Fb8bae7ca1e5ef8c2c7e961f22eb

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

Fb8bae7ca1e5ef8c2c7e961f22eb ---A Toward a Theory of Peace: The Role of Moral Beliefs by Randall Caroline Watson Forsberg B.A. Columbia University Submitted to the Department of Political Science in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Political Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology June 1997 @ 1997 Massachusetts Institute of Technology All rights reserved. Signature Redacted Signature of A u thor............................................................. ........................................... Deparient of Political Science Signature Redacted May 2,1997 C ertified by................... ................................. .. Joshua Cohen Professor of Philosophy and Political Science Signature Redacted Thesis Supervisor A ccepted by............... .... .......... .. .. .. Barry R. Posen Professor of Political Science Chairman, Graduate Program Committee JUL 15 1997 AflCHNES #1 Toward a Theory of Peace: The Role of Moral Beliefs by Randall Caroline Watson Forsberg Submitted to the Department of Political Science on May 2, 1997, in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Political Science Abstract This essay concerns the theory of the conditions under which war might end. Chapter 1 introduces the topic. Chapter 2 presents the hypotheses that a modest change in moral beliefs could catalyze the conditions needed to end war; and that a more profound change in moral beliefs, likely to follow the initial abolition, could prevent the future re-institution of war. Chapters 3-6 give theoretical and empirical evidence to support these hypotheses, and address three factors that are widely believed to preclude the abolition of war: innate aggressiveness, moral beliefs about ends that justify the use of armed force, and the tendency of political institutions, including peace-enforcement institutions, to collapse under stress. Chapters 3-6 focus on the relative weight of learned moral beliefs and innate aggressive impulses in causing and preventing various forms of socially-sanctioned and nonsanctioned violence. These chapters present extensive evidence from various branches of psychology to show that while innate aggressive impulses can lead to nonsanctioned individual and mob violence, culturally-determined moral beliefs dominate innate aggressiveness in accounting for organized, socially- sanctioned, large-group violence. Then, surveying various forms of socially- sanctioned violence, they show that the moral beliefs which support such practices tend to change over time, leading to the permanent abolition of previously sanctioned forms of violence. The inference is drawn that in the same manner, the declining tolerance for war could lead to its abolition. Previously morally sanctioned and institutionalized but now abolished forms of large-group violence include ritual cannibalism, human sacrifice, slavery, and gruesome forms of corporal punishment. The case of ritual cannibalism is reviewed in depth and other cases are reviewed more briefly to assess the importance and variability of moral belief in the conduct of socially-sanctioned forms of violence, and to illuminate the historical precedents for the potential abolition of war. The essay concludes with a discussion of the implications of the rise and demise of successive forms of socially-sanctioned large-group violence for anthropological theories of cultural evolution and state formation. Thesis Supevisor: Joshua Cohen Title: Professor of Philosophy and Political Science Abstract 3 Biographical Note 4 Acknowledgments 4 Preface 9 PART I. TOWARD A THEORY OF PEACE 11 Chapter 1. The Idea of a Theory of Peace 13 1.1. Introduction 13 1.2. Defining the End of War 17 1.3. Standards for the Theory of Peace 20 Chapter 2. Conditions for the Abolition of War 25 2.1. Introduction 25 2.2. Main Hypotheses 29 'Least-change' Conditions for the Abolition of War 29 Moral beliefs capable of catalyzing the initial abolition of war 29 Moral beliefs capable of maintaining peace indefinitely 35 Prospects for Achieving the Catalytic Threshold of Commitment: Democracy and Defensive Nonviolence 36 Defensive nonviolence and individual-centered politics 36 Decentralized international governance 38 The Relationship between Moral Belief and Other Factors in Accounting for the Rise and Demise of War 40 2.3. Comparison with Other Approaches 42 Complementary Approaches 42 Competing Approaches 46 Unqualified commitment to nonviolence 46 Political freedom and economic justice 48 Power balancing 51 Conclusions 52 PART II. SOCIALLY-SANCTIONED VIOLENCE 53 Chapter 3. The Roles of Innate Impulses and Learned Moral Beliefs in Individual and Group Violence 55 3.1. Introduction 55 Skepticism about the Abolition of War 57 Evidence for the Key Role of Moral Beliefs in