scholarly journals Aristotle on the Unity of the Nutritive and Reproductive Functions

Phronesis ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 65 (4) ◽  
pp. 414-466
Author(s):  
Cameron F. Coates ◽  
James G. Lennox
Keyword(s):  
Ontological Argument ◽  
Biological Functions ◽  
De Anima ◽  
Individual Organism ◽  
Shared Object ◽  
Biological Analysis ◽  
The Individual

Abstract In De Anima 2.4, Aristotle claims that nutritive soul encompasses two distinct biological functions: nutrition and reproduction. We challenge a pervasive interpretation which posits ‘nutrients’ as the correlative object (antikeimenon) of the nutritive capacity. Instead, the shared object of nutrition and reproduction is that which is nourished and reproduced: the ensouled body, qua ensouled. Both functions aim at preserving this object, and thus at preserving the form, life, and being of the individual organism. In each case, we show how Aristotle’s detailed biological analysis supports this ontological argument.

scholarly journals Cordelia.’s Portrait in the Context of King Lear.’s Individuation

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paula Rodríguez gómez
Keyword(s):  
King Lear ◽  
The Self ◽  
Collective Unconscious ◽  
De Anima ◽  
Analytical Technique ◽  
Jungian Analysis ◽  
Individuation Process ◽  
The Individual

Abstract: This analysis attempts to show the relations between the individual psyche and the contents of the collective unconscious. Following Von Franz’s analytical technique, the tragic action in King Lear will be read as an individuation process that will rescue archetypal contents and solve existential paradoxes that cause an imbalance between the ego and the self, leading to self-destruction. Once communication is eased and balance is restored, the transformation-seeking process that engaged the design of the play itself becomes resolved, and events can be led to a conventional tragic resolution. Jungian analysis will therefore provide a critical framework to unveil the subconscious contents that tear the character of the king between annihilation and survival, the anima complex that affects the king, responding thus for the action of the play and its centuries-old success.Resumen: Este análisis pretende sacar a la luz las relaciones entre la psyche individual y los contenidos del inconsciente colectivo. Siguiendo la técnica analítica de Von Franz, la acción trágica de King Lear será entendida a través del proceso de individuación que revierte sobre los contenidos arquetípicos y resuelve las paradojas existenciales que causan el desequilibrio entre ego y self. Una vez que la comunicación es facilitada y el equilibrio psíquico recuperado, el proceso transformativo que afecta la génesis de la trama se resuelve y el argumento alcanza una resolución convencional. El análisis junguiano ofrece el soporte crítico necesario para desvelar los contenidos del inconsciente que escinde el personaje central del monarca entre la supervivencia y la aniquilación. El complejo de ánima que afecta al rey responde de esta manera por la complejidad de la acción dramática y el éxito que ha hecho que esta obra perdure a través de los siglos.

Units and levels of selection

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Samir Okasha
Keyword(s):  
Natural Selection ◽  
Kin Selection ◽  
Evolutionary Biology ◽  
Evolutionary Process ◽  
Levels Of Selection ◽  
Evolutionary Transitions ◽  
Individual Organism ◽  
Selection Processes ◽  
Hierarchical Levels ◽  
The Individual

In a standard Darwinian explanation, natural selection takes place at the level of the individual organism, i.e. some organisms enjoy a survival or reproduction advantage over others, which results in evolutionary change. In principle however, natural selection could operate at other hierarchical levels too, above and below that of the organism, for example the level of genes, cells, groups, colonies or even whole species. This possibility gives rise to the ‘levels of selection’ question in evolutionary biology. Group and colony-level selection have been proposed, originally by Darwin, as a means by which altruism can evolve. (In biology, ‘altruism’ refers to behaviour which entails a fitness cost to the individual so behaving, but benefits others.) Though this idea is still alive today, many theorists regard kin selection as a superior explanation for the existence of altruism. Kin selection arises from the fact that relatives share genes, so if an organism behaves altruistically towards its relatives, there is a greater than random chance that the beneficiary of the altruistic action will itself be an altruist. Kin selection is closely bound up with the ‘gene’s eye view’ of evolution, which holds that genes, not organisms, are the true beneficiaries of the evolutionary process. The gene’s eye approach to evolution, though heuristically valuable, does not in itself resolve the levels of selection question, because selection processes that occur at many hierarchical levels can all be seen from a gene’s eye viewpoint. In recent years, the levels of selection discussion has been re-invigorated, and subtly transformed, by the important new work on the ‘major evolutionary transitions’. These transitions occur when a number of free-living biological units, originally capable of surviving and reproducing alone, become integrated into a larger whole, giving rise to a new biological unit at a higher level of organization. Evolutionary transitions are intimately bound up with the levels of selection issue, because during a transition the potential exists for selection to operate simultaneously at two different hierarchical levels.

