共查询到20条相似文献,搜索用时 46 毫秒
1.
James Carney 《Biosemiotics》2008,1(3):313-327
The basic premise of biosemiotics as a discipline is that there are elementary processes linking signifying strategies in
all forms of animate life. Correspondingly, the discoveries of biosemiotics should, in principle, be capable of revealing
new insights about human signification. In the present article, I show that this is in fact the case by constructing a biosemiotic
model that links advertising strategies with corresponding structures in animal predation. The methodological framework for
this model is the catastrophe theory of René Thom. The end result is a revised understanding of an ostensibly cultural phenomenon
that demonstrates its continuity with signalling processes conventionally associated with the natural world.
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James CarneyEmail: |
2.
Jesper Hoffmeyer 《Biosemiotics》2008,1(2):169-190
Most bodies in this world do not have brains and the minority of animal species that do have brained bodies are descendents
from species with more distributed or decentralized nervous systems. Thus, bodies were here first, and only relatively late
in evolution did the bodies of a few species grow supplementary organs, brains, sophisticated enough to support a psychological
life. Psychological life therefore from the beginning was embedded in and served as a tool for corporeal life. This paper
discusses the semiotically controlled dynamics of bodily existence that has allowed the evolution of these seemingly ‘unnatural’
mental and even linguistic kinds of species. It is shown how the skin, on the one hand, makes us belong in the world, and
on the other hand, is part of the huge landscape of membranes across which the semiotic self incessantly must be reconstituted.
The discussion moves on to the intracellular world of signal transduction through which the activity of single cells are put
to service for bodily needs. The paper further considers the mechanisms behind homeostasis and the semiotics of the psycho-neuro-endocrine
integration in the body. The concept of semiotic emergence is introduced and a holistic marker hypothesis for why some animals
may have an experiential life is suggested.
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Jesper HoffmeyerEmail: |
3.
Renuka M. Sharma 《Journal of bioethical inquiry》2007,4(3):181-192
This paper discusses the persistent devaluation of the girl child in India and the link between the entrenched perception
of female valuelessness and the actual practice of infanticide of girl babies or foetuses. It seeks to place female infanticide,
or ‘gendercide,’ within the context of Western-derived conceptions of ethics, justice and rights. To date, current ethical
theories and internationally purveyed moral frameworks, as well as legal and political declarations, have fallen short of
an adequate moral appraisal of infanticide. This paper seeks to rethink the issue.
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Renuka M. SharmaEmail: |
4.
Peter Godfrey-Smith 《Biology & philosophy》2007,22(3):429-437
Jablonka and Lamb's claim that evolutionary biology is undergoing a ‘revolution’ is queried. But the very concept of revolutionary
change has uncertain application to a field organized in the manner of contemporary biology. The explanatory primacy of sequence
properties is also discussed.
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Peter Godfrey-SmithEmail: |
5.
M. Irfan-Ullah Giriraj Amarnath M. S. R. Murthy A. Townsend Peterson 《Biodiversity and Conservation》2007,16(6):1917-1925
Aglaia bourdillonii is a plant narrowly endemic to the southern portion of the Western Ghats (WG), in peninsular India. To understand its ecological
and geographic distribution, we used ecological niche modeling (ENM) based on detailed distributional information recently
gathered, in relation to detailed climatic data sets. The ENMs successfully reconstructed key features of the species’ geographic
distribution, focusing almost entirely on the southern WG. Much of the species’ distributional potential is already under
protection, but our analysis allows identification of key zones for additional protection, all of which are adjacent to existing
protected areas. ENM provides a useful tool for understanding the natural history of such rare and endangered species.
相似文献
M. Irfan-UllahEmail: Email: |
6.
Grant Gillett 《Journal of bioethical inquiry》2007,4(2):119-127
The use of human tissue raises ethical issues of great concern to health care professionals, biomedical researchers, ethics
committees, tissue banks and policy makers because of the heightened importance given to informed consent and patient autonomy.
The debate has been intensified by high profile scandals such as the “baby hearts” debacle and revelations about the retention
of human brains in neuropathology laboratories worldwide. Respect for patient’s rights seems, however, to impede research
and development of clinical knowledge in contemporary health care. The Common clinical endeavour argument and a Presumption for beneficial use argument suggest that the use of tissues for research and teaching in contemporary health care can respect patients and their values
in multicultural communities where there are provisions for oversight and for opting not to contribute, both of which should
respect the diverse views of different ethnic or cultural groups.
相似文献
Grant GillettEmail: |
7.
