen observer as well as a good researcher. At the age of 25, his scientific travel to Lapland, from May 12 to September 10, was showing his passion for research. Linnaeus was awarded a grant from the Royal Society of Sciences in Uppsala for this expedition.^26,27 In Lapland he collected different plants, minerals and animals. In this book, we see the first examples of the classification studies that will be completed later by him. ²⁸ Lapponica, published in 1737, includes more than 500 species and Linné classified them according to their geographical distribution.^26,27 This book, which is the first step towards his major work of classification, enables us to understand Linné's thinking system. Scientific expeditions and lecturing in the open field would be his general characteristic throughout Linne's entire life. In this way, he had the opportunity to observe objects in nature directly. Continuing to follow Linné's milestones, we see his degree of medical doctor he received from the Netherlands in 1735. His thesis title was in Latin “Hypothesis nova de febrium intermittentium causa”. As an education method, Linné was teaching nature to his students by walking outdoor fields. ²⁹ This was not originally his idea, similar method was also performing in the Reneissance and even Medieval. ³⁰ However, Linné was a very successful practitioner of this method. These excursions were public activity, open for both men and women not only students, who cares and interests on nature.^29,31 During excursions participants were collecting minerals, insects, plants so on. ²⁹ Besides scientific purposes, in this way, public awareness about nature was providing as well. The first stop on the road to binomial nomenclature was scientific expeditions, and the second was the classification style seen in Linné's manuscripts and books. In his manuscripts, Linné used lists and these lists were ordered numbered or alphabetical. For instance in his book “Biblioteca Botanica” had eight lists described according to names of genera and species. ² This was particularly important as it showed that the idea of classification has developed in his mind. He also used dichotomous diagrams for clarifying and understandable the knowledge.^2,32 This was also not his own idea such as outdoor education. When he designed diagrams, he took advantage of Tournefort’s approach which based on morphological properties of plants. ² Linné's general approach was to take things apart and then put in order them in a certainty. As mentioned above, Linné went to the Netherlands and lived for almost three years. These three years showed us another ability of Linné, his writing skill. He was one of the most productive scientist among natural scientists. In the Netherland period, only for three years, he wrote and published too many books, Systema Naturae (1735), Fundamenta Botanica (1736), Musa Cliffortiana (1736), Hortus Cliffortianus (1737), Flora Lapponica (1737), Genera Plantarum (1737), Critica Botanica (1737) and Classes Plantarum (1738), respectively.^33–35 It seems that the idea of binomial nomenclature was developed step by step in these books. After clarifying his ideas about nature in his mind, he organized them as diagrams and text and then published. Linné had an interesting learning method, he was using paper slips. These paper slips had uniform shapes, dimensions, 13.5X7.5 cm and today are stored at the Linnean Society in London. Totally, there are 1030 paper slips and most of them (901) are related to plants, others are mineralogical notes. ³⁶ By looking at these cards, it is possible to see the traces of the classification which Linne tried to make in Systema Naturae. As described above, binomial nomenclature was not developed at once, but gradually progressed as a particular process. Linné also adopted the classification method developed for plants to other organism including humans. In his masterpiece, Systema Naturae in 1735, he proposed a classification of mankind into four different races according to skin colors. These are, Europaeus albescens, Americanus rubescens, Asiaticus fuscus, Africanus nigriculus. Müller-Wille S. translated these definitions as “whitish”, “reddish”, “tawny” and “blackish”, respectively. ³⁷ In the same article, Müller-Wille accounts the purpose of the Linné why he classified human being and what he actually would like to do? According to his explanation, Linné aligns skin color or different physical features with characteristics that vary with environment or any other exogenous factors and Linné was not interested in the races. ³⁷ His classification was based more on geographic regions. As an interesting information, today in the beginning of the study of the human variations in terms of genomics studies were based on four major population groups, Yoruba, Japanese, Chinese, Europeans. ³⁸ In 2007, the second generation for same study was conducted with 270 individuals from four geographically diverse populations. These groups were 30 mother–father–adult child trios from the Yoruba in Ibadan, Nigeria; 30 trios of northern and western European ancestry living in Utah from the Centre d'Etude du Polymorphisme Humain collection; 45 unrelated Han Chinese individuals in Beijing, China; and 45 unrelated Japanese individuals in Tokyo, Japan, respectively. ³⁹ Same group, The International HapMap Consortium, was published another article in 2010 on same topic. In this study, same four groups were analyzed, in addition seven more populations were also included: African ancestry in the southwestern USA; Chinese in metropolitan Denver, Colorado, USA; Gujarati Indians in Houston, Texas, USA; Luhya in Webuye, Kenya; Maasai in Kinyawa, Kenya; Mexican ancestry in Los Angeles, California, USA; and samples collected in Tuscany, Italy. ⁴⁰ All three studies focused on the detection of genetic variations between different human populations using the most up-to-date genetic methods. The approach that was defined and classified as race in Linné's period was replaced by studies that examine different groups of people called populations today. The fact that the classification method developed by Linné 300 years ago is still being applied today, clearly reveals the importance of Linné once again.