The place of 'genesis' in the classification of soils

Soil Research ◽  
1984 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 1 ◽  
Author(s):  
GG Beckmann
Keyword(s):  
Complex Structure ◽  
Soil Layer ◽  
Central Concept ◽  
Vertical Column ◽  
Individual Organism ◽  
Physical Chemical ◽  
Natural Objects ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Hand Specimen

The purpose of classification is to indicate relationships and differences between objects and to establish groups at various levels of generalization; i.e. to produce simplified models based on experience. In soils the object to be classified is often the soil profile, which may be considered to be analogous to the hand specimen in geology and to the individual organism in biology. For purposes of discussion a profile is considered to be a vertical column, up to 20 cm square, and extending to c. 2 m from the surface, to rock or to some distinct soil layer underlying the profile, across which physical, chemical and mineralogical variations are small. There is no conceptual continuum of soil profiles, even though there is a physical continuum across the surface of the earth. Rather there are a number of common forms each of which may be represented by a 'central concept' with intergrades between them. Such a central concept can be recognized at each level of a hierarchy. Soils are natural objects with a complex structure and history, as are organisms, rock specimens and even landforms. They should be considered in the same way as the other natural objects when a classification is being constructed. Their 'history', as conceived at present, should be involved in classification, even though major emphasis is placed on physical, chemical and mineralogical properties. To illustrate these ideas, the Australian Great Soil Groups are re-examined and suggestions are made about possible subgroups.

High purpose, low execution

1999 ◽  
Vol 22 (5) ◽  
pp. 910-911
Author(s):  
Nicholas S. Thompson
Keyword(s):  
Biological Analysis ◽  
The Individual

In reasserting the primacy of the individual in biological analysis, Rose directs attention away from the crucial insights of the developmental/structuralist perspective that he advocates. In presenting his advocacy as a diatribe, he brings disrespect down upon that very tradition.

scholarly journals Stress and the dynamic genome: Steroids, epigenetics, and the transposome

2014 ◽  
Vol 112 (22) ◽  
pp. 6828-6833 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard G. Hunter ◽  
Khatuna Gagnidze ◽  
Bruce S. McEwen ◽  
Donald W. Pfaff
Keyword(s):  
Brain Function ◽  
Acute Stress ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Epigenetic Mechanism ◽  
Epigenetic Mechanisms ◽  
Individual Organism ◽  
Genomic Plasticity ◽  
Genomic Stress ◽  
Dynamic Genome ◽  
The Individual

Stress plays a substantial role in shaping behavior and brain function, often with lasting effects. How these lasting effects occur in the context of a fixed postmitotic neuronal genome has been an enduring question for the field. Synaptic plasticity and neurogenesis have provided some of the answers to this question, and more recently epigenetic mechanisms have come to the fore. The exploration of epigenetic mechanisms recently led us to discover that a single acute stress can regulate the expression of retrotransposons in the rat hippocampus via an epigenetic mechanism. We propose that this response may represent a genomic stress response aimed at maintaining genomic and transcriptional stability in vulnerable brain regions such as the hippocampus. This finding and those of other researchers have made clear that retrotransposons and the genomic plasticity they permit play a significant role in brain function during stress and disease. These observations also raise the possibility that the transposome might have adaptive functions at the level of both evolution and the individual organism.

General Discussion

1952 ◽  
Vol 139 (895) ◽  
pp. 202-207 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Division Of Labour ◽  
Genetic Constitution ◽  
Single Individual ◽  
Predominant Role ◽  
Individual Organism ◽  
Favourable Environment ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Associated Species ◽  
Symbiotic Organisms

