Editing Ernst Haeckel (section)

==Personal life and death==
In 1864, his first wife, Anna Sethe, died. Haeckel dedicated some species of jellyfish that he found beautiful (such as ''Desmonema annasethe'') to her.<ref>{{cite book|first=Ernst|last=Haeckel|title=The Art and Science of Ernst Haeckel|pages= 14, 50|url=https://www.taschen.com/pages/en/catalogue/classics/all/01157/facts.the_art_and_science_of_ernst_haeckel.htm}}</ref>
<ref name=Innes>{{cite journal |last1=Innes |first1=Shelley |title=From Here to Eternity: Ernst Haeckel and Scientific Faith, Religion, Theology, and Natural Science, Vol. 3 by Mario di Gregorio |journal=Journal of the History of Biology |date=2006 |volume=39 |issue=1 |pages=214–216 | doi = 10.1007/s10739-006-0001-9 |jstor=4332000|s2cid=189843968 }}</ref>

Haeckel's second wife, Agnes, died in 1915, and he became substantially frailer, breaking his leg and arm.<ref name=HaeckelDE /> He sold his "Villa Medusa" in [[Jena]] in 1918 to the [[Carl Zeiss foundation]], which preserved his library.<ref name=HaeckelDE /> 
Haeckel died on 9 August 1919.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Kutschera|first1=Ulrich|last2=Levit|first2=Georgy S.|last3=Hossfeld|first3=Uwe|date=1 May 2019|title=Ernst Haeckel (1834–1919): The German Darwin and his impact on modern biology|journal=Theory in Biosciences| language=en| volume=138| issue=1| pages=1–7| doi=10.1007/s12064-019-00276-4|pmid=30799517|issn=1611-7530|doi-access=free}}</ref>

=== Religious views ===
In ''Monism as Connecting Religion and Science'' (1892), he argued in favor of [[monism]] as the view most compatible with the current scientific understanding of the natural world. His perspective of monism was pantheistic and impersonal. <blockquote>The monistic idea of God, which alone is compatible with our present knowledge of nature, recognizes the divine spirit in all things. It can never recognise in God a "personal being," or, in other words, an individual of limited extension in space, or even of human form. God is everywhere.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Haeckel |first1=Ernst |title=Monism as Connecting Religion and Science |date=1892 |url=https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/9199/pg9199-images.html |access-date=16 January 2023}}</ref></blockquote>
Haeckel became the most famous proponent of [[Monism]] in Germany.<ref>Weir, Todd H. ''Secularism and religion in nineteenth-century Germany. The rise of the fourth confession.'' Cambridge University Press, 2014, p. 67</ref>
In 1906 Haeckel belonged to the founders of the [[Monist League]] ([[:de:Deutscher Monistenbund|Deutscher Monistenbund]]), which took a stance against philosophical materialism and promote a "natural Weltanschauung".<ref>{{cite book |last1=Daum |first1=Andreas W. |author-link=Andreas Daum |title=Wissenschaftspopularisierung im 19. Jahrhundert: Bürgerliche Kultur, naturwissenschaftliche Bildung und die deutsche Öffentlichkeit, 1848–1914 |date=1998 |publisher=Oldenbourg |location=Munich |isbn=3-486-56337-8 |pages=215–219}}</ref> This organization lasted until 1933 and included such notable members as [[Wilhelm Ostwald]], [[Georg von Arco]] (1869–1940), [[Helene Stöcker]] and [[Walter Arthur Berendsohn]].<ref>''Health, Race and German Politics Between National Unification and Nazism'' by [[Paul Weindling]], Cambridge University Press, 1993., pp. 46, 250</ref>

=== Politics ===
Haeckel's affinity for the German [[Romanticism|Romantic movement]], coupled with his acceptance of a form of [[Lamarckism]], influenced his political beliefs. Rather than being a strict [[Natural selection|Darwinian]], Haeckel believed that the characteristics of an organism were acquired through interactions with the environment and that [[ontogeny]] reflected [[phylogeny]]. He saw the [[social science]]s as instances of "applied biology", and that phrase was picked up and used for [[Nazi propaganda]].<ref name=HaeckelUCB>"Ernst Haeckel" (biography), [[UC Berkeley]], 2004, webpage: [http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/history/haeckel.html BerkeleyEdu-Haeckel].</ref>

He was the first person to use the term "first world war" about [[World War I]].<ref name="Shapiro329">
{{cite book
 |title= The Yale Book of Quotations
 |editor= [[Fred R. Shapiro]] |publisher= [[Yale University Press]]
 |year= 2006 |pages= 329
 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=w5-GR-qtgXsC&q=The+Yale+book+of+quotations
 |isbn= 978-0-300-10798-2
 |quote= There is no doubt that the course and character of the feared "European War"...will become the first world war in the full sense of the word. ''[[Indianapolis Star]]'', 20 September 1914
}}
</ref>

However, Haeckel's books were banned by the [[Nazi Party]], which refused Monism and Haeckel's freedom of thought. Moreover, it is worth mentioning that Haeckel had often overtly recognized the great contribution of educated Jews to the German culture.<ref>{{cite book|first=Ernst|last=Haeckel|title=The Art and Science of Ernst Haeckel|pages=41}}</ref>