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Author: Spyridon A. Koutroufinis
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781940447476
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 318
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Book Description
The authors of these essays examine core dimensions of the human condition in light of biophilosophy and process metaphysics, which they apply to such core anthropological issues as the survival of both the human species and the biosphere as a whole. With a general focus on the unique capacity for symbolization as marking an important and influential factor in human evolution, the authors address key issues in biophilosophy, such as the specific ways we differ from other species, our capacity to symbolize and create a helpful or dangerous distance from life, and our playfulness and proclivity for mythmaking. Questions addressed include the following: How did symbolic thought shape the evolution of the human species? How did symbolic systems shape human experience of and reasoning about space, time, matter, life, and natural processes? How do our unique forms of power relations distinguish humans from other species? How do our spiritual and metaphysical belief systems influence human rationality and morality? How can we balance our spiritual needs with our rational abilities, and how could this influence our future evolution? How should we respond to the trends towards transhumanism and bio-technocracy? Our intellect is troubled by a consciousness of its own evolution, by the ecological and ethical challenges of a severely degraded environment, and it wields great symbolic and mythic fictions with the power to influence the bio-social evolution of future humans. Despite all our unique qualities, we cannot set ourselves apart from the natural heritage we share with every living being on planet Earth. Somewhere between transhumanism and cosmohumanism, we must find an ethical guide, an organismic and cosmic consciousness, and a speculative framework to manage our knowledge and our spontaneous actions towards the future.
Author: Spyridon A. Koutroufinis
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781940447476
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 318
Get Book Here
Book Description
The authors of these essays examine core dimensions of the human condition in light of biophilosophy and process metaphysics, which they apply to such core anthropological issues as the survival of both the human species and the biosphere as a whole. With a general focus on the unique capacity for symbolization as marking an important and influential factor in human evolution, the authors address key issues in biophilosophy, such as the specific ways we differ from other species, our capacity to symbolize and create a helpful or dangerous distance from life, and our playfulness and proclivity for mythmaking. Questions addressed include the following: How did symbolic thought shape the evolution of the human species? How did symbolic systems shape human experience of and reasoning about space, time, matter, life, and natural processes? How do our unique forms of power relations distinguish humans from other species? How do our spiritual and metaphysical belief systems influence human rationality and morality? How can we balance our spiritual needs with our rational abilities, and how could this influence our future evolution? How should we respond to the trends towards transhumanism and bio-technocracy? Our intellect is troubled by a consciousness of its own evolution, by the ecological and ethical challenges of a severely degraded environment, and it wields great symbolic and mythic fictions with the power to influence the bio-social evolution of future humans. Despite all our unique qualities, we cannot set ourselves apart from the natural heritage we share with every living being on planet Earth. Somewhere between transhumanism and cosmohumanism, we must find an ethical guide, an organismic and cosmic consciousness, and a speculative framework to manage our knowledge and our spontaneous actions towards the future.
Author: David P. Mindell
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 0674041089
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 352
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Book Description
In the 150 years since Darwin, evolutionary biology has proven as essential as it is controversial, a critical concept for answering questions about everything from the genetic code and the structure of cells to the reproduction, development, and migration of animal and plant life. But today, as David P. Mindell makes undeniably clear in The Evolving World, evolutionary biology is much more than an explanatory concept. It is indispensable to the world we live in. This book provides the first truly accessible and balanced account of how evolution has become a tool with applications that are thoroughly integrated, and deeply useful, in our everyday lives and our societies, often in ways that we do not realize. When we domesticate wild species for agriculture or companionship; when we manage our exposure to pathogens and prevent or control epidemics; when we foster the diversity of species and safeguard the functioning of ecosystems: in each of these cases, Mindell shows us, evolutionary biology applies. It is at work when we recognize that humans represent a single evolutionary family with variant cultures but shared biological capabilities and motivations. And last but not least, we see here how evolutionary biology comes into play when we use knowledge of evolution to pursue justice within the legal system and to promote further scientific discovery through education and academic research. More than revealing evolution's everyday uses and value, The Evolving World demonstrates the excitement inherent in its applications--and convinces us as never before that evolutionary biology has become absolutely necessary for human existence.
