Download or read book The Natural Selection of Autonomy written by Bruce N. Waller and published by SUNY Press. This book was released on 1998-01-01 with total page 212 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Challenges the deep traditional assumption that autonomy, morality, and moral responsibility are uniquely human characteristics.
Download or read book Biological Autonomy written by Alvaro Moreno and published by Springer. This book was released on 2015-05-04 with total page 249 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Since Darwin, Biology has been framed on the idea of evolution by natural selection, which has profoundly influenced the scientific and philosophical comprehension of biological phenomena and of our place in Nature. This book argues that contemporary biology should progress towards and revolve around an even more fundamental idea, that of autonomy. Biological autonomy describes living organisms as organised systems, which are able to self-produce and self-maintain as integrated entities, to establish their own goals and norms, and to promote the conditions of their existence through their interactions with the environment. Topics covered in this book include organisation and biological emergence, organisms, agency, levels of autonomy, cognition, and a look at the historical dimension of autonomy. The current development of scientific investigations on autonomous organisation calls for a theoretical and philosophical analysis. This can contribute to the elaboration of an original understanding of life - including human life - on Earth, opening new perspectives and enabling fecund interactions with other existing theories and approaches. This book takes up the challenge.
Download or read book On the Origin of Autonomy written by Bernd Rosslenbroich and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2014-04-15 with total page 302 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume describes features of autonomy and integrates them into the recent discussion of factors in evolution. In recent years ideas about major transitions in evolution are undergoing a revolutionary change. They include questions about the origin of evolutionary innovation, their genetic and epigenetic background, the role of the phenotype and of changes in ontogenetic pathways. In the present book, it is argued that it is likewise necessary to question the properties of these innovations and what was qualitatively generated during the macroevolutionary transitions. The author states that a recurring central aspect of macroevolutionary innovations is an increase in individual organismal autonomy whereby it is emancipated from the environment with changes in its capacity for flexibility, self-regulation and self-control of behavior. The first chapters define the concept of autonomy and examine its history and its epistemological context. Later chapters demonstrate how changes in autonomy took place during the major evolutionary transitions and investigate the generation of organs and physiological systems. They synthesize material from various disciplines including zoology, comparative physiology, morphology, molecular biology, neurobiology and ethology. It is argued that the concept is also relevant for understanding the relation of the biological evolution of man to his cultural abilities. Finally the relation of autonomy to adaptation, niche construction, phenotypic plasticity and other factors and patterns in evolution is discussed. The text has a clear perspective from the context of systems biology, arguing that the generation of biological autonomy must be interpreted within an integrative systems approach.
Download or read book What Makes Biology Unique written by Ernst Mayr and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2007-04-16 with total page 252 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book, a collection of essays written by the most eminent evolutionary biologist of the twentieth century, explores biology as an autonomous science, offers insights on the history of evolutionary thought, critiques the contributions of philosophy to the science of biology, and comments on several of the major ongoing issues in evolutionary theory. Notably, Mayr explains that Darwin's theory of evolution is actually five separate theories, each with its own history, trajectory and impact. Natural selection is a separate idea from common descent, and from geographic speciation, and so on. A number of the perennial Darwinian controversies may well have been caused by the confounding of the five separate theories into a single composite. Those interested in evolutionary theory, or the philosophy and history of science will find useful ideas in this book, which should appeal to virtually anyone with a broad curiosity about biology.
Download or read book The Natural Selection of Autonomy written by Bruce N. Waller and published by State University of New York Press. This book was released on 1998-07-10 with total page 212 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Natural Selection of Autonomy challenges the deep traditional assumption that autonomy, morality, and moral responsibility are uniquely human characteristics. By examining autonomy on a larger scale in the natural world, it clears away the mysteries associated with autonomy claims and shows what is valuable and adaptive (for humans and other animals) in genuine open alternatives—and how human reason strengthens, rather than creates, autonomous behavior. Drawing on recent research in biology, psychology, and philosophy, The Natural Selection of Autonomy attacks widely shared and deeply held beliefs that have passed from the historical pre-Darwinian philosophical tradition into contemporary thought, and offers a clear look at the evolution of autonomous moral behavior among many species, including—but not limited to—human animals.
