The paper focuses on the exploration of the development of embryo with early modern thinkers. The examples of Girolamo Fabrici d’Acquapendente and William Harvey capture the ways in which the return to Aristotelian legacy in biology influenced their thoughts about living creatures. Further, we demonstrate how this legacy was modified by authors of future generations, Marcello Malpighi and Jan Swammerdam, who opposed the tradition represented by Fabrici and Harvey and even Aristotle himself and how they themselves contributed to the emerging debate on epigenesis and preformationism.
epigenesis, preformism, William Harvey, Girolamo Fabrici d’Acquapendente, Jan Swammerdam, Marcello Malpighi, Jakob Ruf, aristotelism, fetal chick development
ISSN 0300-4414 (print)
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