Download or read book Cycles of Contingency written by Susan Oyama and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2003-01-24 with total page 398 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The nature/nurture debate is not dead. Dichotomous views of development still underlie many fundamental debates in the biological and social sciences. Developmental systems theory (DST) offers a new conceptual framework with which to resolve such debates. DST views ontogeny as contingent cycles of interaction among a varied set of developmental resources, no one of which controls the process. These factors include DNA, cellular and organismic structure, and social and ecological interactions. DST has excited interest from a wide range of researchers, from molecular biologists to anthropologists, because of its ability to integrate evolutionary theory and other disciplines without falling into traditional oppositions.The book provides historical background to DST, recent theoretical findings on the mechanisms of heredity, applications of the DST framework to behavioral development, implications of DST for the philosophy of biology, and critical reactions to DST.
Download or read book Striving for the Whole written by Rainer Diriwachter and published by Transaction Publishers. This book was released on 2011-12-31 with total page 267 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This unusual collection explores the development of ideas in psychology's past, and shapes them into a valuable resource for ideas in the discipline's future, with particular emphasis on holistic traditions in psychology. Diriwõchter and Valsiner focus on developmental holistic psychology as advocated by the second school of Leipzig in Germany. Although largely neglected, this school of thought has provided some of the fundamental ideas necessary for a truly holistic approach in psychology. This volume includes Leibniz's dynamic holism and Ehrenfels' discussion about Gestalt qualities, which has generally been acknowledged as a major milestone in the formation of Gestalt psychology. Each chapter looks at the possible future of holistic psychology. Striving for the Whole contains several well-though out discussions on possible elaborations of holistic psychology by contrasting it with Ernst Boesch's cultural psychology, Pierre Janet's theory on emotions, and Jan Smuts holistic approach to personality theory. Discussions of holistic approaches in biology and evolutionary psychology, as well as a renewed look at Lloyd Morgan's comparative methodology, complete the volume. Striving for the Whole has been written by an international group of authors and will be of interest to students of the social sciences and intellectual history, and anyone who wants to dive deeper into holistic approaches that maintain their ties with empirical methodology. It is ideal for graduate and upper-level undergraduate courses in psychology.
Download or read book Disclosure Dilemmas written by Hansjakob Müller and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2017-03-02 with total page 278 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: There exists today a fast growing availability of personal genetic information. Its prognostic impact and value for an individual or family member's health is sometimes unclear, whilst at other times it is clear-cut. The issue of whether to disclose genetic information does however have wide ranging implications. Avoiding the rhetoric of 'genetic exceptionalism', and drawing on an expanded field of bioethical, sociological and anthropological research, this book sets a new agenda for discussing the ethics surrounding the disclosure of prognostic genetic information. A hermeneutical approach reconsiders the ethics of disclosure in a variety of contexts in which genetic information is generated, requested, interpreted or communicated - from the provider perspective, but also from the moral perspectives of clients and their families. It is in situations of disclosure, in these different contexts, that genetic information meets morality. Providers and recipients can become vulnerable to the revelation or concealment of information, and the forms in which it may be provided. Disclosure Dilemmas invites readers to explore these contexts from an ethical viewpoint and will be a valuable resource for anyone with an interest in biomedical ethics.
Download or read book Principles of Behavior written by Richard W. Malott and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2021-03-31 with total page 517 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Known for both its narrative style and scientific rigor, Principles of Behavior is the premier introduction to behavior analysis. Through an exploration of experimental, applied, and theoretical concepts, the authors summarize the key conversations in the field. They bring the content to life using humorous and engaging language and show students how the principles of behavior relate to their everyday lives. The text’s tried-and-true pedagogy make the content as clear as possible without oversimplifying the concepts. Each chapter includes study objectives, key terms, and review questions that encourage students to check their understanding before moving on, and incorporated throughout the text are real-world examples and case studies to illustrate key concepts and principles. This edition features some significant organizational changes: the respondent conditioning chapter is now Chapter 1, a general introduction to operant conditioning is now covered in Chapters 2 and 3, and the introduction to research methods is now covered in Chapter 4. These changes were made to help instructors prepare students for starting a research project at the beginning of the course. Two new chapters include Chapter 5 on the philosophy supporting behavior analysis, and Chapter 24 on verbal behavior that introduces B.F. Skinner’s approach and terminology. This edition also features a new full-color design and over 400 color figures, tables, and graphs. Principles of Behavior is an essential resource for both introductory and intermediate courses in behavior analysis. It is carefully tailored to the length of a standard academic semester and how behavior analysis courses are taught, with each section corresponding to a week’s worth of coursework. The text can also function as the first step in a student’s journey into becoming a professional behavior analyst at the BA, MA, or PhD/EdD level. Each chapter of the text is integrated with the Behavior Analyst Certification Board (BACB) task list, serving as an excellent primer to many of the BACB tasks. The text is supported by a set of PowerPoint slides with figures, tables, and graphs for every chapter and a robust test bank with multiple choice, fill in the blank, matching, and short answer questions for every chapter for a total of over 1,500 questions.