Download or read book The Evolution of Beauty written by Richard O. Prum and published by Anchor. This book was released on 2017-05-09 with total page 436 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A FINALIST FOR THE PULITZER PRIZE NAMED A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR BY THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW, SMITHSONIAN, AND WALL STREET JOURNAL A major reimagining of how evolutionary forces work, revealing how mating preferences—what Darwin termed "the taste for the beautiful"—create the extraordinary range of ornament in the animal world. In the great halls of science, dogma holds that Darwin's theory of natural selection explains every branch on the tree of life: which species thrive, which wither away to extinction, and what features each evolves. But can adaptation by natural selection really account for everything we see in nature? Yale University ornithologist Richard Prum—reviving Darwin's own views—thinks not. Deep in tropical jungles around the world are birds with a dizzying array of appearances and mating displays: Club-winged Manakins who sing with their wings, Great Argus Pheasants who dazzle prospective mates with a four-foot-wide cone of feathers covered in golden 3D spheres, Red-capped Manakins who moonwalk. In thirty years of fieldwork, Prum has seen numerous display traits that seem disconnected from, if not outright contrary to, selection for individual survival. To explain this, he dusts off Darwin's long-neglected theory of sexual selection in which the act of choosing a mate for purely aesthetic reasons—for the mere pleasure of it—is an independent engine of evolutionary change. Mate choice can drive ornamental traits from the constraints of adaptive evolution, allowing them to grow ever more elaborate. It also sets the stakes for sexual conflict, in which the sexual autonomy of the female evolves in response to male sexual control. Most crucially, this framework provides important insights into the evolution of human sexuality, particularly the ways in which female preferences have changed male bodies, and even maleness itself, through evolutionary time. The Evolution of Beauty presents a unique scientific vision for how nature's splendor contributes to a more complete understanding of evolution and of ourselves.
Download or read book Autonomy and Social Interaction written by Joseph H. Kupfer and published by SUNY Press. This book was released on 1990-08-14 with total page 238 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book makes a distinctive contribution to the growing discussion of autonomy. As the ability to determine ones life in both thought and action, autonomy is foundational among our many and varied values. Other philosophical treatments tend to emphasize the significance of autonomy for moral theory or institutional arrangements such as legal, political, or economic power structures. Kupfer, however, focuses on the context of social relations and interactions in which autonomous living occurs. He handles autonomy and social interaction reciprocally, so that the significance of each for the other is drawn out. In addition, key themes are threaded throughout, such as the nature of dependency, self-concept and self-knowledge, and authority.
Download or read book Natural Selection written by Richard G. Delisle and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2021-02-27 with total page 474 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book contests the general view that natural selection constitutes the explanatory core of evolutionary biology. It invites the reader to consider an alternative view which favors a more complete and multidimensional interpretation. It is common to present the 1930-1960 period as characterized by the rise of the Modern Synthesis, an event structured around two main explanatory commitments: (1) Gradual evolution is explained by small genetic changes (variations) oriented by natural selection, a process leading to adaptation; (2) Evolutionary trends and speciational events are macroevolutionary phenomena that can be accounted for solely in terms of the extension of processes and mechanisms occurring at the previous microevolutionary level. On this view, natural selection holds a central explanatory role in evolutionary theory - one that presumably reaches back to Charles Darwin's Origin of Species - a view also accompanied by the belief that the field of evolutionary biology is organized around a profound divide: theories relying on strong selective factors and those appealing only to weak ones. If one reads the new analyses presented in this volume by biologists, historians and philosophers, this divide seems to be collapsing at a rapid pace, opening an era dedicated to the search for a new paradigm for the development of evolutionary biology. Contrary to popular belief, scholars' position on natural selection is not in itself a significant discriminatory factor between most evolutionists. In fact, the intellectual space is quite limited, if not non-existent, between, on the one hand, "Darwinists", who play down the central role of natural selection in evolutionary explanations, and, on the other hand, "non-Darwinists", who use it in a list of other evolutionary mechanisms. The "mechanism-centered" approach to evolutionary biology is too incomplete to fully make sense of its development. In this book the labels created under the traditional historiography - "Darwinian Revolution", "Eclipse of Darwinism", "Modern Synthesis", "Post-Synthetic Developments" - are thus re-evaluated. This book will not only appeal to researchers working in evolutionary biology, but also to historians and philosophers."
