Criticism of Gehlen’s Theory of Instinct-Reduction and Phenomenological Clarification of the Concept of Instinct as the Genetic Origin of Embodied Consciousness

2017 ◽  
Vol 2017 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lee Nam-In
Keyword(s):  
Evolutionary Psychology ◽  
Evolutionary Biology ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Genetic Origin ◽  
The Past ◽  
Embodied Consciousness ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Logical Sense ◽  
Living Being

AbstractIn the past 20 years, the concept of instinct has been discussed in respect to various disciplines such as evolutionary biology, evolutionary psychology, linguistics, ethics, aesthetics, and phenomenology, etc. However, the meaning of instinct still remains unclarified in many respects. In order to overcome this situation, it is necessary to elucidate the genuine meaning of instinct so that the discussion of instinct in these disciplines can be carried out systematically. The objective of this paper is to establish the genuine concept of instinct on the basis of a phenomenological criticism of A. Gehlen’s theory of instinct-reduction. Moreover, it seeks to show that this concept is the genetic origin of the embodied consciousness. According to Gehlen, instinct is defined as Instinkthandlung. However, this definition of instinct is problematic in the formal logical sense, since the definiendum (the instinct) is already included in the definiens (Instinkthandlung). Moreover, it faces different kinds of serious material problems. Criticizing Gehlen’s theory of instinct systematically, I will show that instinct should be redefined as “the innate living force that urges a species of living being to pursue a certain kind of object,” and I will attempt to clarify this definition of instinct in a more detailed manner by offering 11 points. Thereafter, I will argue that Gehlen’s theory of instinct-reduction has to be replaced by the theory of instinct-enlargement in human beings. Finally, I will point out that the genuine concept of instinct is nothing other than the genetic origin of the embodied consciousness.

Holism, Chinese Medicine and Systems Ideologies: Rewriting the Past to Imagine the Future

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Volker Scheid
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
Chinese Medicine ◽  
Medical Humanities ◽  
Science And Technology Studies ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
The Past ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
The Us ◽  
Shared Objective ◽  
Definition Of

This chapter explores the articulations that have emerged over the last half century between various types of holism, Chinese medicine and systems biology. Given the discipline’s historical attachments to a definition of ‘medicine’ that rather narrowly refers to biomedicine as developed in Europe and the US from the eighteenth century onwards, the medical humanities are not the most obvious starting point for such an inquiry. At the same time, they do offer one advantage over neighbouring disciplines like medical history, anthropology or science and technology studies for someone like myself, a clinician as well as a historian and anthropologist: their strong commitment to the objective of facilitating better medical practice. This promise furthermore links to the wider project of critique, which, in Max Horkheimer’s definition of the term, aims at change and emancipation in order ‘to liberate human beings from the circumstances that enslave them’. If we take the critical medical humanities as explicitly affirming this shared objective and responsibility, extending the discipline’s traditional gaze is not a burden but becomes, in fact, an obligation.

LIBERAL ECONOMICS AND THE INSTITUTIONALIZATION OF SIN: CHRISTIAN AND STOIC VESTIGES IN ECONOMIC RATIONALITY

2002 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 31-57 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leland Glenna
Keyword(s):  
Social Life ◽  
Free Market ◽  
Social Benefits ◽  
Economic Rationality ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
The Past ◽  
Ecclesiastical Law ◽  
Ecological Problems ◽  
Democratic Principles ◽  
Definition Of

AbstractThe recognition that ecological problems often extend beyond nation-state boundaries has prompted environmentalists, politicians, and academics to call for and generate problem-solving discourses meant to be global in perspective. Free-market rhetoric has emerged as one of the more prominent of the global discourses, even though the free market's commodification of human beings and nature causes many environmental problems. To discredit this economic rationality, many scholars have compared it to religion. These comparisons are intriguing, but they have lacked the critical analysis necessary to appear as anything more than name-calling. This paper clarifies the definition of religion and uses it to examine the origins of economic rationality's fundamental presupposition—that greedy self-interested competition generates more social benefits than altruistic cooperation—within eighteenth-century Natural Law vs. Ecclesiastical Law debates. Despite economic rationality's adoption of sophisticated empirical methods and mathematical rigor over the past two centuries, it is a religion because it retains vestiges of the Protestant Christian and Stoic beliefs of how social life is governed by supernatural intervention when it uncritically promotes policies based on that presupposition. Recognizing economic rationality is a religion may benefit those who are striving to develop systems of governance based on democratic principles by leading to a greater understanding of economic rationality's normative attraction.