Institutionalized Forms of Group Violence 58 3.2. Sources and Features of Violence by Individuals 60 Physiologically-based Aspects of Aggressive Impulses and Violent Behavior by Individuals 62 The Impact of Social Learning on Predispositions to and Choices of Violent Behavior by Individuals 66 Forsberg, Contents - page 6 Parenting and early childhood development of the internalized ability to inhibit violent behavior 67 Socialization to permit or inhibit violent behavior in older children, teenagers, and young adults 69 3.3. Sources and Features of Violence by Groups 71 The Domain of Human-on-Human Violence 71 Table 3-1. Shared and Differing Propensities to and Context for Violence among Humans and Other Animals 73 Table 3-2. List of Forms of Assault and Killing Illustrating Differences in Scale and Legality 73 3.4. Motives for Participation in Institutionalized Group Violence 74 Table 3-3. Mapping the Domain of Human-on-Human Violence: Illustrative List of Forms of Violence Showing Differences in Scale, Legality, and Social Approval 75 Chapter 4. Socially-Sanctioned Group Violence: Features, Examples, and Sources 79 4.1. Introduction 79 4.2. Some Socially-sanctioned Forms of Physical Violence and Violation 83 4.3. Human Sacrifice, Slavery, and Corporal Punishment 85 Human Sacrifice 86 Slavery and Related Conditions 90 Corporal Punishment 93 4.4. The Declining Tolerance for Violence 95 4.5. The Rise of Institutionalized Forms of Violence 96 4.6. The Demise of Institutionalized Forms of Violence 98 4.7. Goals, Efficacy, and Morality in Institutionalized Violence and Violation 101 Chapter 5. Ritual Cannibalism: A Case Study of Socially-Sanctioned Group Violence 105 5.1. Introduction 105 The Meaning of Ritual Cannibalism 105 The Debate over the Existence of Ritual Cannibalism 106 The Organization of the Chapter 108 5.2. The Global Incidence and Correlates of Cannibalism 108 Table 5-1. Quantitative Results of Volhard's and Sanday's Global Surveys of Reported Cannibal Practices 110 Table 5-2. Results of Sanday's Analysis of Factors Affecting the Occurrence of Cannibalism 111 Table 5-3. The Global Distribution of Cultures and Proportions of Simple Cultures in the Volhard, Murdock and White, and Sanday Samples 113 Forsberg, Contents - page 7 Table 5-4. The North American Tribes coded for Cannibalism by Volhard and Sanday, Compared with All North American Tribes, Grouped by Language and Region 117 5.3. The Purposes and Forms of Cannibalism 122 5.4. Morality and Affect in Customary Cannibalism 125 Table 5-5. Chong's Analysis of Reported Incidents of Cannibalism in China by Purpose and Form 126 5.5. The Demise of Customary Cannibalism 127 Chapter 6. Sanctioned Violence, Morality, and Cultural Evolution 129 6.1. Introduction 129 6.2. The Pattern of Successive Forms of Socially-Sanctioned Violence 130 The Forms of Social Organization and the Forms of Sanctioned Violence 130 6.3. Directed Cultural Evolution and Priorities among Human Needs 133 Costs and Benefits of the Shift from Small Hunter-gatherer Groups to Large Warring States 134 Table 6-1. Comparative Historical Estimates of World Population Size (in millions) and Life Expectancy, 40,000 BC to 1850 AD 137 A Symmetrical Transition from Warring States to a Non-warring International System 140 6.4. The End of Socially-sanctioned Forms of Violence 144 Appendix. The Debate on the Existence of Cannibalism 147 Scholarly Studies of Cannibalism 147 Other Bodies of Literature about Cannibalism 150 William Arens and His Critics: A Comprehensive Review 158 Bibliography 169 PREFACE This essay is part of a larger project to produce a fully developed theory of the conditions under which world peace might be established and maintained. To work on that project within the framework of a Ph.D. dissertation, I have adopted a format which is somewhat unusual. In Part I of this essay, 'Toward a Theory of Peace,' I set out the main ideas of the general theory. Chapter 1 introduces the larger project and relates it to current political theory. Chapter 2 presents the main hypotheses. Then in Part II, 'Socially-sanctioned Violence,' comprising Chapters 3-6, I develop some of the main ideas set out in Chapter 2, leaving others for further study at a later time. Part II presents theoretical and empirical evidence to support two of the main hypotheses put forward in Chapter 2: that a modest change in moral beliefs could catalyze the conditions needed to end war; and that a more profound change in moral beliefs, likely to follow the initial abolition, could prevent the future re- institution of war. At the same time, Part II responds to three of the four main reasons to believe that war cannot be abolished. These are: human beings have innate aggressive instincts that
Recommended publications
  • Body Size and Biomass Distributions of Carrion Visiting Beetles: Do Cities Host Smaller Species?