Download or read book On Determining the Rise Size and Duration Classes of a Sunspot Cycle written by Robert M. Wilson and published by . This book was released on 1996 with total page 20 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Contingency Theory of Organizations written by Lex Donaldson and published by SAGE. This book was released on 2001-02-20 with total page 348 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume presents a comprehensive, in-depth analysis of the theories, evidence and methodological issues of contingency theory - one of the major theoretical lenses used to view organizations.
Download or read book Contingency Hegemony Universality written by Judith Butler and published by Verso. This book was released on 2000 with total page 340 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: At the heart of this experiment in intellectual synthesis is an effort to clarify differences of method and understanding within a common political trajectory. Through a series of exchanges on the value of the Hegelian and Lacanian legacies, the dilemmas of multiculturalism, and the political challenges of a global economy, Butler, Laclau, and ÄiPek lend fresh significance to the key philosophical categories of the last century while setting a new standard for debate on the Left. --Book Jacket.
Download or read book Rule Governed Behavior written by Steven C. Hayes and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2012-12-06 with total page 404 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Animal learning and human learning traditions have been distinguishable within psychology since the start of the discipline and are to this day. The human learning wing was interested in the development of psychological functions in human organisms and proceeded directly to their examination. The animal learning wing was not distinguished by a corresponding interest in animal behavior per se. Rather, the animal learners studied animal behavior in order to identify principles of behavior of relevance to humans as well as other organisms. The two traditions, in other words, did not differ so much on goals as on strategies. It is not by accident that so many techniques of modem applied psychol ogy have emerged from the animal laboratory. That was one of the ultimate purposes of this work from the very beginning. The envisioned extension to humans was not just technological, however. Many animal researchers, B. F. Skinner most prominently among them, recognized that direct basic research with humans might ultimately be needed in certain areas but that it was wise first to build a strong foundation in the controlled environment of the animal laboratory. In a sense, animal learning was always in part a human research program in development.
Download or read book Traditions of Systems Theory written by Darrell Arnold and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2013-12-17 with total page 403 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The term ‘systems theory’ is used to characterize a set of disparate yet related approaches to fields as varied as information theory, cybernetics, biology, sociology, history, literature, and philosophy. What unites each of these traditions of systems theory is a shared focus on general features of systems and their fundamental importance for diverse areas of life. Yet there are considerable differences among these traditions, and each tradition has developed its own methodologies, journals, and forms of anaylsis. This book explores this terrain and provides an overview of and guide to the traditions of systems theory in their considerable variety. The book draws attention to the traditions of systems theory in their historical development, especially as related to the humanities and social sciences, and shows how from these traditions various contemporary developments have ensued. It provides a guide for strains of thought that are key to understanding 20th century intellectual life in many areas.