Download or read book Recognizing the Autonomy of Nature written by Thomas Heyd and published by Columbia University Press. This book was released on 2005-11-09 with total page 250 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How do the ways in which we think about and describe nature shape the use and protection of the environment? Do our seemingly well-intentioned efforts in environmental conservation reflect a respect for nature or our desire to control nature's wildness? The contributors to this collection address these and other questions as they explore the theoretical and practical implications of a crucial aspect of environmental philosophy and policy-the autonomy of nature. In focusing on the recognition and meaning of nature's autonomy and linking issues of metaphysics, epistemology, ethics, and policy, the essays provide a variety of new perspectives on human relationships to nature. The authors begin by exploring what is meant by "nature," in what sense it can be seen as autonomous, and what respect for the autonomy of nature might entail. They examine the conflicts that arise between the satisfaction of human needs (food, shelter, etc.) and the natural world. The contributors also consider whether the activities of human beings contribute to nature's autonomy. In their investigation of these issues, they not only draw on philosophy and ethics; they also discuss how the idea of nature's autonomy affects policy decisions regarding the protection of agricultural, rural, and beach areas. The essays in the book's final section turn to management and restoration practices. The essays in this section pay close attention to how efforts at environmental protection alter or reinforce the traditional relationship between humans and nature. More specifically, the contributors examine whether management practices, as they are applied in nature conservation, actually promote the autonomy of nature, or whether they turn the environment into a "client" for policymakers.
Download or read book From Darwinian Metaphysics Towards Understanding the Evolution of Evolutionary Mechanisms written by Momme von Sydow and published by Universitätsverlag Göttingen. This book was released on 2012 with total page 502 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Although Charles Darwin predicted that his theory 'would give zest to ... metaphysics, ' even he would be astonished at the variety of paths his theory has in fact taken. This holds with regard to both gene-Darwinism, a purified Darwinian approach biologizing the social sciences, and process- Darwinism found in the disciplines of psychology, philosophy of science, and economics. Although Darwinism is often linked to highly confirmed biological theories, some of its interpretations seem to profit from tautological claims as well, where scientific reputation cloaks ideological usage. This book discusses central tenets of Darwinism historically as well as systematically, for example the history of different Darwinian paradigms, the units-of-selection debate, and the philosophical problem of induction as basis of metaphysical Darwinism. Crucially the book addresses the Darwinian claim that evolution is governed by an immutable and unrelentingly cruel law of natural selection. Paradoxically, Darwins theory is a static, non-evolutionary theory of evolution. The current book sketches the historical background and provides suggestions that may help to replace this approach by the idea of an evolution of evolutionary mechanisms (see Escher's 'Drawing Hands' on the cover). This view even suggests a tendency to overcome the blindness of the knowledge acquisition of primordial Darwinian processes and allows for some freedom from external environments. This book first develops a radically Darwinian approach, then criticises this approach from within. Even Darwinism has a tendency to transcend itself. Although the book addresses several empirical issues, it does not challenge particular findings. Instead it builds on many insights of Darwinism and provides a proposal for interpreting known empirical evidence in a different light. It should help pave the way for further developing an understanding of nature that transcends Darwinian metaphysics"--Publisher's description.
Download or read book Beyond Natural Selection written by Robert G. Wesson and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 1993 with total page 382 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: proposes an approach to evolution that is more in harmony with modern science than Darwinism or neo-Darwinism
Download or read book The Evolution of Cultural Entities written by Michael Wheeler and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2002 with total page 252 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Ever since Darwin, scholars have noted that cultural entities such as languages, laws and theories seem to evolve through variation, selection and replication. These essays consider whether this comparison is just a metaphor.