    Ecol Res (2008) 23: 241–248 DOI 10.1007/s11284-007-0369-9 ORIGINAL ARTICLE Werner Ulrich Æ Karol Komosin´ski Æ Marcin Zalewski Body size and biomass distributions of carrion visiting beetles: do cities host smaller species? Received: 15 November 2006 / Accepted: 14 February 2007 / Published online: 28 March 2007 Ó The Ecological Society of Japan 2007 Abstract The question how animal body size changes Introduction along urban–rural gradients has received much attention from carabidologists, who noticed that cities harbour Animal and plant body size is correlated with many smaller species than natural sites. For Carabidae this aspects of life history traits and species interactions pattern is frequently connected with increasing distur- (dispersal, reproduction, energy intake, competition; bance regimes towards cities, which favour smaller Brown et al. 2004; Brose et al. 2006). Therefore, species winged species of higher dispersal ability. However, body size distributions (here understood as the fre- whether changes in body size distributions can be gen- quency distribution of log body size classes, SSDs) are eralised and whether common patterns exist are largely often used to infer patterns of species assembly and unknown. Here we report on body size distributions of energy use (Peters 1983; Calder 1984; Holling 1992; carcass-visiting beetles along an urban–rural gradient in Gotelli and Graves 1996; Etienne and Olff 2004; Ulrich northern Poland. Based on samplings of 58 necrophages 2005a, 2006). and 43 predatory beetle species, mainly of the families Many of the studies on local SSDs focused on the Catopidae, Silphidae, and Staphylinidae, we found number of modes and the shape.
    [Show full text]
  • Disturbance and Recovery of Litter Fauna: a Contribution to Environmental Conservation
    Disturbance and recovery of litter fauna: a contribution to environmental conservation Vincent Comor Disturbance and recovery of litter fauna: a contribution to environmental conservation Vincent Comor Thesis committee PhD promotors Prof. dr. Herbert H.T. Prins Professor of Resource Ecology Wageningen University Prof. dr. Steven de Bie Professor of Sustainable Use of Living Resources Wageningen University PhD supervisor Dr. Frank van Langevelde Assistant Professor, Resource Ecology Group Wageningen University Other members Prof. dr. Lijbert Brussaard, Wageningen University Prof. dr. Peter C. de Ruiter, Wageningen University Prof. dr. Nico M. van Straalen, Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam Prof. dr. Wim H. van der Putten, Nederlands Instituut voor Ecologie, Wageningen This research was conducted under the auspices of the C.T. de Wit Graduate School of Production Ecology & Resource Conservation Disturbance and recovery of litter fauna: a contribution to environmental conservation Vincent Comor Thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of doctor at Wageningen University by the authority of the Rector Magnificus Prof. dr. M.J. Kropff, in the presence of the Thesis Committee appointed by the Academic Board to be defended in public on Monday 21 October 2013 at 11 a.m. in the Aula Vincent Comor Disturbance and recovery of litter fauna: a contribution to environmental conservation 114 pages Thesis, Wageningen University, Wageningen, The Netherlands (2013) With references, with summaries in English and Dutch ISBN 978-94-6173-749-6 Propositions 1. The environmental filters created by constraining environmental conditions may influence a species assembly to be driven by deterministic processes rather than stochastic ones. (this thesis) 2. High species richness promotes the resistance of communities to disturbance, but high species abundance does not.