Author: Roderick Floud
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1139500805
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 459
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Book Description
Humans have become much taller and heavier, and experience healthier and longer lives than ever before in human history. However it is only recently that historians, economists, human biologists and demographers have linked the changing size, shape and capability of the human body to economic and demographic change. This fascinating and groundbreaking book presents an accessible introduction to the field of anthropometric history, surveying the causes and consequences of changes in health and mortality, diet and the disease environment in Europe and the United States since 1700. It examines how we define and measure health and nutrition as well as key issues such as whether increased longevity contributes to greater productivity or, instead, imposes burdens on society through the higher costs of healthcare and pensions. The result is a major contribution to economic and social history with important implications for today's developing world and the health trends of the future.
Author: Martin A. Nowak
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 0674417755
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 390
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Book Description
At a time of unprecedented expansion in the life sciences, evolution is the one theory that transcends all of biology. Any observation of a living system must ultimately be interpreted in the context of its evolution. Evolutionary change is the consequence of mutation and natural selection, which are two concepts that can be described by mathematical equations. Evolutionary Dynamics is concerned with these equations of life. In this book, Martin A. Nowak draws on the languages of biology and mathematics to outline the mathematical principles according to which life evolves. His work introduces readers to the powerful yet simple laws that govern the evolution of living systems, no matter how complicated they might seem. Evolution has become a mathematical theory, Nowak suggests, and any idea of an evolutionary process or mechanism should be studied in the context of the mathematical equations of evolutionary dynamics. His book presents a range of analytical tools that can be used to this end: fitness landscapes, mutation matrices, genomic sequence space, random drift, quasispecies, replicators, the Prisoner’s Dilemma, games in finite and infinite populations, evolutionary graph theory, games on grids, evolutionary kaleidoscopes, fractals, and spatial chaos. Nowak then shows how evolutionary dynamics applies to critical real-world problems, including the progression of viral diseases such as AIDS, the virulence of infectious agents, the unpredictable mutations that lead to cancer, the evolution of altruism, and even the evolution of human language. His book makes a clear and compelling case for understanding every living system—and everything that arises as a consequence of living systems—in terms of evolutionary dynamics.
Author: Kevin N. Lala
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 0691262403
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 440
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Book Description
A new account of the central role developmental processes play in evolution A new scientific view of evolution is emerging—one that challenges and expands our understanding of how evolution works. Recent research demonstrates that organisms differ greatly in how effective they are at evolving. Whether and how each organism adapts and diversifies depends critically on the mechanistic details of how that organism operates—its development, physiology, and behavior. That is because the evolutionary process itself has evolved over time, and continues to evolve. The scientific understanding of evolution is evolving too, with groundbreaking new ways of explaining evolutionary change. In this book, a group of leading biologists draw on the latest findings in evolutionary genetics and evo-devo, as well as novel insights from studies of epigenetics, symbiosis, and inheritance, to examine the central role that developmental processes play in evolution. Written in an accessible style, and illustrated with fascinating examples of natural history, the book presents recent scientific discoveries that expand evolutionary biology beyond the classical view of gene transmission guided by natural selection. Without undermining the central importance of natural selection and other Darwinian foundations, new developmental insights indicate that all organisms possess their own characteristic sets of evolutionary mechanisms. The authors argue that a consideration of developmental phenomena is needed for evolutionary biologists to generate better explanations for adaptation and biodiversity. This book provides a new vision of adaptive evolution.
Author: Nelson Çabej
Publisher: Elsevier
ISBN: 0124158315
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 847
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Book Description
Cabej (biology, U. of Tirana, Albania) explains the epigenetic principles of evolution (as opposed to the theory of evolution as determined by changes in genes) and reconstructs the developmental mechanisms of evolutionary changes in metazoans, based on empirical evidence. He focuses on the mechanisms of the generation of the evolutionary innovations from the influence of environment on heredity rather than the role of natural selection. He discusses control systems and determination of phenotypic traits in metazoans, neural manipulation of gene expression, epigenetic control of reproduction and early development, neural control of postphylotypic development, and the epigenetic system of inheritance. He follows with description of neural-developmental premises of evolutionary adaptation, including evolution and stress responses and behavioral adaptation to changes in environment, ontogeny, and intragenerational developmental plasticity; epigenetics of circumevolutionary phenomena and the mechanism of evolutionary change, including transgenerational developmental plasticity and the evolution of metazoans and their control system; and the origins of evolutionary novelty, evolution by loss or by reverting to ancestral characters, neural crest-determined evolutionary novelties, evolutionary convergences, species and allopatric speciation, and sympatric speciation. He presents the available evidence for his theory, rather than illustrating an established theory, and includes a comparative presentation of the neo-Darwinian view to his epigenetic explanation. There is no index. Annotation ©2012 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com).
