Race, Definition, and Science

Author(s):  
Albert Atkin

Philosophical concerns about the reality of race often depend on the examination of our ordinary race concepts, and whether the biological sciences might support the existence of those concepts. We can approach these philosophical concerns by looking at how we might define a race concept from both ordinary discourse (the folk definition), and from the viewpoint of the biological sciences (as a subspecies or population cluster). After noting the difficulties with giving a satisfactory definition of race in both domains, we can see more clearly why our race concepts cannot claim any obvious support from the biological sciences.

Author(s):  
Liduina Lima Pires Barbosa ◽  
Andréa Pereira Silveira

Resumo: A Ecologia é uma ciência que possui diferentes definições, sendo as mais utilizadas as de Haeckel e Krebs, contrastantes do ponto de vista temporal e conceitual. Por isso propomos: i) registrar as definições de Ecologia presentes nos livros didáticos utilizados na Universidade Estadual do Ceará, Faculdade de Educação de Itapipoca UECE/FACEDI e nas escolas do ensino básico de Itapipoca-Ceará e ii) acessar as representações do termo Ecologia partilhada pelos discentes de Biologia da FACEDI que já cursaram as disciplinas de Ecologia e aqueles que ainda não as cursaram. Com uma abordagem quanti-qualitativa descritiva documental, analisamos 35 livros, 15 universitários e 20 livros do ensino básico. Para verificar quais conceitos são compreendidos pelos licenciandos utilizamos um questionário, respondido por 97 estudantes universitários e analisado pelo método de análise conteúdo. Registramos que a maioria dos livros (27) trazia apenas a definição de Haeckel e utilizavam o termo Ecologia como sinônimo de Ciências Ambientais; apenas sete livros traziam as duas definições e um trazia apenas o conceito de Krebs. Esses dados demonstram que a definição de Krebs é menos difundida do que a de Haeckel, e isso se soma a uma limitação conceitual ao considerar Ecologia como sinônimo de Ciências Ambientais, embora ambas tenham escopo distintos. Registramos também que as percepções de Ecologia partilhada pelos alunos estão mais próximas da definição de Haeckel. Concluímos que a inconsistência conceitual amplamente difundida nos livros didáticos é também partilhada pelos alunos, especialmente aqueles que ainda não cursaram as disciplinas de Ecologia.Palavras-Chave: Ensino de Ecologia. Transposição Didática. Haeckel. Krebs.  REPRESENTATIONS OF THE CONCEPT OF ECOLOGY: ANALYSIS OF DIDACTIC BOOKS AND CONCEPTION OF STUDENTS OF BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES Abstract: Ecology is a science that has different definitions the most used are those of Haeckel and Krebs, contrasting from a temporal and conceptual point of view. Therefore, we propose to: i) record the definitions of ecology present in the textbooks used at the State University of Ceara, the Faculty of Education of Itapipoca UECE/FACEDI and at the primary schools of Itapipoca-Ceara and ii) access the representations of the term Shared Ecology by the FACEDI Biology students who have already studied Ecology and those who have not yet studied them. With a descriptive quantitative-qualitative approach, we analyzed 35 books, 15 university students and 20 books of basic education. To verify which concepts are understood by the licensees we use a questionnaire, answered by 97 university students and analyzed by the content analysis method. We note that most of the books (27) contained only Haeckel's definition and used the term Ecology as synonymous with Environmental Sciences; Only seven books had the two definitions and only one contains only Krebs. These data demonstrate that the definition of Krebs is less widespread than that of Haeckel, and this adds to a conceptual limitation when considering Ecology as synonymous with Environmental Sciences, although both have a different scope. We also note that the perceptions of Ecology shared by students are closer to Haeckel's definition. We conclude that the conceptual inconsistency widely diffused in textbooks is also shared by the students, especially those who have not yet studied the subjects of Ecology.Keywords: Teaching Ecology. Didactic Transposition. Haeckel. Krebs.