Loane Skene 《Journal of bioethical inquiry》2007,4(2):129-133
This paper outlines the current common law principles that protect people’s interests in their bodies, excised body parts
and tissue without conferring the rights of full legal ownership. It does not include the recent statutory amendments in jurisdictions
such as New South Wales and the United Kingdom. It argues that at common law, people do not own their own bodies or excised
bodily material. People can authorise the removal of their bodily material and its use, either during life or after their
death, for medical or scientific purposes. Researchers who acquire human bodies, body parts or tissue pursuant to such an
authority have a right to possess and use them according to the authorisation they have been given, but their rights fall
short of full ownership because they are limited in the way that they can use the material. The legal rights of researchers
who develop intellectual property and biological products from excised human tissue can be adequately protected by existing
common law principles without the need for a new legal principle that people own body parts and tissue removed from their
bodies.
相似文献
Loane SkeneEmail: |
8.
Sub-Antarctic Marion Island has had a permanent research station for 50 years and the islands Wandering Albatrosses have been intensively studied for 20 years. The reactions of breeding birds to approaches by a human on foot were recorded. Three response variables were calculated: intensity of vocal reaction (IVR), intensity of non-vocal reaction (INR) and overall response index (ORI). At 5 m from the nest, twice as many birds stood and/or vocalised as at 15 m. Nearest neighbour distance, age and gender did not explain individual variability of responses. Study colony birds had higher IVR scores than non-study colony birds; birds at colonies closest to the station had the highest ORI scores. A better breeding record was associated with lower IVR and ORI scores, but a causative relationship remains to be demonstrated. A minimum viewing distance of 25 m is recommended for breeding Wandering Albatrosses.
相似文献
Marienne S. de VilliersEmail: Fax: +27-21-6503434 |
John CooperEmail: |
Peter G. RyanEmail: |
9.
Philip Richard Sullivan 《Biology & philosophy》2009,24(1):65-79
This paper demonstrates that the human visual system, the primary sensory conduit for primates, processes ambient energy in
a way that obligatorily constructs the objects that we ineluctably perceive. And since our perceptual apparatus processes
information only in terms of objects (along with the properties and movements of objects), we are limited in our ability to comprehend ‘what
is’ when we move beyond our ordinary world of midsize objects—as, for example, when we address the micro microworld of quantum
physics.
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Philip Richard SullivanEmail: |
10.
Debates over adaptationism can be clarified and partially resolved by careful consideration of the ‘grain’ at which evolutionary
processes are described. The framework of ‘adaptive landscapes’ can be used to illustrate and facilitate this investigation.
We argue that natural selection may have special status at an intermediate grain of analysis of evolutionary processes. The
cases of sickle-cell disease and genomic imprinting are used as case studies.
相似文献
Peter Godfrey-SmithEmail: |
11.
Jyotsna Agnihotri Gupta 《Journal of bioethical inquiry》2007,4(3):217-228
Epidemiologists and geneticists claim that genetics has an increasing role to play in public health policies and programs
in the future. Within this perspective, genetic testing and screening are instrumental in avoiding the birth of children with
serious, costly or untreatable disorders. This paper discusses genetic testing and screening within the framework of eugenics
in the health care context of India. Observations are based on literature review and empirical research using qualitative
methods. I distinguish ‘private’ from ‘public’ eugenics. I refer to the practice of prenatal diagnosis as an aspect of private
eugenics, when the initiative to test comes from the pregnant woman herself. Public eugenics involves testing initiated by
the state or medical profession through (more or less) obligatory testing programmes. To illustrate these concepts I discuss
the management of thalassaemia, which I see as an example of private eugenics that is moving into the sphere of public eugenics.
I then discuss the recently launched newborn screening programme as an example of public eugenics. I use Foucault’s concepts
of power and governmentality to explore the thin line separating individual choice and overt or covert coercion, and between
private and public eugenics. We can expect that the use of genetic testing technology will have serious and far-reaching implications
for cultural perceptions regarding health and disease and women’s experience of pregnancy, besides creating new ethical dilemmas
and new professional and parental responsibilities. Therefore, culturally sensitive health literacy programmes to empower
the public and sensitise professionals need attention.
相似文献
Jyotsna Agnihotri GuptaEmail: |
12.
Cooperative child care among humans, where individuals other than the biological mother (allomothers) provide care, may increase
a mother’s fertility and the survivorship of her children. Although the potential benefits to the mother are clear, the motivations
for allomothers to provide care are less clear. Here, we evaluate the kin selection allomothering hypothesis using observations
on Hadza hunter-gatherers collected in ten camps over 17 months. Our results indicate that related allomothers spend the largest
percentage of time holding children. The higher the degree of relatedness among kin, the more time they spend holding, supporting
the hypothesis of nepotism as the strongest motivation for providing allomaternal care. Unrelated helpers of all ages also
provide a substantial amount of investment, which may be motivated by learning to mother, reciprocity, or coercion.
