Abstract
The sixth part of this series on the history of the biological sciences over the last 100 years focuses on general biological theories during the interwar period, which had a broader biological, philosophical, social and cultural impact in general. The older type of naturalistic vitalism was represented by Josef Velenovský and František Mareš.
The activities of Emanuel Rádl in the history and methodology of the science are recalled, as are and the broader theories of medical biologists Vilém Laufberger, Vladislav Růžička and František Karel Studnička. The representatives of the new theoretically progressive directions of holism, conditionalism and organicism were the creators of the concept of general biology: Jan Bělehrádek, Vladimír Úlehla and Ferdinand Herčík.
Eugenics theory endeavoured to achieve practical social application on a biological basis, as did the theory of biotypological or constitutional biology from the 1930s.