Vegetation and Life from Wolff to Hanov

A committed supporter of mechanism, Christian Wolff mentions the vegetative soul as a notable example of an “empty term” or meaningless expression. In spite of this unconditional rejection of the vegetative soul, his major disciple in the field of natural philosophy felt the need to reintroduce something similar. In the 1760s, Michael Christoph Hanov revised Wolff’s account of vegetation and life by claiming that life is the product of a vegetative force and not of pure mechanism. After reconstructing both Wolff’s and Hanov’s accounts, this paper explores the reasons and implications of the latter’s revival of vegetative powers and argues for its relevance to the early history of biology.