SYMPOSIUM ON CONGENITAL METABOLIC DISEASE

PEDIATRICS ◽  
1958 ◽  
Vol 21 (6) ◽  
pp. 1018-1021
Author(s):  
Charles U. Lowe ◽  
Barton Childs
Keyword(s):  
Gene Action ◽  
Genetic Material ◽  
Basic Mechanism ◽  
Reaction Rates ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Secondary Effects ◽  
Genetic Origin ◽  
Daughter Cells ◽  
Metabolic Functions ◽  
Definition Of

MOST of the conditions to be considered in this symposium share one feature: their genetic origin. It could be profitable then to outline some of the principles of gene action and of the characteristics of genetic disease which will apply equally to all of the disorders to be reviewed. To begin, a definition of gene action is offered. This must be an empirical one since it is not known, with any precision, what a gene is. However, it is known that the genetic material provides the most basic mechanism for homeostasis, ensuring that offspring will exhibit the characteristics of the parent, whether the offspring be daughter cells or human beings. This is accomplished by means of control over the formation and design of the vital molecules of the organism; those molecules which in their turn control its intricate and interrealted metabolic functions. It is for the most part these metabolic functions which we attempt to measure in the elucidation of gene action in disease, and it will be seen in the ensuing discussions that only rarely is one able to make any direct assessment of the physicochemical properties of these molecules which bear a specific relationship to the gene. Much more commonly, a measurement is made of some form of activity of such substances, and a stepwise elucidation may be accomplished of the secondary effects which are consequent upon alterations in reaction rates or reaction failure. It is, in general, these secondary, tertiary, or consequential effects which are most easily measured, and which are the overt expressions of the disease. The principle illustrated here is, what a gene is said to do, depends upon which function we measure.

GENETIC ORIGIN OF SOME SEX DIFFERENCES AMONG HUMAN BEINGS

PEDIATRICS ◽  
1965 ◽  
Vol 35 (5) ◽  
pp. 798-812
Author(s):  
Barton Childs
Keyword(s):  
Sex Differences ◽  
Sex Chromosomes ◽  
New Combinations ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Genetic Origin ◽  
Control Functions ◽  
Y Chromosomes ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Heterogametic Sex

Sexual reproduction helps to ensure the survival of species by providing opportunities for new combinations of chromosomes in individuals. Organisms have evolved means to accomplish this end by establishing special sex-determining chromosomes which must contain the genes which decide the reproductive attributes of the individual. This decision sets in motion a train of events determining many characteristics related to and stemming from the reproductive sex of the individual which, taken in the aggregate, formulate much of his or her role in life as a male or female. Differences between the sexes are thus created which sometimes appear to be unrelated to reproductive functions, but which are traceable ultimately to them, and some of these differences might represent a hazard to one or other sex, due either to biological or cultural inequalities. Though there are occasional errors and imperfections of sex determination, the mechanism is on the whole a good one and even unsophisticated people are seldom unsure or imprecise in the diagnosis of sex among human beings. But establishment of the sex chromosomes in the forms they have taken in various organisms has resulted in certain consequences which, though they might be beneficial in some instances, certainly contribute to inequalities between the two sexes in ways not necessarily related to the reproductive aspects of sex. The disparity in size between the X and Y chromosomes, for example, means that the homogametic sex (female) is diploid with regard to many loci, while the heterogametic sex (males) must be always haploid. If these chromosomes contain genes which control functions apart from aspects of reproductive sex, even though these be compensated, the genes will be making contributions to aspects of maleness and femaleness which are not accommodated in the usual, practical definition of sex.

scholarly journals Unexpected Discoveries Should Be Reconsidered in Science—A Look to the Past?