Author(s):  
Xavi Marsellach

The current state of biological knowledge contains an unresolved paradox: life as a continuity in the face of the phenomena of ageing. In this manuscript I propose a theoretical framework that offers a solution for this apparent contradiction. The framework proposed is based on a rethinking of what ageing is at a molecular level, as well as on a rethinking of the mechanisms in charge of the flow of information from one generation to the following ones. I propose an information-based conception of ageing instead of the widely accepted damage-based conception of ageing and propose a full recovery of the chromosome theory of inheritance to describe the intergenerational flow of information. Altogether the proposed framework allows a precise and unique definition of what life is: a continuous flow of biological information. The proposed framework also implies that ageing is merely a consequence of the way in which epigenetically-coded phenotypic characteristics are passed from one generation to the next ones.


Bionomina ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 48-51
Author(s):  
VICTOR G.D. ORRICO

A recent defense of the photo-based taxonomy is discussed. The main issue concerns the simplistic definition of “type”. A comparison with other material forms of type preservation highlights weaknesses inherent to the use of photographs as types. Additional arguments from Thorpe’s contribution are also reviewed and disputed.


Author(s):  
Xavi Marsellach

The current state of biological knowledge contains an unresolved paradox: life as a continuity in the face of the phenomena of ageing. In this manuscript I propose a theoretical framework that offers a solution for this apparent contradiction. The framework proposed is based on a rethinking of what ageing is at a molecular level, as well as on a rethinking of the mechanisms in charge of the flow of information from one generation to the following ones. I propose an information-based conception of ageing instead of the widely accepted damage-based conception of ageing and propose a full recovery of the chromosome theory of inheritance to describe the intergenerational flow of information. Altogether the proposed framework allows a precise and unique definition of what life is: a continuous flow of biological information. The proposed framework also implies that ageing is merely a consequence of the way in which epigenetically-coded phenotypic characteristics are passed from one generation to the next ones.


Author(s):  
Piotr Daniszewski

Bioterrorism is a complex and dynamic phenomenon, occurring in various forms. It is difficult now to define a uniform definition of terrorism that is changing under the influence of the development of civilization, and especially the rapid progress in scientific and technical knowledge. The terrorists perfectly use the latest achievements of biological sciences in their terrorist attacks. The purpose of this article is to bring the phenomenon of bioterrorism.


2010 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 121-150 ◽  
Author(s):  
John P. Jackson

ArgumentEvolutionary psychologists argue that because humans are biological creatures, cultural explanations must include biology. They thus offer to unify the natural and social sciences. Evolutionary psychologists rely on a specific history of cultural anthropology, particularly the work of Alfred Kroeber to make this point. A close examination of the history of cultural anthropology reveals that Kroeber acknowledged that humans were biological and culture had a biological foundation; however, he argued that we should treat culture as autonomous because that would bring benefits to the biological sciences as well as the human sciences. Hence, the historical caricature of his work by evolutionary psychology fails. The paper concludes that cultural anthropologists were successful in creating their discipline, at least in part, because they argued by pragmatic definition. Evolutionary psychology, on the other hand, offers an essentialist definition of “culture” and thus offers a much less promising vision of interdisciplinary collaboration.


2021 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 206
Author(s):  
Júccia Nathielle do Nascimento Oliveira ◽  
Rogério Pereira da Silva

