Please Scroll Down for Article
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Load more
Recommended publications
-
Ideas Theory Policies Experience Discussion Amr Subscriptions
AMRAustralian Marxist Review – Journal of the Communist Party of Australia #66 December 2017 $5 Imperialism and Revolutionary Optimism IDEAS THEORY POLICIES EXPERIENCE DISCUSSION AMR SUBSCRIPTIONS AMR 4 issues are $25 including postage within Australia. Please fill out the form below (or a copy) and send to: AMR Subscriptions, 74 Buckingham St, Surry Hills NSW 2010. Subscription type: New Renewal Gift Commence subscription on: Current Issue Issue number: ____ Optional subscription to The Guardian, the CPA’s weekly newspaper: 12 months: $100 ($80 conc / $150 solidarity) 6 months: $55 ($40 conc / $80 solidarity) Your details Name: . Postal address: . Email address: . Phone number: . Gift to (if applicable) Name: . Postal address: . Email address: . Phone number: . Payment details Cheque / money order (made out to “Communist Party of Australia”) attached. Please debit my credit card Mastercard Visa for the amount: $ _____ Card number: Expiry date: / Name on card (Please print) . Signature:. Payment details can also be phoned or emailed in: Phone: + 61 2 9699 8844 Email: [email protected] Contents Editorial . i Caliban’s children: dehumanisation and imperialism. 1 Beyond media sensation, religion and democracy: A class analysis of political developments in Turkey. 5 On the illegality of war. 10 Richard Levins, ecological agriculture, and revolutionary optimism. 19 The Undesirables – Inside Nauru. 26 Abstracts from World Socialism Research, a new journal from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. 30 Editorial -
Transformations of Lamarckism Vienna Series in Theoretical Biology Gerd B
Transformations of Lamarckism Vienna Series in Theoretical Biology Gerd B. M ü ller, G ü nter P. Wagner, and Werner Callebaut, editors The Evolution of Cognition , edited by Cecilia Heyes and Ludwig Huber, 2000 Origination of Organismal Form: Beyond the Gene in Development and Evolutionary Biology , edited by Gerd B. M ü ller and Stuart A. Newman, 2003 Environment, Development, and Evolution: Toward a Synthesis , edited by Brian K. Hall, Roy D. Pearson, and Gerd B. M ü ller, 2004 Evolution of Communication Systems: A Comparative Approach , edited by D. Kimbrough Oller and Ulrike Griebel, 2004 Modularity: Understanding the Development and Evolution of Natural Complex Systems , edited by Werner Callebaut and Diego Rasskin-Gutman, 2005 Compositional Evolution: The Impact of Sex, Symbiosis, and Modularity on the Gradualist Framework of Evolution , by Richard A. Watson, 2006 Biological Emergences: Evolution by Natural Experiment , by Robert G. B. Reid, 2007 Modeling Biology: Structure, Behaviors, Evolution , edited by Manfred D. Laubichler and Gerd B. M ü ller, 2007 Evolution of Communicative Flexibility: Complexity, Creativity, and Adaptability in Human and Animal Communication , edited by Kimbrough D. Oller and Ulrike Griebel, 2008 Functions in Biological and Artifi cial Worlds: Comparative Philosophical Perspectives , edited by Ulrich Krohs and Peter Kroes, 2009 Cognitive Biology: Evolutionary and Developmental Perspectives on Mind, Brain, and Behavior , edited by Luca Tommasi, Mary A. Peterson, and Lynn Nadel, 2009 Innovation in Cultural Systems: Contributions from Evolutionary Anthropology , edited by Michael J. O ’ Brien and Stephen J. Shennan, 2010 The Major Transitions in Evolution Revisited , edited by Brett Calcott and Kim Sterelny, 2011 Transformations of Lamarckism: From Subtle Fluids to Molecular Biology , edited by Snait B. -
The Spice of Life the Variety of Life: a Survey and a Celebration of All the Creatures Snakes in the Grass That Have Ever Lived by Colin Tudge