The first consideration which arises in any discussion of symbiosis is the connotation to be attached to the term. In what sense, if any, can the symbiotic organisms be regarded as constituting a unity? The ‘struggle for existence’ presupposes antagonism between organisms whether or no they belong to the same or diverse a species. On the other hand, the question remains whether associated species tend to provide for each other a favourable environment. The analysis of the relations between organisms has been dominated by the notion of ‘competition’ or ‘struggle’ and the converse notion of ‘co-operation’ has in consequence been disregarded. It should be remembered that even with regard to the unitary organism the notion of ‘struggle’ between organs has been seriously advocated. The data of ecology serve as a challenge to this view of the predominant role of ‘struggle’. It will be generally accepted that the individual organism represents a true unity, and the persistence of the species bears witness to this fact. In this case the unity of the organism and the transmission of this unity from generation to generation is achieved by a genetic mechanism; nevertheless, the uniformity of genetic constitution throughout the cells of a single individual permits of differentiation of the cells into tissues and organs with diverse physiological functions displaying a ‘division of labour’ between the various organs. The unity of the organism expressed and recognized in the persistence of form within the species thus embraces a diversity of functioning within the constituent parts; and thus the unity may be regarded as a ‘functional unity’ or ‘functional field’. Each organ by its activity provides factors essential for the activity of other organs. The recent advances in the study of hormones as regulating factors in development and coordination is only one aspect of this functional unity.

A Comment on Mithen's Ecological Interpretation of Palaeolithic Art

1992 ◽  
Vol 58 (1) ◽  
pp. 107-109 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. A. Clark
Keyword(s):  
Biological Evolution ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Individual Selection ◽  
Individual Decision ◽  
Individual Organism ◽  
Individual Decision Making ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Human Creativity ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Palaeolithic Art

Steven Mithen's ‘Ecological Interpretations of Palaeolithic Art’ (PPS 57, 103–14) reminded me of a Chinese meal — initially satisfying, but it doesn't stick with you for very long. While I subscribe to broadly similar paradigmatic biases at the level of the metaphysic, the ‘thoughtful forager’ model itself, proposed to relate various aspects of the art under the aegis of a particular kind of adaptationist perspective, seems to be conceptually muddled and operationally problematic. Also, Mithen's starting-point, the notion of an inherent contradiction between human creativity and an adaptationist point of view, is a red herring—wherever did he get it?! I will confine these brief remarks to three points that bear on different conceptions of adaptation and how they effect construals of pattern and the meaning of pattern in Palaeolithic art. I also respond to referees' comments.Mithen takes me, Straus and Gamble to task for omitting the individual and individual decision-making in our conceptions of adaptation (pp. 104, 105). A conception of adaptation that is focused on the group is juxtaposed with one invoking selection operating at the level of the individual organism in a direct analogy with group vs. individual selection in biological evolution.

The Phenological Community

2019 ◽  
pp. 94-106
Author(s):  
Eric Post
Keyword(s):  
Annual Cycle ◽  
Community Dynamics ◽  
Local Community ◽  
Dynamic Nature ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Temporal Scales ◽  
Individual Organism ◽  
Use Of Time ◽  
Allocation Of Time ◽  
The Individual

This chapter studies how the concept of phenological community relates to the utilization of time by species that co-occur in the local assemblage. It also examines the consequences for phenological community dynamics of differential use of time by co-occurring species. Indeed, a main point of emphasis in this chapter is the dynamic nature of the community in a phenological context. The allocation of time by the individual organism to phenophases within its annual cycle of growth, maintenance, and reproduction determines patterns of interactions in time among species co-occurring in the local assemblage. In the context of phenology, the local community is characterized by a capacity for pronounced variability on both short-term temporal scales (over days) and on longer-term temporal scales (from year to year).

Empirical Implications

2021 ◽  
pp. 151-179
Author(s):  
J. Arvid Ågren
Keyword(s):  
Evolutionary Biology ◽  
Thought Experiment ◽  
The Body ◽  
Individual Organism ◽  
Genetic Elements ◽  
Selfish Genetic Elements ◽  
Making Sense ◽  
Research Areas ◽  
Genome Wide ◽  
The Individual

The initial success of the gene’s-eye view came from making sense of old problems in evolutionary biology, in particular those related to social behaviour. It also stimulated new empirical research areas. This chapter is about three such new areas. The first is extended phenotypes, which are examples of phenotypic effects that occur outside of the body in which a gene is located. The second area is greenbeard genes, which gets its name from the thought-experiment devised to show that for altruism to evolve it is the relatedness between the actor and the recipient at the locus underlying the altruistic behaviour that matters, not the genome-wide relatedness. Finally, selfish genetic elements are genetic elements that have the ability to promote their own transmission even if it come at the expense of the fitness of the individual organism. The chapter outlines the current understanding of these topics and the role of the gene’s-eye view in uncovering them.

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