    [Show full text]
  • Homicide Studies: Ten Years After Its Inception
    Homicide Studies: Ten Years After Its Inception Proceedings of the 2007 Homicide Research Working Group Annual Symposium Minneapolis, Minnesota June 7-10 Edited by Katharina Gruenberg Lancaster University And C. Gabrielle Salfati John Jay College of Criminal Justice 1 Acknowledgements 2 The Homicide Research Working Group (HRWG) is an international and interdisciplinary organization of volunteers dedicated to cooperation among researchers and practitioners who are trying to understand and limit lethal violence. The HRWG has the following goals: to forge links between research, epidemiology and practical programs to reduce levels of mortality from violence; to promote improved data quality and the linking of diverse homicide data sources; to foster collaborative, interdisciplinary research on lethal and non-lethal violence; to encourage more efficient sharing of techniques for measuring and analyzing homicide; to create and maintain a communication network among those collecting, maintaining and analyzing homicide data sets; and to generate a stronger working relationship among homicide researchers. Homicide Research Working Group publications, which include the Proceedings of each annual Intensive Workshop (beginning in 1992), the HRWG Newsletter, and the contents of issues of the journal Homicide Studies (beginning in 1997), may be downloaded from the HRWG web site, which is maintained by the Inter-University Consortium of Political and Social Research, at the following address: http://www.icpsr.umich.edu/HRWG/ Suggested citation: Lin Huff-Corzine Katharina Gruenberg, Gabrielle Salfati (Eds.) (2007). Homicide Studies: Ten Years After Its Inception. Proceedings of the 2007 Meeting of the Homicide Research Working Group. Minneapolis, MN : Homicide Research Working Group. The views expressed in these Proceedings are those of the authors and speakers, and not necessarily those of the Homicide Research Working Group or the editor of this volume.
    [Show full text]
  • University of Groningen Homicide
    View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by University of Groningen University of Groningen Homicide – Suicide in the Netherlands. An epidemiology. Liem, M; Postulart, M.; Nieuwbeerta, P. Published in: Homicide Studies DOI: 10.1177/1088767908330833 IMPORTANT NOTE: You are advised to consult the publisher's version (publisher's PDF) if you wish to cite from it. Please check the document version below. Document Version Publisher's PDF, also known as Version of record Publication date: 2009 Link to publication in University of Groningen/UMCG research database Citation for published version (APA): Liem, M., Postulart, M., & Nieuwbeerta, P. (2009). Homicide – Suicide in the Netherlands. An epidemiology. Homicide Studies, 13, 99-123. https://doi.org/10.1177/1088767908330833 Copyright Other than for strictly personal use, it is not permitted to download or to forward/distribute the text or part of it without the consent of the author(s) and/or copyright holder(s), unless the work is under an open content license (like Creative Commons). Take-down policy If you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact us providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim. Downloaded from the University of Groningen/UMCG research database (Pure): http://www.rug.nl/research/portal. For technical reasons the number of authors shown on this cover page is limited to 10 maximum. Download date: 12-11-2019 Homicide Studies http://hsx.sagepub.com/ Homicide-Suicide
    [Show full text]
  • A Current Absence of Neonaticide in Norway
    VOLUME 18 - No 2 - 2012 - Page 155-163 - doi: 10.2478/v10278-012-0005-2 Scandinavian journal of FORENSIC SCIENCE Nordisk rettsmedisin A current absence of neonaticide in Norway Vibeke Ottesen Centre for Evolutionary and Ecological Synthesis (CEES), Department of Biology, University of Oslo, Blindern, Oslo, Norway [email protected] ABSTRACT The present study is the first attempt to explore the rate, characteristics and legal reactions to neonaticide in Norway during the years 1990 – 2009. Potential incidents of neonaticide were identified through the national homicide index held by the National Criminal Investigation Service and the national police registers for all recorded crime in Norway held by the National Police Computing and Material Services. The study uncovers that no clear incident of neonaticide has been recorded in the respective registers during the study’s time period. There was however recorded one case of a discarded stillborn and one case of an abandoned neonate that died through exposure. The paper discusses whether the study’s findings are congruent with an evolutionary psychological understanding of filicide and current knowledge of risk factors and rates for neonaticide. Keywords: Evolutionary psychology, Filicide, Neonaticide INtrODUctiON hypothesis concerning alternative probabilities for risk factors for every recognised category of homicide, including filicide, successfully identifying Neonaticide, defined as the killing of a newborn within the first 24 hours after significant risk factors [15-27]. its birth, was first recognised as a distinct type of caretaker perpetrated child The present study is the first attempt to explore the rate and homicide (filicide) in a seminal paper by the psychiatrist Phillip J.