We well know that Charles Darwin (1809-1882), one of the founder figures of the theory of evolution, which constitutes the main backbone of biology, was also aware of Linné's works and was deeply influenced by him. Linné’s binomial nomenclature spread all over the Europe rapidly. In England, Erasmus Darwin (1731-1802), grandfather of Charles Darwin, was the first translator of Linné's works from Latin to English. ⁴¹ In addition to his grandfather's translations, Charles Darwin also knew Linné's work in terms of his own botanical work. Darwin mentioned about Linné in his opus magnum “The Origin of Species. In his own words “Expressions such as the famous one by Linnaeus…”. ⁴² Considering Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection changed the position of man in the universe and its effect on human thought, Linné's influence gains value once again in this respect. In today’s biology in particular and natural sciences in general any scientific finding cannot be analyzed without inference of evolutionary perspective. In the natural sciences we have to classify things, e.g. in physics, 12 fundamental and four subatomic particles; in chemistry, molecules in the periodic table; in biology, classify non-living to living etc. Human, in particular has exact location in terms of evolution. In modern science according to Linnean taxonomy, human’s position in nature is; Kingdom (animalia), phylum (cordata), class (mammalia), order (primates), family (hominidae), genus (homo), species (Homo sapiens sapiens). ⁴³ With Linné’s own words “nomina si pereunt, perit et cognitio rerum” which means “without names, our knowledge of things would perish”. ⁴¹ As far as we know, the effort to classify living things, which started with Aristotle for the first time in human history, reached its peak with Linné. In 2007, the anniversary of Linné’s birth was celebrated in Sweden (www.linnaeus2007.se), and in UK (www.linnean.org) and some other places on May 23-24. ⁴⁴ Linné not only inspired his students and colleagues in his time, and later other scientists abroad, but also directly influenced many intellectuals from different fields. As an example, Goethe wrote in 1817: “… after Shakespeare and Spinoza, it is Linnaeus who has had the great influence on me”. ¹

Conclusion

Throughout history, people have put forward various ideas to bring together and organize information to create knowledge on nature. Being regular and organized is an essential precondition for obtaining and interpreting information. Knowledge as a processed form of information cannot be understood and analyzed in chaotic times. To obtain knowledge, steady and free atmosphere is an essential condition. This circumstance was also implied in some sense by Hesiod in Theogony, one of the oldest mythological texts of humanity. ⁴⁵ In Theogony, Hesiod accounts the origin of gods and goddesses. According to him, in the very beginning of time there was only chaos, then everything came out from it. In chaos in some other words, absolute nothingness period, there was no information. And somehow primordial creatures was born from chaos. This mythology, which corresponds to a primitive period of humanity, shows that we and the whole universe need some kind of order to obtain knowledge. The second condition requires after accessing the information is the arrangement and classification of the obtained information according to a certain hierarchy. Only after these processes complete the information can be analyzed in depth. In this way, it is possible to obtain objective information about nature, which is what exactly Linné did. As a result of the classification method he developed, he took his place in history as a pioneer scientist who regarded a radical change in our view of living things and life, and with the inspiration he gave to successor scientists.