Download or read book Genes in Development written by Eva M. Neumann-Held and published by Duke University Press. This book was released on 2006-01-27 with total page 385 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In light of scientific advances such as genomics, predictive diagnostics, genetically engineered agriculture, nuclear transfer cloning, and the manipulation of stem cells, the idea that genes carry predetermined molecular programs or blueprints is pervasive. Yet new scientific discoveries—such as rna transcripts of single genes that can lead to the production of different compounds from the same pieces of dna—challenge the concept of the gene alone as the dominant factor in biological development. Increasingly aware of the tension between certain empirical results and interpretations of those results based on the orthodox view of genetic determinism, a growing number of scientists urge a rethinking of what a gene is and how it works. In this collection, a group of internationally renowned scientists present some prominent alternative approaches to understanding the role of dna in the construction and function of biological organisms. Contributors discuss alternatives to the programmatic view of dna, including the developmental systems approach, methodical culturalism, the molecular process concept of the gene, the hermeneutic theory of description, and process structuralist biology. None of the approaches cast doubt on the notion that dna is tremendously important to biological life on earth; rather, contributors examine different ideas of how dna should be represented, evaluated, and explained. Just as ideas about genetic codes have reached far beyond the realm of science, the reconceptualizations of genetic theory in this volume have broad implications for ethics, philosophy, and the social sciences. Contributors. Thomas Bürglin, Brian C. Goodwin, James Griesemer, Paul Griffiths, Jesper Hoffmeyer, Evelyn Fox Keller, Gerd B. Müller, Eva M. Neumann-Held, Stuart A. Newman, Susan Oyama, Christoph Rehmann-Sutter, Sahotra Sarkar, Jackie Leach Scully, Gerry Webster, Ulrich Wolf
Download or read book Beyond Mechanism written by Brian G. Henning and published by Lexington Books. This book was released on 2013-02-01 with total page 488 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: It has been said that new discoveries and developments in the human, social, and natural sciences hang “in the air” (Bowler, 1983; 2008) prior to their consummation. While neo-Darwinist biology has been powerfully served by its mechanistic metaphysic and a reductionist methodology in which living organisms are considered machines, many of the chapters in this volume place this paradigm into question. Pairing scientists and philosophers together, this volume explores what might be termed “the New Frontiers” of biology, namely contemporary areas of research that appear to call an updating, a supplementation, or a relaxation of some of the main tenets of the Modern Synthesis. Such areas of investigation include: Emergence Theory, Systems Biology, Biosemiotics, Homeostasis, Symbiogenesis, Niche Construction, the Theory of Organic Selection (also known as “the Baldwin Effect”), Self-Organization and Teleodynamics, as well as Epigenetics. Most of the chapters in this book offer critical reflections on the neo-Darwinist outlook and work to promote a novel synthesis that is open to a greater degree of inclusivity as well as to a more holistic orientation in the biological sciences.
Download or read book The Democracy of Objects written by Levi R. Bryant and published by DigiCat. This book was released on 2023-12-23 with total page 373 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Since Kant, philosophy has been obsessed with epistemological questions pertaining to the relationship between mind and world and human access to objects. In The Democracy of Objects, Bryant proposes that we break with this tradition and once again initiate the project of ontology as first philosophy. Drawing on the object-oriented ontology of Graham Harman, as well as the thought of Roy Bhaskar, Gilles Deleuze, Niklas Luhman, Aristotle, Jacques Lacan, Bruno Latour and the developmental systems theorists, Bryant develops a realist ontology that he calls "onticology". This ontology argues that being is composed entirely of objects, properties, and relations such that subjects themselves are a variant of objects. Drawing on the work of the systems theorists and cyberneticians, Bryant argues that objects are dynamic systems that relate to the world under conditions of operational closure. In this way, he is able to integrate the most vital discoveries of the anti-realists within a realist ontology that does justice to both the material and cultural. Onticology proposes a flat ontology where objects of all sorts and at different scales equally exist without being reducible to other objects and where there are no transcendent entities such as eternal essences outside of dynamic interactions among objects. Contents: Towards a Finally Subjectless Object Grounds For a Realist Ontology The Paradox of Substance Virtual Proper Being The Interior of Objects Regimes of Attraction, Parts, and Structure The Four Theses of Flat Ontology
Download or read book Biology and Knowledge Revisited written by Sue Taylor Parker and published by Psychology Press. This book was released on 2014-04-04 with total page 346 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Based on the Annual Symposium of the Jean Piaget Society, Biology and Knowledge Revisited focuses on the classic issue of the relationship between nature and nurture in cognitive and linguistic development, and their neurological substrates. Contributors trace the history of ideas concerning the relationship between evolution and development, and bring powerful new conceptual systems and research data to bear on understanding the problem of experience-contingent brain development and evolution. They focus on processes of phenotype construction - which fill the gap between genes and behavior - and demonstrate that evolutionary psychological models of innate mental modules are incompatible with what is known about these processes. This book presents exciting new approaches to the development and evolution of cognitive and linguistic abilities. Returning to the broad evolutionary theme of a previous meeting, the symposium focused on specifically constructivist approaches to neurogenesis and language acquisition, and their evolution. It was organized around ideas about the relationship between development and evolution raised in Piaget's books. Research in this arena has yielded cutting-edge insight into behavioral influences on brain plasticity. Two of its subthemes run throughout - a critique of modularity models popular among evolutionary psychologies and the prescient yet flawed nature of Piaget's critique of the modern synthesis of evolution. As a result, Biology and Knowledge Revisited is intended for developmental psychologists, psycholinguists, biological anthropologists, evolutionary psychologists, and philosophers of science.