    [Show full text]
  • HOMICIDE STUDIES an Interdisciplinary & International Journal
    HOMICIDE STUDIES An Interdisciplinary & International Journal Editor M. Dwayne Smith, Criminology, University of South Florida Associate Editors Carolyn Rebecca Block, Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority, Cofounder of Homicide Research Working Group Richard Block, Sociology, Loyola University, Cofounder of Homicide Research Working Group Jay Corzine, Sociology, University of Central Florida Editorial Board Allan F.Abrahamse, RAND Corporation Leigh Buchanan Bienen, Law, Northwestern University Paul H. Blackman, National Rifle Association Alfred Blumstein, Public Policy and Management, Carnegie Mellon University Jacquelyn Campbell, Nursing, Johns Hopkins University David Canter, Psychology, University of Liverpool, United Kingdom Derral Cheatwood, Social and Policy Sciences, University of Texas–San Antonio Martin Daly, Psychology, McMaster University, Canada Chris Dunn, ICPSR, University of Michigan Michael Finnegan, Anthropology, Kansas State University James Alan Fox, Criminal Justice, Northeastern University Kenneth C. Haas, Criminal Justice, University of Delaware Darnell F.Hawkins, African American Studies, University of Illinois–Chicago Kathleen M. Heide, Criminology, University of South Florida Ronald M. Holmes, Justice Administration, University of Louisville Lin Huff-Corzine, Sociology, University of Central Florida John P.Jarvis, Federal Bureau of Investigation Academy Simha F.Landau, Criminology & Law, Hebrew University, Israel Pamela K. Lattimore, Research Triangle Institute Cheryl Maxson, Law & Society, University
    [Show full text]
  • Pedro Giovâni Da Silva EFEITO AMBIENTAL, ESPACIAL E
    Pedro Giovâni da Silva EFEITO AMBIENTAL, ESPACIAL E TEMPORAL NA ESTRUTURAÇÃO DAS ASSEMBLEIAS DE SCARABAEINAE (COLEOPTERA: SCARABAEIDAE) NA MATA ATLÂNTICA DO SUL DO BRASIL Tese submetida ao Programa de Pós- Graduação em Ecologia da Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina para a obtenção do Grau de Doutor em Ecologia. Orientadora: Prof.ª Dr.ª Malva Isabel Medina Hernández Florianópolis 2015 2 Ficha de identificação da obra elaborada pelo autor através do Programa de Geração Automática da Biblioteca Universitária da UFSC. 4 Este trabalho é dedicado à minha esposa, pais e irmãs. 6 AGRADECIMENTOS Agradecer a todos que de alguma forma contribuíram com este trabalho é uma tarefa difícil e espero não esquecer ninguém. Agradeço o apoio e companheirismo de minha esposa, Franciéle, que me ajudou inclusive na realização das coletas quando possível – subir os morros da Mata Atlântica no verão nunca é fácil! Agradeço a meus pais, Pedro e Leni, e minhas irmãs, Carla, Fabiana, Tatiane e Daniele, pelo suporte de sempre durante o caminho que escolhi seguir. Não posso deixar de incluir na lista de familiares minha cunhada, Dirnele, que também quase morreu ajudou nas coletas. Enorme e sincero agradecimento à minha orientadora, Profa. Malva Isabel Medina Hernández, pela aprendizagem e oportunidade de continuar meu aperfeiçoamento acadêmico-profissional junto a um espetacular time de colegas-amigos do Laboratório de Ecologia Terrestre Animal (LECOTA), com os quais tive a alegria de compartilhar horas de experiências de aprendizado e troca de ideias (e scripts de R!), e muita ajuda de campo. Cito aqui Renata, Juliano, Moacyr, Patrícia, Victor, Andros, Cássio, Alexandre, Mari Niero, Mariah, Camila, Júlia, Malu, Mari Dalva, Clisten, Aline, Anderson e Talita.
