The Historical Development of “Time Law of Intersexuality”and Its Philosophical Implications

Abstract

After a seminar in which I had discussed Richard Goldschmidt’s opposition to the chromosome theory of heredity, a colleague asked me if the history of twentieth century genetics might not have been better off had Goldschmidt never existed. Such a question underscores one of the vagaries of the history of science: a tendency to see events and people in terms only of progress toward the “right” idea. While it is true that Goldschmidt may be remembered by many biologists today more for the ways he was wrong than the ways he was right, such presentist views fail to see the complex interweavings which makes up the fabric of history. Despite the content of his theories (which are by and large rejected, in detail, by modern standards) Goldschmidt played an important role in the history of twentieth century genetics. Our understanding of, and approach to, genetic processes today bears the mark of the kinds of questions which Goldschmidt persisted in asking, often irreverently, throughout his entire career.