Download or read book Contingencies of Reinforcement written by B. F. Skinner and published by B. F. Skinner Foundation. This book was released on 2014-07-01 with total page 350 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: B. F. Skinner titled this book, Contingencies of Reinforcement, after the heart of his science of behavior. Contingencies relate classes of actions to postcedent events and to the contexts in which those action-postcedent relations occur. The basic processes seem straightforward, but many people do not know or understand the underlying theory. Skinner believed that ‘a theory is essential to the scientific understanding of behavior as a subject matter”. This book presents some of Skinner’s most sophisticated statements about theoretical issues. To his original articles, he added notes to clarify and expand subtle points. The book thus provides an overview of Skinner’s thinking about theory and the philosophy underpinning the science he began.
Download or read book Cycles Crises Innovation written by Jerry Courvisanos and published by Edward Elgar Publishing. This book was released on 2012-05-01 with total page 332 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 'Reflection on the "history of opinion", and its application to our contemporary world and controversies over technology and our environmental difficulties, is the distinguishing feature of the thoughtful economist. If the reader of this book is moved to reflect on the work of Schumpeter and Kalecki, the author of this book will have succeeded. Even more important than this, if the reader of this book comes to a changed and deeper understanding of how technology changes in our faltering capitalist economies, and of how the environment is affected by production and may be improved with better ways of satisfying our personal and productive needs, then the author will have done an even greater service to his profession and humanity.' From the foreword by Jan Toporowski, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, UK 'Jerry Courvisanos provides us with a timely analysis of the forces behind the crises of capitalism and the tendency towards ecologically unsustainable growth. He draws on the work of two of most creative, if not most recognized, economists of the 20th Century, Michal Kalecki and Joseph Schumpeter. In place of mainstream analysis with its emphasis on marginal conditions for optimisation around well-defined equilibrium, we have a world of innovation, structural change, creative destruction, business cycles, financial crises, changing income distribution and many other inconvenient developments that plague modern economies.' From the foreword by Harry Bloch, Curtin University, Australia Cycles, crises and innovation are the major economic forces that shape capitalist economies. Using a critical realist political economy approach, the analysis in this fine work is based on the works of Micha Kalecki and Joseph Schumpeter both of whom identify these three dynamic forces as plotting the path of economic development. Jerry Courvisanos' thought-provoking book examines how the rise of capital through investment enshrines innovation in profit and power which in turn determines the course of cycles and crises. The author concludes by arguing for strategic intervention by transformative eco-innovation as a public policy path to ecologically sustainable development. This interdisciplinary book will appeal to economists, innovation and entrepreneurship-based scholars, postgraduate students studying the political economy of both innovation and entrepreneurship, regional development planners and economic development policymakers. Anyone with a general interest in economics, politics and innovation or looking for a path out of the economic and ecological morass of current capitalism, will also find much to interest them in this book.
Download or read book Energy and water development appropriations for 1981 written by United States. Congress. House. Committee on Appropriations. Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development and published by . This book was released on 1980 with total page 1252 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Phenotypic Integration written by Massimo Pigliucci and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2004-04-01 with total page 474 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A new voice in the nature-nurture debate can be heard at the interface between evolution and development. Phenotypic integration--or, how large numbers of characteristics are related to make up the whole organism, and how these relationships evolve and change their function--is a major growth area in research, attracting the attention of evolutionary biologists, developmental biologists, and geneticists, as well as, more broadly, ecologists, physiologists, and paleontologists. This edited collection presents much of the best and most recent work the topic.