Download or read book Human Autonomy in Cross Cultural Context written by Valery I. Chirkov and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2010-12-02 with total page 291 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume presents the reader with a stimulating tapestry of essays exploring the nature of personal autonomy, self-determination, and agency, and their role in human optimal functioning at multiple levels of analysis from personal to societal and cross-cultural. The starting point for these explorations is self-determination theory, an integrated theory of human motivation and healthy development which has been under development for more than three decades (Deci & Ryan, 2000). As the contributions will make clear, psychological autonomy is a concept that forms the bridge between the dependence of human behavior on biological and socio-cultural determinants on the one side, and people’s ability to be free, reflective, and transforming agents who can challenge these dependencies, on the other. The authors within this volume share a vision that human autonomy is a fundamental pre-condition for both individuals and groups to thrive, and that without understanding the nature and mechanisms of autonomous agency vital social and human problems cannot be satisfactory addressed. This multidisciplinary team of researchers will collectively explore the nature of personal autonomy, considering its developmental origins, its expression within relationships, its importance within groups and organizational functioning, and its role in promoting to the democratic and economic development of societies. The book is aimed toward developmental, social, personality, and cross-cultural psychologists, towards researchers and practitioners’ in the areas of education, health and medicine, social work and, economics, and also towards all interested in creating a more sustainable and just world society through promoting individual freedom and agency. This volume will provide a theoretical and conceptual account of the nature and psychological mechanisms of personal motivational autonomy and human agency; rich multidisciplinary empirical evidence supporting the claims and propositions about the nature of human autonomy and capacities for self-regulation; explanations of how and why different psychological and socio-cultural conditions may play a role in promoting or undermining people’s autonomous motivation and well-being, discussions of how the promotion of human autonomy can positively influence environmental protection, democracy promotion and economic prosperity.
Download or read book Commonsense Darwinism written by John Lemos and published by Open Court. This book was released on 2015-11-09 with total page 265 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Written in a simple, accessible style, Commonsense Darwinism offers a clear, critical examination of the subject. Assuming that the diversity of life, including human beings, is the result of evolution from common origins and that its driving force is natural selection, the book explores what this might mean for issues in ethics, philosophy of religion, epistemology, and metaphysics. The author’s defense of free will makes this an especially stimulating read.
Download or read book Practical Autonomy and Bioethics written by James Stacey Taylor and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2010-07 with total page 228 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book develops a unique account of autonomy in which its attribution to agents is dependent in part on their relationships with others and not merely upon their mental states. This is then applied to bioethical issues—e.g., informed consent and patient confidentiality—in which autonomy plays a central role.
Download or read book The Biology and Technology of Intelligent Autonomous Agents written by Luc Steels and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2012-12-06 with total page 528 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The NATO sponsored Advanced Study Institute 'The Biology and Tech nology of Intelligent Autonomous Agents' was an extraordinary event. For two weeks it brought together the leading proponents of the new behavior oriented approach to Artificial Intelligence in Castel Ivano near Trento. The goal of the meeting was to establish a solid scientific and technological foun dation for the field of intelligent autonomous agents with a bias towards the new methodologies and techniques that have recently been developed in Ar tificial Intelligence under the strong influence of biology. Major themes of the conference were: bottom-up AI research, artificial life, neural networks and techniques of emergent functionality. The meeting was such an extraordinary event because it not only featured very high quality lectures on autonomous agents and the various fields feeding it, but also robot laboratories which were set up by the MIT AI laboratory (with a lab led by Rodney Brooks) and the VUB AI laboratory (with labs led by Tim Smithers and Luc Steels). This way the participants could also gain practical experience and discuss in concreto what the difficulties and achievements were of different approaches. In fact, the meeting has been such a success that a follow up meeting is planned for September 1995 in Monte Verita (Switzerland). This meeting is organised by Rolf Pfeifer (University of Zurich).
Download or read book Experiences in the Biocontinuum written by Richard L. Summers and published by Cambridge Scholars Publishing. This book was released on 2020-08-10 with total page 505 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The central question in the biological sciences for the past 100 years has concerned an understanding of how living systems differ from other general physical phenomena and what makes these systems unique. With new developments in the fields of nonequilibrium thermodynamics, systems theory, chaos, and information theory over the past few decades, there has been growing interest in finally answering the question first posed by Erwin Schrödinger in the 1940s concerning the true scientific nature of living systems. Similarly, there is also increasing interest within the biologic community for a more holistic and non-reductionist methodology. The approach followed in this book builds on a foundation of information theory and semiotics while integrating basic thermodynamic considerations and systems theory to form a singular unifying concept that is proposed to be the essential process of living systems. However, the premise presented is much more than simply the exposition of a new hypothesis. This book describes the logical progression of thought incorporating a diverse array of established scientific ideas that were used in the conceptualization of a dynamic mathematical framework that can be employed as a novel analytic means for the study of living systems and their fundamental processes.
