Author: Publisher: Odile Jacob
ISBN: 2738192483
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 313
Book Description
Author: Publisher: Odile Jacob
ISBN: 2738192483
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 313
Book Description
La fourmi et le sociobiologiste
Author: Pierre JaissonPublisher: Editions O. Jacob
ISBN:
Category : Animal behavior
Languages : fr
Pages : 336
Book Description
Qu'est-ce qu'une société animale ? Comment fonctionne-t-elle ? Comment et pourquoi le mode de vie social est-il apparu au cours de l'Evolution ? Les sociobiologistes interprètent les sociétés animales dans le cadre de la théorie de l'Évolution. Ils s'intéressent en particulier aux fourmis et aux abeilles. Mais les résultats de leurs recherches conduisent à se demander si leur démarche ne pourrait pas contribuer à mieux faire comprendre l'Homme lui-même. Ce faisant, la sociobiologie a suscité des malentendus et des polémiques, au point qu'elle est devenue injustement tabou en France. Pierre Jaisson, l'un de nos meilleurs spécialistes des sociétés animales, dresse le premier bilan sérieux d'une approche scientifique qu'il faut coûte que coûte préserver des idéologues.
A Philosophy of the Insect
Author: Jean-Marc DrouinPublisher: Columbia University Press
ISBN: 0231540728
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 177
Book Description
The world of insects is at once beneath our feet and unfathomably alien. Small and innumerable, insects surround and disrupt us even as we scarcely pay them any mind. Insects confront us with the limits of what is imaginable, while at the same time being essential to the everyday functioning of all terrestrial ecosystems. In this book, the philosopher and historian of science Jean-Marc Drouin contends that insects pose a fundamental challenge to philosophy. Exploring the questions of what insects are and what scientific, aesthetic, ethical, and historical relationships they have with humanity, he argues that they force us to reconsider our ideas of the animal and the social. He traces the role that insects have played in language, mythology, literature, entomology, sociobiology, and taxonomy over the centuries. Drouin emphasizes the links between humanistic and scientific approaches—how we have projected human roles onto insects and seen ourselves in insect form. Caught between the animal and plant kingdoms, insects force us to confront and reevaluate our notions of gender, family, society, struggle, the division of labor, social organization, and individual and collective intelligence. A remarkably original and thought-provoking work, A Philosophy of the Insect is an important book for animal studies, environmental ethics, and the history and philosophy of science.
Chaos and Society
Author: A. AlbertPublisher: IOS Press
ISBN: 9789051992144
Category : Computers
Languages : en
Pages : 416
Book Description
This publication reflects on the discussion on using chaos theory for the study of society. It explores the interface between chaos theory and the social sciences. A broad variety of fields (including Sociology, Anthropology, Economics, Political Science, Management, Philosophy and Cognitive Sciences) is represented in the book. The leading themes are: Conceptual and Methodological Issues, Social Connectionism and the Connectionist Mind, Social Institutions and Public Policy, and Social Simulations. The book includes the following topics: the relevance of the complexity-chaos paradigm for analyzing social systems, the usefulness of nonlinear dynamics for studying the formation and sustainability of social groups, the comparison between spontaneous social orders and spontaneous biological/natural orders, the building of Artificial Societies, and the contribution of the chaos paradigm to a better understanding and formulation of public policies.
The Art of Being a Parasite
Author: Claude CombesPublisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 022677872X
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 298
Book Description
Parasites are a masterful work of evolutionary art. The tiny mite Histiostoma laboratorium, a parasite of Drosophila, launches itself, in an incredible display of evolutionary engineering, like a surface-to-air missile at a fruit fly far above its head. Gravid mussels such as Lampsilis ventricosa undulate excitedly as they release their parasitic larval offspring, conning greedy predators in search of a tasty meal into hosting the parasite. The Art of Being a Parasite is an extensive collection of these and other wonderful and weird stories that illuminate the ecology and evolution of interactions between species. Claude Combes illustrates what it means to be a parasite by considering every stage of its interactions, from invading to reproducing and leaving the host. An accessible and engaging follow-up to Combes's Parasitism, this book will be of interest to both scholars and nonspecialists in the fields of biodiversity, natural history, ecology, public health, and evolution.
Evolution and Culture
Author: Stephen C. LevinsonPublisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 0262122782
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 315
Book Description
Twelve original essays examine the symbiotic relation of culture and genome.
Gene Avatars
Author: Pierre-Henri GouyonPublisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 0306475707
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 291
Book Description
`Why life?' Questions of this type were for a long time the prerogative of philosophers who left the `how' question to scientists. Nowadays, Darwin's successors no longer have any qualms about addressing the `why' as well as the `how'. Over a century ago, Darwin modestly admitted having 'thrown some light on the origin of species - this mystery of mysteries'. Two major advances in the following decades helped biologists answer many of the questions he left unsolved. The first was the discovery of the laws of heredity, the second that of DNA. Both provided Darwinian theory with the foundations that were lacking and led to the all-embracing neo-Darwinian synthesis. Since then, Theodosius Dobzhansky's aphorism `nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution' has proven true more than once. This does not suit everyone, as evolutionist ideas have not lost their power to cause a scandal. Darwin toppled man from his pedestal. Evolutionary genetics - the subject of this book - sends the individual crashing. Considered until recently to be the target of selection and the focus of evolution, the individual has been usurped by the gene. The individual is nothing but the gene's avatar.
Trust and Economic Learning
Author: Nathalie LazaricPublisher: Edward Elgar Publishing
ISBN: 9781781956731
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 312
Book Description
'This book is a welcome addition to two growing literatures in economics: on "trust" and "learning". . . . The book is well produced and well edited by Lazaric and Lorenz who provide a useful introduction and overview in their chapter on "The learning dynamics of trust, reputation and confidence".' - Jonathan Michie, The Economic Journal Trust and Economic Learning brings together innovative research by an internationally recognised group of scholars from Europe and the United States. The distinction between trust and a variety of related concepts, including reputation, implicit contracts and confidence is examined.
Comparative Studies of Prenatal Learning and Behaviour
Author: HepperPublisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 9780863779015
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 172
Book Description
The Pariah in Contemporary Society
Author: Marcienne MartinPublisher: Cambridge Scholars Publishing
ISBN: 1527502767
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 145
Book Description
Being the ugly duckling in a family or the pariah in a society amounts to living in marked and implicit difference, indifference, or even cruelty. The research to which this book is dedicated articulates the concept of the “pariah,” and it is through the various filters mentioned above that it proceeds to its analysis. Besides these, it also studies the notion of the “pariah” using the different strata that make up human society, such as literature. The book also presents the perceptions of lexicologists and psychologists, because behind the word there is the object, which is understood differently by the human psyche because it is included in value systems varying from one sociocultural group to another.
