In the same intellectual tradition is the reconciliation of evolutionary and developmental biology, sparked in large part by Stephen Jay Gould's Ontogeny and Phytogeny (1977), which documents the often ugly legacy of
recapitulation theory and the alternatives offered by heterochrony.
Like many modern abortionists, Haeckel rejected the theory that states that human life begins at conception, and erroneously claimed that embryological development (ontogeny) recapitulated evolutionary ancestry (phylogeny); that each individual person, as it develops from conception to adulthood passes through the evolutionary stages of its ancestors, (the
recapitulation theory).
35), Sumpter traces the influence of the
recapitulation theory in the production and reception of fairy tales in the period.
Stanley Hall's
recapitulation theory, the belief that children pass through prior stages of species development in order to achieve humanity.
The
Recapitulation theory emphasizes salvation as the restoration of human existence to its original condition.