book reviews think that’s a false dichotomy.” She quotes, ating input from new methodologies, this is as this there is much to take issue with. In my but seems far less at home with, Sarah Hrdy’s heroism. Since the author took 10 years over own areas of special interest I found almost flat statement: “I did not come into science the job, he must have been daunted by how more to question and argue with than to and primatology because of a love for non- much the ground changed beneath his feet as agree with; and Tudge inevitably can only human primates. I was first attracted to prob- he progressed. When the world around you afford space for a thin overview of the real lems and to things I wanted to understand … is bursting with new kinds of information issues that excite us today. Indeed, for animal There is really no one way of doing science … that are just beginning to shed fresh light on phylogeny, the book only sparsely applies we need people to stress theory as much as a key question, it is a brave man who decides the information that is now emerging observation.” One of Jahme’s subjects, read- to write about the answer! So why has Colin from ‘evolutionary developmental biology’ ing the section about herself, murmured: Tudge done it? (which is revealing underlying similarities “Oh dear. This is half right and all wrong.” To Tudge’s answer is twofold: to help put tax- between diverse species in the structure of me that sums up the book, including some onomy back at the centre of biology (and the genes that control pattern formation and amazing scientific slip-ups. -
THE DIALECTICAL BIOLOGIST 11 III II I, 11 1 1 Ni1 the DIALECTICAL BIOLOGIST
THE DIALECTICAL BIOLOGIST 11 III II I, 11 1 1 ni1 THE DIALECTICAL BIOLOGIST Richard Levins and Richard Lewontin AAKAR THE DIALECTICAL BIOLOGIST Richard Levins and Richard Lewontin Harvard University Press, 1985 Aakar Books for South Asia, 2009 Reprinted by arrangement with Harvard University Press, USA for sale only in the Indian Subcontinent (India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Maldives, Bhutan & Sri Lanka) All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without prior permission of the publisher First Published in India, 2009 ISBN 978-81-89833-77-0 (Pb) Published by AAKAR BOOKS 28 E Pocket IV, Mayur Vihar Phase I, Delhi-110 091 Phone : 011-2279 5505 Telefax : 011-2279 5641 [email protected]; www.aakarbooks.com Printed at S.N. Printers, Delhi-110 032 To Frederick Engels, who got it wrong a lot of the time but who got it right where it counted ,, " I 1 1■ 1-0 ■44 pH III lye II I! Preface THIS Bow( has come into existence for both theoretical andpractical reasons. Despite the extraordinary successes of mechanistic reduction- ist molecular biology, there has been a growing discontent in the last twenty years with simple Cartesian reductionism as the universal way to truth. In psychology and anthropology, and especially in ecology, evolution, neurobiology, and developmental biology, where the Carte- sian program has failed to give satisfaction, we hear more and more calls for an alternative epistemological stance. Holistic, structuralist, hierarchical, and systems theories are all offered as alternative modes of explaining the world, as ways out of the cul-de-sacs into which re- ductionism has led us. -
From Fox Keller, Back to Leibniz and on to Darwin
Leibnizian Analysis in Metaphysics, Mathematics, Physics, Geology and Biology: From Fox Keller, back to Leibniz and on to Darwin Emily R. Grosholz I. Introduction The world of classical physics proposed a view of nature where systems behaved like machines: they were reducible to their parts, governed by universal laws (which were moreover time-reversal invariant), and thus representable by an axiomatized discourse where predictable events could be deduced, given the correct boundary conditions. Thus, the philosophers of science of the early and mid-twentieth century happily offered the Deductive-Nomological Model of Explanation (and Prediction). It fit Newton’s Principia, Book I, Proposition XI pretty well. However, it doesn’t really account for Book III, the development of the theory and practice of differential equations, the n-body problem, electro-magnetic phenomena, thermodynamics, atoms, galaxies or the expanding universe, limitations that even Thomas Kuhn, author of the revolutionary book The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, (University of Chicago Press, 1962) played down. But the philosophers did notice that the Deductive-Nomological Model of Explanation wasn’t a very good fit for biology, as after Darwin it struggled to account for natural history with its attendant one-way temporality, the emergence of novelty, and the intentionality and nested downwards complexity of living things, that seemed so stubbornly un-machine-like. The discovery of DNA and the rise of a new kind of machine, the computer, briefly encouraged philosophers (and scientists) to think that biology might finally look like a real science, populated by tiny robots that lend themselves to axioms and predictions; but, alas. -