    [Show full text]
  • Obe2005a.Pdf
    Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology 323 (2005) 100–117 www.elsevier.com/locate/jembe Response of oxidative stress parameters and sunscreening compounds in Arctic amphipods during experimental exposure to maximal natural UVB radiation B. Obermu¨llera, U. Karstenb, D. Abelea,* aAlfred-Wegener–Institute for Polar and Marine Research, Animal Ecophysiology, Am Handelshafen 12, 27570 Bremerhaven, Germany bDepartment of Biological Sciences, Applied Ecology, University of Rostock, Albert-Einstein-Strasse 3, 18057 Rostock, Germany Received 29 October 2004; received in revised form 19 February 2005; accepted 22 March 2005 Abstract The paper investigates tolerance to UV radiation (UVR) in 3 amphipod species from the Arctic Kongsfjord, Spitsbergen: the herbivore Gammarellus homari (0- to 5-m water depth), the strictly carnivore scavenger Anonyx nugax (2- to 5-m water depth) and the detritivore/carnivore Onisimus edwardsi (2- to 5-m water depth). In previous radiation exposure experiments, both carnivore species displayed elevated mortality rates already at moderate UVR levels. Therefore, the concentrations of sunscreening compounds (mycosporine-like amino acids, MAAs, and carotenoids) and two antioxidant enzymes (superoxide dismutase, catalase) were studied in the animals under control conditions and following moderate as well as high UVR exposure. In both carnivore amphipods elevated sensitivity to experimental UVR exposure went along with a degradation of the tissue carotenoid and MAAs and a decrease of the enzymatic antioxidant defence, which resulted in increased lipid peroxidation in exposed animals. In contrast, the herbivore G. homari seems well protected by high concentrations of MAAs absorbed from its algal diet, and no oxidative stress occurred under experimental UVR.
    [Show full text]
  • Antarctic Amphipods Feeding Habits Inferred by Gut Contents and Mandible Morphology
    CHAPTER 4: ANTARCTIC AMPHIPODS FEEDING HABITS INFERRED BY GUT CONTENTS AND MANDIBLE MORPHOLOGY To be submitted Amphipods feeding habits inferred by gut contents and mandible morphology ABSTRACT In this work, we have investigated the possibility to infer amphipod feeding type from morphology of amphipod mandible combined to the gut content composition. Ten species mouthparts have been dissected and examined with scanning electron microscopy (SEM). From gut content composition, four main trophic categories were distinguished: (micro- and macro-) herbivores, opportunistic predator, specialist carnivore and opportunistic scavenger. Macro-herbivores (Djerboa furcipes, Oradarea n. sp., Oradarea walkeri) show a rather similar mandible morphology which does not differ very much from the amphipod mandible basic plan. Their diet essentially composed of macroalgae required strong and well toothed incisors to cut fragments of thallus. The suspension-feeder (Ampelisca richardsoni) shows few molar ridges and poorly developed, the small phytoplanktonic components requiring less triturating process to be ingestible compared to tough algae. The opportunistic predator (Eusirus perdentatus) shows mandible morphology close to the basic model excepted for the molar which is tall, narrow and topped by a reduced triturative area. This could facilitate a fast ingestion. The species revealed as specialised carnivores (Epimeria similis and Iphimediella cyclogena) have been compared with other Antarctic species which also feed exclusively on the same item and the mandible morphology presented numerous dissimilarities. Finally, the molar development of scavenger species (Tryphosella murrayi and Parschisturella carinata) suggests that these animals rely on a broader dietary regime than carrion only. In any case, the smooth and sharp incisor of these lysianassoids seems adapted for feeding on meat.
    [Show full text]
  • Avian Scavengers, but Not Conspecifics, Feeding on the Carcasses of Storm-Killed Turkey Vultures on the Falkland Islands
    Vulture News 67 November 2014 vember 2013 Avian scavengers, but not conspecifics, feeding on the carcasses of storm-killed Turkey Vultures on the Falkland Islands Keith L. Bildstein1*, Micky Reeves2, Melissa M. Bobowski1 and Anna R. Autilio3 1Acopian Center for Conservation Learning, Hawk Mountain Sanctuary, 410 Summer Valley Road, Orwigsburg, PA 17961, USA. 2 Falklands Conservation, Jubilee Villas, Stanley, Falkland Islands. 3 Department of Biology, Boise State University, Boise, ID 83725, USA. *Corresponding author: [email protected] Introduction Fernandez-Arroyo (2001); two young Griffon Vultures feeding on the Cannibalism, which the Shorter carcass of a conspecific in an area Oxford English Dictionary defines as where poisoning had occurred “an animal that eats members of its (Camiña et al. 2002); and several own species” (Trumball & Stevenson Griffon Vultures pecking at, and 2002), is quite common among birds subsequently killing and eating, a of prey. However, it is thought to be conspecific that was trapped under a rare among both Old and New world rock while feeding on a sheep carcass vultures (Mundy et al. 1992, Clinton- (Martinez de Lecea 2011). In Africa, Eitniear & McGehee 1994). Mundy et al. (1992) report Gyps Examples of cannibalism from Spain vultures feeding on an African White- include an ambulatory nestling backed Vulture (G. africanus) that Griffon Vulture (Gyps fulvus) feeding had been “caught by the wing in an upon an adult (presumably its dead elephant’s carcass and had died, or parent) at a nest (Fernandez & was killed, at the spot and eaten there by other vultures.” They also mention 53 Vulture News 67 November 2014 vember 2013 a report of Cape Vultures (G.
