Notes for Anti-Dühring¶
This section contains Engels’s preparatory notes for Anti-Dühring, comprising fragmentary reflections, historical sketches, and scientific outlines rather than finished prose. The notes range across the history of natural science, from the Renaissance and Reformation through Copernicus, Newton, Kant, Laplace, Darwin, and Lyell, and touch upon disciplines including astronomy, geology, chemistry, and biology. Engels discusses the personification of nature, the emergence of gods, and the gradual ejection of the Creator from scientific explanation, citing figures such as Secchi, Agassiz, and Tyndall. The material is organised under headings like ‘Historical’, ‘Astronomy’, and ‘Physics’, and includes critical remarks on teleology and the conservative outlook on nature.