2019 ◽  
Vol 20 (16) ◽  
pp. 3973 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alberto Foletti ◽  
Stefano Fais
Keyword(s):  
Psychotropic Drugs ◽  
Lysergic Acid ◽  
Pivotal Role ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Max Planck ◽  
Otto Warburg ◽  
Know How ◽  
The Past ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
High Level

From the past, we know how much “serendipity” has played a pivotal role in scientific discoveries. The definition of serendipity implies the finding of one thing while looking for something else. The most known example of this is the discovery of penicillin. Fleming was studying “Staphylococcus influenzae” when one of his culture plates became contaminated and developed a mold that created a bacteria-free circle. Then he found within the mold, a substance that proved to be very active against the vast majority of bacteria infecting human beings. Serendipity had a key role in the discovery of a wide panel of psychotropic drugs as well, including aniline purple, lysergic acid diethylamide, meprobamate, chlorpromazine, and imipramine. Actually, many recent studies support a step back in current strategies that could lead to new discoveries in science. This change should seriously consider the idea that to further focus research project milestones that are already too focused could be a mistake. How can you observe something that others did not realize before you? Probably, one pivotal requirement is that you pay a high level of attention on what is occurring all around you. But this is not entirely enough, since, specifically talking about scientific discoveries, you should have your mind sufficiently unbiased from mainstream infrastructures, which normally make you extremely focused on a particular endpoint without paying attention to potential “unexpected discoveries”. Research in medicine should probably come back to the age of innocence and avoid the age of mainstream reports that do not contribute to real advances in the curing of human diseases. Max Planck said “Science progresses not because scientists change their minds, but rather because scientists attached to erroneous views die, and are replaced”, and Otto Warburg used the same words when he realized the lack of acceptance of his ideas. This editorial proposes a series of examples showing, in a practical way, how unfocused research may contribute to very important discoveries in science.

Heidegger, Aristotle, and the Future of Art

2016 ◽  
Vol 50 ◽  
pp. 57-70
Author(s):  
Khafiz Kerimov ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Nicomachean Ethics ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Work Of Art ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Earth ◽  
The Future ◽  
Self Knowledge ◽  
The Creation ◽  
Definition Of

The epilogue of Martin Heidegger's Der Ursprung des Kunstwerkes quotes Hegel's famous judgment: “[A]rt is and remains for us, on the side of its highest vocation, something past.” With this judgment, Hegel says that art has ceased to be the vehicle of self-knowledge for human beings; Hegel proclaims the pastness of art. But the future of art is thus put into question. This is how Heidegger transforms Hegel's verdict into a question: “Is art still an essential and necessary way in which […] truth happens which is decisive for our historical existence, or is art no longer of this character?” Thus, the question of the pastness of art turns into the question regarding whether art is to be or not to be, into the question of the future of art. Hegel's judgment proclaims the pastness of art, because art is implicated with material contingency. That means that the question of the rehabilitation of art, of the future of art, is at the same time the question of the phenomenological rehabilitation of the material. What is central to this project of rehabilitation is the figure of the work of art with its own peculiar kind of materiality. Therefore, Heidegger reformulates the material of art as earth which is a source not just of contingency but also of potentiality. Yet, Heidegger does not understand art as the creation of aesthetic objects, rather, art is concerned with ποίησιϛ, with the bringing forth of beings out of the unconcealment. Such is the formulaic definition of art as τέχνη in Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics: “All art is concerned with the process of coming into being, and to practice art is also to consider how something capable of being or not being [τι τῶν ἐνδεχομένων καὶ εἶναι καὶ μὴ εἶναι] […] may come into being.” This formula, although it is nowhere present in the essay, is the hidden center of Heidegger's Der Ursprung des Kunstwerkes – such is the claim of this essay. Heidegger returns to the ancient definition of τέχνη to place art within the parameters of history, i.e., starting history anew by introducing new beings. But every bringing forth of beings is a retrieval of the past, i.e., of the earth rich with potentiality from which alone the future can unfold. Thus, every decision concerning the future always takes up the past, i.e., the already-there of the earth.

scholarly journals Order, Disobedience and Power in Kieslowski’s Dekalog

2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 142-168
Author(s):  
Janet Barış
Keyword(s):  
The Body ◽  
Common Element ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
The Past ◽  
Ten Commandments ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
The Relationship