相似文献
Frank W. MarloweEmail: |
13.
14.
Event-related brain potentials (ERP) are important neural correlates of cognitive processes. In the domain of language processing,
the N400 and P600 reflect lexical-semantic integration and syntactic processing problems, respectively. We suggest an interpretation
of these markers in terms of dynamical system theory and present two nonlinear dynamical models for syntactic computations
where different processing strategies correspond to functionally different regions in the system’s phase space.
相似文献
Peter beim GrabenEmail: |
15.
16.
Overintensification and subsidies have long made American commodity farmers the enemy of conservationists. Yet, environmental
conditions are improving in the Mississippi Delta where farmer-based groups, water management districts and conservation organizations
have improved environmental quality and redefined the role of agriculture in environmental preservation. This work is all
the more remarkable given the region’s deeply conservative politics that discourage regulation. This paper examines this mainstreaming
of environmental values in light of debates on the role of the state in fostering environmental subjectivities. Following
cultural examinations of the state, we caution that the presence or retreat of the state is insufficient to understanding
environmental subjectivities. Instead, an ethnographic focus is necessary to identify connections between the state and particular
human-environment relations. In the Delta, this focus shows that local environmentalism is consonant with a politics of unsustainability,
one that simultaneously advances radical ecological change and defense of the region’s social hierarchies.
相似文献
Eleanor E. ShoremanEmail: |
17.
Chris Haufe 《Biology & philosophy》2008,23(1):115-128
The importance of mate choice and sexual selection has been emphasized by the majority of evolutionary psychologists. This
paper assesses three cases of work on mate choice and sexual selection in evolutionary psychology: David Buss on cross-cultural
human mate preferences, Randy Thornhill and Steve Gangestad on the link between mate preferences and fluctuating asymmetry,
and Geoffrey Miller on the role of Fisher’s runaway process in human evolution. A mixture of conceptual and empirical problems
in each case highlights the general weakness of work in evolutionary psychology on these issues.
相似文献
Chris HaufeEmail: |
18.
Catherine Driscoll 《Biology & philosophy》2008,23(1):101-113
This paper tries to explain how individuals manage adaptive individual choice (i.e., the decision to acquire a fitter than
average behavior or idea rapidly and tractably) in cultural evolution, despite the fact that acquiring fitness information
is very difficult. I argue that the means of solving this problem suggested in the cultural evolution literature largely are
various types of decision rules employing representations of fitness correlated properties or states of affairs. I argue that
the problem of adaptive individual choice is best solved where some of these learning rule representations are socially transmitted
and some are biologically transmitted.
相似文献
Catherine DriscollEmail: |
19.
The social negotiation of nature conservation policy: conserving pinewoods in the Scottish Highlands
Andrew C. Midgley 《Biodiversity and Conservation》2007,16(12):3317-3332
This paper examines the social and cultural processes through which conservation policy is derived. Focusing on the management
of pinewoods in Abernethy Forest, Scotland, it explores the cultural politics involved in developing appropriate management
practice. Calling upon participant observation, semi-structured interviews with site managers and the analysis of texts, it
traces the gradual moves from a policy of minimum intervention towards more complex management regimes. The paper explores
the social construction of the forest’s naturalness that underpinned the early policy of minimum intervention and then the
ways that the forest was reconstructed as the managers debated the merits of minimum intervention and the degree to which
they should intervene. The paper illustrates how managers have considered different forms of intervention and how they have
tried to balance their concern with the naturalness of the forest with a need to intervene on behalf of particularly important
species. It highlights the importance of conservationists’ culturally derived understandings of nature and suggests that an
awareness of these cultures of nature is vital if conservationists are to develop robust policies.
相似文献
Andrew C. MidgleyEmail: |
20.
The maintenance of exceptionally high numbers of folk varieties by the Piaroa people of the Venezuelan Amazon is considered.
We cataloged 113 manioc folk varieties, their nomenclature, use and relevant characters, revealing significant insights into
the role of manioc in Piaroa social life. Through a qualitative investigation of the cultivation, processing and symbolic
significance of manioc (Manihot esculenta) in two Piaroa regions over a period of 18 years, we have found that such agrobiodiversity can only be fully explained by
a combination of multiple factors, including pragmatic and ecological considerations, the subtle and complex diversity of
Piaroa manioc preparations and a variety of sociocultural factors, such as manioc’s role as a mediator of social relationships
and as a marker of cultural and social heritage.
相似文献
Stanford ZentEmail: |