Background
Rignano, Eugenio was born on May 31, 1870 in Livorno, Italy.
Rignano, Eugenio was born on May 31, 1870 in Livorno, Italy.
Rignano edited the journal Scientia. His book The Psychology of Reasoning (1923) influenced the social anthropologist Edward Evans-Pritchard. His book Manitoba Not a Machine (1926) was replied to by Joseph Needham"s Manitoba A Machine (1927).
Rignano took interest in biology and wrote a book that argued for the inheritance of acquired characteristics.
He advanced a moderated Lamarckian hypothesis of inheritance known as "centro-epigenesis". His views were controversial and not accepted by most in the scientific community.
Rignano"s views on acquired characteristics and organic memory are discussed in detail by historian Laura Otis and psychologist Daniel Schacter.
Rignano began with sociology and economics and then turned to problems in biology and psychology. He places memory at the basis of all biological phenomena, believing it to make possible all adaptation and the formation of instincts and emotions and even of reason. He distinguished constructive from intentional reasoning. The former seeks new truths and characterizes positive science; the latter seeks confirmation of what is already believed and characterizes metaphysics. Despite a scepticism about the latter activity Rignano elaborates a kind of biological metaphysics which posits a nervous energy at the foundation of life and evolution that is capable of moulding matter and directing it adaptively. Indeed, life in its entirety shows an end-directedness that would be inexplicable without this directing force, a force which continues into moral life so as to guarantee to individuals the satisfaction of their needs in more harmonious societies.