Relato de experiência a partir de projeto de extensão realizado na Biblioteca Setorial do Centro de Ciências Agrárias da Universidade Federal da Paraíba. Compreende a prática extensionista a partir da organização de coleções especiais e históricas abrigadas na Biblioteca Setorial Francisco Tancredo Torres. Além dos livros, o acervo conta com jornais, fotografias e cartas. O relato parte das experiências do profissional bibliotecário e do aluno graduando em ciências biológicas. As coleções abrigam a memória e história da instituição, bem como, da cidade e estado, assim, uma vez organizadas, essas coleções instigarão a memória institucional e da cidade de Areia. As atividades desenvolvidas foram: seleção, higienização, organização e construção de inventário. Como resultado foi notada a necessidade de documentos que padronizem as práticas de preservação e conservação, bem como a definição de critérios de obras raras para a Biblioteca para que possam orientar os serviços e padronizar os cuidados de organização, preservação e conservação das coleções.  ABSTRACTExperience report from an extension project carried out at the Sectorial Library of the Agricultural Sciences Center of the Federal University of Paraíba. Understands the extension practice from the organization of special and historical collections housed in the Sectoral Library Francisco Tancredo Torres. In addition to books, the collection includes newspapers, photographs and letters. The report starts from the experiences of the professional librarian and of the student graduating in biological sciences. The collections hold the memory and history of the institution, as well as the city and state, so, once organized, these collections will instigate institutional memory and the city of Areia. The activities developed were: selection, cleaning, organization and construction of inventory. As a result, it was noted the need for documents that standardize the preservation and conservation practices, as well as the definition of rare works criteria for the library so that they can guide the services and standardize the care of organization, preservation and conservation of the collections.


2019 ◽  
Vol 28 (6) ◽  
pp. 407-424 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pamela Lyon

“Minimal cognition” is used in certain sectors of the cognitive sciences to make a kind of ontological claim that may be unique in the biological sciences: that a function operating in organisms living today is not a fully fledged version of that function (the nature of which remains unspecified), but, rather, exhibits the minimal requirements for whatever it is, properly conceived. Evidence suggests that elsewhere in the life sciences, deployment of minimizing qualifiers relative to a biological function appears largely restricted to two scenarios: first, attenuated functioning and, second, evolution of the function, real or synthetic. The article argues that “minimal cognition” and “proto-cognitive” were introduced at the turn of this century by cognitive researchers seeking to learn directly from evolved behavior, ecology and physiology. A terminological straitjacket imposed on the central object of cognitive science at its beginning necessitated the move. An alternative terminology is proposed, based on a phyletically neutral definition of cognition as a biological function; a candidate mechanism is explored; and a bacterial example presented. On this story, cognition is like respiration: ubiquitously present, from unicellular life to blue whales and every form of life in between, and for similar reasons: staying alive requires it.


Author(s):  
Piotr Daniszewski

Bioterrorism is a multi-faceted phenomenon and dynamic, occurring in various forms. It is difficult now to define a uniform definition of terrorism that is changing under the influence of the development of civilization, and especially the rapid scientific progress. The terrorists perfectly use the latest achievements of biological sciences in their terrorist attacks. The purpose of this article is to bring the phenomenon of bioterrorism.


2016 ◽  
Vol 40 (6) ◽  
pp. 743-767 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simon Parry ◽  
Christel Prudhomme ◽  
Robert L. Wilby ◽  
Paul J. Wood

There are numerous anecdotal examples of drought terminations documented throughout the historical record on most continents. The end of a drought is the critical time during which water resource managers urgently require information on the replenishment of supplies. Yet this phase has been relatively neglected by the academic community, with much of the existing body of research on drought termination assessing the likelihood of droughts ending rather than its temporal profile. In particular, there has been little effort to characterise drought termination events themselves. This is partly explained by existing definitions of drought termination as a specific point in time when drought is considered to have finished, rather than a more holistic consideration based on approaches developed within biological sciences. There is also a lack of understanding about how drought termination propagates through the hydrological cycle. This paper specifically examines and reviews available research on drought termination, highlighting limitations associated with current definitions and offering suggestions for characterising the temporal stages of drought. An alternative definition of drought termination is proposed: a period between the maximum negative anomaly and a return to above-average conditions. Once this phase has been delineated, the duration, rate and seasonality of drought termination can be derived. The utility of these metrics is illustrated through a case study of the 2010–2012 drought in the UK, and the propagation of drought termination between river flows and groundwater levels.


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