This idea is an extreme one. The human embryo with gill depressions in the neck was believed, for example, to resemble the adult appearance of a fishlike ancestor. Biologists have long debated whether ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny and, if so, why. ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny, which he translates as a moral imperative, Diana's experience is meant to teach that, for the good of the race, the subject should (because he must) give up his indi vidual claims. Thus ontogeny (development of form) retraces the steps of phylogeny (evolutionary descent). Because it is false, it does not fit the fossil record and is inconsistent with any logic. “Ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny” Historical perspective. On this basis Haeckel gave his generalization: ontogeny (individual development) recapitulates (repeats) phylogeny (evolutionary descent). This notion later became simply known as recapitulation. Although the absolute form of the theory has been dicredited, it introduces an interesting concept in relation to go. It proposed a link between ontogeny (development of form) and phylogeny (evolutionary descent), summed up by Haeckel in the phrase "ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny". Two plausible explanations are that (i) changes to early developmental stages are selected against because they tend to disrupt later development and (ii) simpler structures often precede more complex ones in both ontogeny and phylogeny if the former serve as building blocks for the latter. Thus its development would reiterate its evolutionary history—ontogeny recapitulating phylogeny. Haeckel (1834-1919) was a scientist of impeccable credentials. In this area, the phrase refers … Haeckel’s theory was that an embryo goes through the adult form of all its evolutionary ancestors during embryonic development. In our recent Oncogene article: ‘Onco-ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny – a consideration’, we have taken Ernst Haeckel’s dismissed theorem and, as a thought experiment, applied it to that compressed evolution that is cancer. Complex organisms cannot develop by accident any more than the words on this page could accidentally be formed from random arrangements of letters. This is the lesson Diana repeats as if by rote: "'There is nothing the body suffers that the soul may not profit fly,' " she states. It is one of several recapitulation theories, which posit that the stages of development for an animal embryo are … This notion later became simply known as recapitulation. Behind the Paper: Onco-ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny – a consideration. His concept of recapitulation has been refuted in the form he gave it (now called "strong recapitulation"), in favour of the ideas first advanced by Karl Ernst von Baer. Simply put, the theory stated that, in the development of an embryo, the whole process of evolution is repeated for a species. Imagist: Ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny, also known as Recapitulation Theory is an early evolutionary theory from biology. The relationship between ontogeny and phylogeny was a predominant view throughout the 21st century. It is widely known that different species of organisms are much more similar to each other in … The idea of "ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny" does, however, still carry some weight in theories of language development. Haeckel formulated his theory as such: "Ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny". Ernst Haeckel's Biogenetic Law (1866) The biogenetic law is a theory of development and evolution proposed by Ernst Haeckel in Germany in the 1860s. Haeckel produced several embryo drawings which overemphasized similarities between embryos of related species and found their way into many biology textbooks. 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