Author: Richard Joyce
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317655567
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 569
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Book Description
In recent years, the relation between contemporary academic philosophy and evolutionary theory has become ever more active, multifaceted, and productive. The connection is a bustling two-way street. In one direction, philosophers of biology make significant contributions to theoretical discussions about the nature of evolution (such as "What is a species?"; "What is reproductive fitness?"; "Does selection operate primarily on genes?"; and "What is an evolutionary function?"). In the other direction, a broader group of philosophers appeal to Darwinian selection in an attempt to illuminate traditional philosophical puzzles (such as "How could a brain-state have representational content?"; "Are moral judgments justified?"; "Why do we enjoy fiction?"; and "Are humans invariably selfish?"). In grappling with these questions, this interdisciplinary collection includes cutting-edge examples from both directions of traffic. The thirty contributions, written exclusively for this volume, are divided into six sections: The Nature of Selection; Evolution and Information; Human Nature; Evolution and Mind; Evolution and Ethics; and Evolution, Aesthetics, and Art. Many of the contributing philosophers and psychologists are international leaders in their fields.
Author: Mathias Albert
Publisher: transcript Verlag
ISBN: 3839465273
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 168
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Book Description
How can we understand long-term change in world politics better? Based on readings of thinkers as diverse as Habermas, Foucault and Luhmann, the authors of this book propose a framework for understanding such change in terms of social evolution. They show that processes of social learning and unlearning are key to understanding the long-term historical evolution of complex societies, and propose to approach these with the core concepts of autonomization, hierarchical complexity, and co-evolution. Three case studies illustrate this social evolutionary perspective to the study of world politics, examining the evolution of forms of organizing political authority, of conflicts, of diplomacy, of law as boundary condition.
Author: Ank Fay Kha Tron
Publisher: Ank Fay Kha Tron
ISBN:
Category : Body, Mind & Spirit
Languages : en
Pages : 94
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Book Description
We have always asked ourselves who we are, where we come from, where we are going, why we are here, and many other questions. However, never before have we found answers as revealing as the ones Sara Maikaha shows us. The truth is that we are beings of light in a great human temple, and we are here to become aware of our divine origin. Now we are fully prepared to return to our true home and advance step by step towards our encounter with God. Very soon, planet Earth, Gaia or the blue planet, will undergo a great transformation. Therefore, it is crucial that we prepare for the events ahead. This is not an apocalypse, but rather great changes that will ultimately lead us to a great rebirth.
Author: Menno Schilthuizen
Publisher: Picador
ISBN: 1250127831
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 305
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Book Description
*Carrion crows in the Japanese city of Sendai have learned to use passing traffic to crack nuts. *Lizards in Puerto Rico are evolving feet that better grip surfaces like concrete. *Europe’s urban blackbirds sing at a higher pitch than their rural cousins, to be heardover the din of traffic. How is this happening? Menno Schilthuizen is one of a growing number of “urban ecologists” studying how our manmade environments are accelerating and changing the evolution of the animals and plants around us. In Darwin Comes to Town, he takes us around the world for an up-close look at just how stunningly flexible and swift-moving natural selection can be. With human populations growing, we’re having an increasing impact on global ecosystems, and nowhere do these impacts overlap as much as they do in cities. The urban environment is about as extreme as it gets, and the wild animals and plants that live side-by-side with us need to adapt to a whole suite of challenging conditions: they must manage in the city’s hotter climate (the “urban heat island”); they need to be able to live either in the semidesert of the tall, rocky, and cavernous structures we call buildings or in the pocket-like oases of city parks (which pose their own dangers, including smog and free-rangingdogs and cats); traffic causes continuous noise, a mist of fine dust particles, and barriers to movement for any animal that cannot fly or burrow; food sources are mainly human-derived. And yet, as Schilthuizen shows, the wildlife sharing these spaces with us is not just surviving, but evolving ways of thriving. Darwin Comes toTown draws on eye-popping examples of adaptation to share a stunning vision of urban evolution in which humans and wildlife co-exist in a unique harmony. It reveals that evolution can happen far more rapidly than Darwin dreamed, while providing a glimmer of hope that our race toward over population might not take the rest of nature down with us.