An Introduction to the Loop Analysis of Qualitatively Specified Complex Causal Systems
Portland State University PDXScholar Community Health Faculty Publications and Presentations School of Community Health 1-2015 An Introduction to the Loop Analysis of Qualitatively Specified Complex Causal Systems Alexis Dinno Portland State University Follow this and additional works at: https://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/commhealth_fac Part of the Community Psychology Commons Let us know how access to this document benefits ou.y Citation Details Dinno, A. (2015) An Introduction to the Loop Analysis of Qualitatively Specified Complex Causal Systems. Invited Presentation. Systems Science Graduate Program Seminar. Portland, OR. This Presentation is brought to you for free and open access. It has been accepted for inclusion in Community Health Faculty Publications and Presentations by an authorized administrator of PDXScholar. Please contact us if we can make this document more accessible: [email protected]. AN INTRODUCTION TO THE LOOP ANALYSIS OF QUALITATIVELY SPECIFIED COMPLEX CAUSAL SYSTEMS “Things are like other things; this makes science possible. Things are unlike other things; this makes science neccesary.” —RICHARD LEVINS ALEXIS DINNO, C.AZ.AM., SC.D., M.P.H., M.E.M., I.O.U., ETC JANUARY 9, 2015 ORIGINS OF LOOP ANALYSIS 2 Developed by population biologist Richard Levins in the late 1960s Population dynamics of organisms in changing environments Deviates from Sewall Wright’s causal path analysis from the 1920’s Influenced by S. J. Mason’s theoretical work on signal flow graphs from the 1950’s Published mostly in population biology/population -
How a Generation Was Misled About Natural Selection
Gabora, L. (2011). How a Generation Was Misled About Natural Selection. Psychology Today (online). http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/mindbloggling How a Generation Was Misled About Natural Selection Subtitle: Natural Selection: How it Works, How it Applies to Culture Liane Gabora Department of Psychology, University of British Columbia Okanagan Campus, Arts Building, 333 University Way, Kelowna BC, V1V 1V7, CANADA For 'Mindbloggling' column, Psychology Today Abstract This article explains how natural selection works and how it has been inappropriately applied to the description of cultural change. It proposes an alternative evolutionary explanation for cultural evolution that describes it in terms of communal exchange. When science is explained to the general public it is necessary to simplify. Inevitably details get left out, details that some consider important, and the ‘sexy' parts of the story get played up. But so long as the overall picture is more or less right, scientists generally appreciate the efforts of popular science writers, the press, and in some cases their fellow colleagues, to make their work accessible to a wider audience. The public in turn benefits from the opportunity to see the world they live in from a new perspective, and consider questions they might not otherwise have considered. Sometimes, though, the baby gets thrown out with the bathwater. The ‘babyless' version of a scientific story may be a hit nonetheless. Unless one has advanced training in a highly specialized area of a scientific discipline, it may appear to make sense. In most cases, the 1 misrepresentation of science doesn't make much difference; life goes on as normal. -
John Vandermeer