    [Show full text]
  • A Current Absence of Neonaticide in Norway
    VOLUME 18 - No 2 - 2012 - Page 155-163 - doi: 10.2478/v10278-012-0005-2 Scandinavian journal of FORENSIC SCIENCE Nordisk rettsmedisin A current absence of neonaticide in Norway Vibeke Ottesen Centre for Evolutionary and Ecological Synthesis (CEES), Department of Biology, University of Oslo, Blindern, Oslo, Norway [email protected] ABSTRACT The present study is the first attempt to explore the rate, characteristics and legal reactions to neonaticide in Norway during the years 1990 – 2009. Potential incidents of neonaticide were identified through the national homicide index held by the National Criminal Investigation Service and the national police registers for all recorded crime in Norway held by the National Police Computing and Material Services. The study uncovers that no clear incident of neonaticide has been recorded in the respective registers during the study’s time period. There was however recorded one case of a discarded stillborn and one case of an abandoned neonate that died through exposure. The paper discusses whether the study’s findings are congruent with an evolutionary psychological understanding of filicide and current knowledge of risk factors and rates for neonaticide. Keywords: Evolutionary psychology, Filicide, Neonaticide INtrODUctiON hypothesis concerning alternative probabilities for risk factors for every recognised category of homicide, including filicide, successfully identifying Neonaticide, defined as the killing of a newborn within the first 24 hours after significant risk factors [15-27]. its birth, was first recognised as a distinct type of caretaker perpetrated child The present study is the first attempt to explore the rate and homicide (filicide) in a seminal paper by the psychiatrist Phillip J.
    [Show full text]
  • A Dual Process Architecture for Ontology-Based Systems
    A Dual Process Architecture for Ontology-based Systems Antonio Lieto1,3, Andrea Minieri1, Alberto Piana1, Daniele P. Radicioni1 and Marcello Frixione2 1Dipartimento di Informatica, Universit`adi Torino, Torino, Italy 2DAFIST, Universit`adi Genova, Genova, Italy 3ICAR-CNR, Palermo, Italy Keywords: Knowledge Representation, Formal Ontologies, Conceptual Spaces, Common Sense Reasoning, Dual Process Theory, Prototypical Reasoning. Abstract: In this work we present an ontology-based system equipped with a hybrid architecture for the representation of conceptual information. The proposed system aims at extending the representational and reasoning capabilities of classical ontology-based systems towards more realistic and cognitively grounded scenarios, such as those envisioned by the prototype theory. The resulting system attempts to reconcile the heterogeneous approach to the concepts in Cognitive Science and the dual process theories of reasoning and rationality. The system has been experimentally assessed in a conceptual categorization task where common sense linguistic descriptions were given in input, and the corresponding target concepts had to be identified. The results show that the proposed solution substantially improves on the representational and reasoning “conceptual” capabilities of standard ontology-based systems. 1 INTRODUCTION prototypical terms. However, these systems were later sacrificed in fa- One of the main open problems in the field of on- vor of a class of formalisms stemmed from structured tology engineering is that formal ontologies do not inheritance semantic networks and based in a more allow –for technical convenience– neither the repre- rigorous semantics: the first system in this line of sentation of concepts in prototypical terms nor forms research was the KL-ONE system (Brachmann and of approximate, non monotonic, conceptual reason- Schmolze, 1985).
    [Show full text]