JOHN VANDERMEER - THE DIALECTICS OF ECOLOGY: BIOLOGICAL, HISTORICAL AND POLITICAL INTERSECTIONS PUBLICATIONS OF ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTIONARY BIOLOGY, UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN SPECIAL PUBLICATION NO. 1 GERALD SMITH, Editor LINDA GARCIA, Managing Editor ELIZABETH WASON AND KATHERINE LOUGHNEY, Proofreaders GORDON FITCH AND MACKENZIE SCHONDLEMAYER, Cover graphics The publications of the Museum of Zoology, The University of Michigan, consist primarily of two series—the Miscellaneous Publications and the Occasional Papers. Both series were founded by Dr. Bryant Walker, Mr. Bradshaw H. Swales, and Dr. W. W. Newcomb. Occasionally the Museum publishes contributions outside of these series. Beginning in 1990 these are titled Special Publications and Circulars and each are sequentially numbered. All submitted manuscripts to any of the Museum’s publications receive external peer review. The Occasional Papers, begun in 1913, serve as a medium for original studies based principally upon the collections in the Museum. They are issued separately. When a sufficient number of pages has been printed to make a volume, a title page, table of contents, and an index are supplied to libraries and individuals on the mailing list for the series. The Miscellaneous Publications, initiated in 1916, include monographic studies, papers on field and museum techniques, and other contributions not within the scope of the Occasional Papers, and are published separately. Each number has a title page and, when necessary, a table of contents. A complete list of publications on Mammals, Birds, Reptiles and Amphibians, Fishes, Insects, Mollusks, and other topics is available. Address inquiries to Publications, Museum of Zoology, The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109–1079. -
The Fearless Vampire Conservator: Phillip Kitcher and Genetic Determinism*
The Fearless Vampire Conservator: Phillip Kitcher and Genetic Determinism* 1. Introduction Genetic determinism is the idea that many significant human characteristics are rendered inevitable by the presence of certain genes; that it is futile to attempt to modify criminal behavior or obesity or alcoholism by any means other than genetic manipulation. Recent discussion of human cloning has revealed how real a possibility genetic determinism seems to many people. Surveying this discussion, developmental biologist Lewis Wolpert was amused to see so many ‘moralists who denied that genes have an important effect on behavior now saying that a cloned individual’s behavior will be entirely determined by their genetic make-up’ (Wolpert, 1998). His observation is accurate, and the vehemence of many attacks on behavioral genetics probably reflects an underlying belief that if genes affect behavior at all, then they must determine it. In fact, genes are very unlikely to be deterministic causes of behavior, for reasons I will come to in a moment. But if genetic determinism is unlikely to be true, why are we as a community so afraid of it? Wolpert seems to think that moral and political commentators on biology are simply ignorant, but the facts of which they are supposedly ignorant have been widely available for a very long time. Perhaps there is more to the strange persistence of genetic determinism. The psychologist Susan Oyama has famously compared arguing against genetic determinism to battling the undead: “But wait,” the exasperated reader cries, “everyone nowadays knows that development is a matter of interaction. You’re beating a dead horse. -
Epigenetics and Its Implications for Psychology
Psicothema 2013, Vol. 25, No. 1, 3-12 ISSN 0214 - 9915 CODEN PSOTEG Copyright © 2013 Psicothema doi: 10.7334/psicothema2012.327 www.psicothema.com Epigenetics and its implications for Psychology Héctor González-Pardo and Marino Pérez Álvarez Universidad de Oviedo Abstract Resumen Background: Epigenetics is changing the widely accepted linear La epigenética y sus implicaciones para la Psicología. Antecedentes: conception of genome function by explaining how environmental and la epigenética está cambiando la concepción lineal que se suele tener de psychological factors regulate the activity of our genome without involving la genética al mostrar cómo eventos ambientales y psicológicos regulan changes in the DNA sequence. Research has identifi ed epigenetic la actividad de nuestro genoma sin implicar modifi cación en la secuencia mechanisms mediating between environmental and psychological factors de ADN. La investigación ha identifi cado mecanismos epigenéticos que that contribute to normal and abnormal behavioral development. Method: juegan un papel mediador entre eventos ambientales y psicológicos y el the emerging fi eld of epigenetics as related to psychology is reviewed. desarrollo normal y alterado. Método: el artículo revisa el campo emergente Results: the relationship between genes and behavior is reconsidered in de la epigenética y sus implicaciones para la psicología. Resultados: terms of epigenetic mechanisms acting after birth and not only prenatally, entre sus implicaciones destacan la reconsideración de la relación entre as traditionally held. Behavioral epigenetics shows that our behavior genes y conducta en términos de procesos epigenéticos que acontecen a lo could have long-term effects on the regulation of the genome function. largo de la vida y no solo prenatalmente como se asumía. -
Ser Judía Y Puertorriqueña En La Obra De Aurora Levins Morales
116 | Cuaderno Internacional de Estudios Humanísticos y Literatura:CIEHL International Journal of Humanistics Studies and Literature La doble identidad cultural: ser judía y puertorriqueña en la obra de Aurora Levins Morales Amarilis Hidalgo de Jesús Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania El estudio de la temática hebrea o literatura judía en la literatura puertorriqueña ha sido generalmente obviado por la crítica literaria dentro y fuera de Puerto Rico, o su mención o estudio ha sido minimizado. No sólo ha existido una relación entre la comunidad hebrea y Puerto Rico desde hace muchos años,1 sino que también en la primera parte del siglo XX surgió un vínculo social y económico entre la comunidad judía sefardita de Nueva York,2 debido a sus raíces judeo españolas o portuguesas, y después la comunidad Ashkenazi,3 y la diáspora puertorriqueña en la ciudad. Los lazos, historias y circunstancias culturales de dichas comunidades quedaron plasmadas en algunas obras de los escritores puertorriqueños en Nueva York o en la de sus decendientes. Sin embargo, proponer aquí que ha habido, tanto en Nueva York como en Puerto Rico, una gran cantidad de escritores judeo-puertorriqueños es plantear una falacia, aunque sí es cierto que en el trayecto de la historia literaria puertorriqueña han surgido voces literarias de extracción cultural y religiosa judeo-puertorriqueña. De estas obras se tiene conocimiento de la poco conocida historia oral del personaje principal, un judío-puertorriqueño, de Los infortunios de Alonso de Ramírez de Carlos de Sigüenza y -
Darwin & Progress
Darwin & Progress Robert J. Richards, reply by Richard C. Lewontin December 15, 2005 Issue New York Review of Books In response to: The Wars Over Evolution from the October 20, 2005 issue To the Editors: In his review of Michael Ruse’s Evolution– Creation Struggle and Peter Richerson and Robert Boyd’s Not by Genes Alone [NYR, October 20], Richard Lewontin offers typically insightful analyses of the conflict that has arisen between creationists and IDers on the one hand and evolutionary biologists on the other. As well, he offers salutary cautions about the application of general models of cultural change based on evolutionary theory. He may be quite right that a deep fear of meaninglessness urges many individuals to fly to higher, governing powers and to reject the Darwinian slough of chance. Though Lewontin seems to agree with Ruse that some scientists mount the pulpit in trying to extend evolutionary considerations into all corners of human life, he yet chides him for locating the nub of the dispute in two different notions of progress, that characterizing Darwinism and that endemic to the old-time religion—the one leading nowhere in particular, the other to the ultimate transformation. Lewontin supposes that Darwin kept the ideology of progress from sullying his own theory. He offers as an index of Darwin’s freedom from taint the presumed fact that the word “evolution” (which in the embryological domain had been used to describe a predetermined unfolding) is absent from the first edition of the Origin. Well, not exactly. Rather famously the last sentence of the book hits the rhetorical high mark with “endless forms most beautiful and wonderful have been and are being evolved.” Later editions do not shy from use of the noun form of the word, nor does the Descent of Man.