The Dekalog series, comprised of ten films made by Kieslowski in 1989-90 for the Polish TV, inspired by the Ten Commandments (Decalogues) in the Torah, treats the goodness and innocence of human beings, as well as the evilness and anxiety. Generally, as a common element in all films of the series, appears the triangle of order-submission-disobedience and the power field becomes a tide moving back and forth between different characters. According to Foucault, power is perceived differently today, compared to the past. In the earlier times, power was perceived to be the rulership of a king over its subjects, while today, different types of power exist. Foucault argues that the punishment directed towards the body before is now directed to the soul. The discourse in the Ten Commandments that directs people what to do and what not overlaps the Foucauldian definition of power and the punishment of the soul. This phenomenon appears in every film of the series differently, through the characters and the plot. This article’s objective is to examine Kieslowski’s Dekalog series through the relationship between order, submission and power, and to discuss the effects of this relationship over the characters.

scholarly journals La melancolía aristotélica en "Nadie me verá llorar" de Cristina Garza

2014 ◽  
pp. 487
Author(s):  
Ainhoa Segura Zariquiegui
Keyword(s):  
American Literature ◽  
Latin American ◽  
Common Sense ◽  
Latin American Literature ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Porfirio Diaz ◽  
The Past ◽  
Ancient Times ◽  
The Common ◽  
Definition Of

Los seres humanos siempre nos hemos sentido fascinados por la difusa línea que divide la locura y el sentido común. Es la lucha entre racionalidad e irracionalidad. Es por ello que mi proyecto se basa en este tema. Se trata de investigar sobre la locura, anteriormente denominada melancolía. La reflexión tiene como marco la novela de la autora mexicana Cristina Garza titulada Nadie me verá llorar. Esta obra está ambientada en el México positivista de Porfirio Díaz. Los personajes que recorren la novela se posicionan entre la racionalidad y la irracionalidad. Para analizar más pormenorizadamente las características de los protagonistas, se ha utilizado la obra aristotélica que trata de la melancolía. Gracias a esta obra, se puede observar cómo las características ancestrales de los melancólicos se sitúan, en este caso, en el México finisecular. Human beings have been always fascinated by the line that divides the madness and the common sense. This is the fight between rationality and irrationality. That is why my project involves this topic basing my researched in the definition of melancholic named in the past as madness. From the beginning of the humanity people look at their selves trying to understand how their mind works looking for the distinction of reality and unreality. Lunacy has been a malefic character but also due to the enigmatic characteristics, has trace of greatness. This paper continues this research upon the differences, the uncommon. I based my paper in a historical development of the analysis of the melancholic from the ancient times with Aristotle and Plato until two of the most relevant writers of the Latin-American literature, Cristina Garza specially in her novel Nadie me verá llorar (No one will see me cry). My researched rests in the Aristotle´s treaty titled The man of genius and the melancholic because is, with Plato, the philosopher that gave form to that feeling of amazed facing it to the magnanimity and the despicable of the mental illness. The genius man has always been located between these limits, such as the painter Bacon or Beethoven. These thin line make them fall or slip in one or the other face of the melancholic. How can you get hooked by this theme? How could you not follow the way of those who came before us trying to find the answer?

Artists in Liberia and the United States: a Comparative View

1982 ◽  
Vol 20 (4) ◽  
pp. 713-730
Author(s):  
Karen L. Field
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Structural Similarity ◽  
The United States ◽  
Social Constraints ◽  
Structural Factors ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
The Past ◽  
Labour Process ◽  
Specific Material ◽  
Definition Of

In summary, six striking parallels have been found between the artist archetypes in Liberia and the United States, each of which appears to be rooted in some structural similarity between the two societies at the material and social levels. The structural factors which have been suggested as pivotal in determining the nature of the artist archetype have included: (1) the atypicality of the carver/artist/s labour process via-à-vis that of other workers; (2) the development of an alternate value profile congruent with that atypical process; (3) the need for itinerancy/migration to ensure a large enough market for self-support; (4) dependence on the élite class for patronage; (5) relative economic insecurity; and (6) a definition of the product which necessitates solitary labour. These factors combine to create in the general public the image of the artist described earlier.Some carvers and artists may appear to exhibit the traits imputed to them, and even ‘play into’ their expected image; but this phenomenon can be explained without invoking some innate ‘artistic temperament’ or transcultural ‘artist's rôle’. Rather, we can conclude that carvers and artists, like other human beings, are subject to specific material and social constraints that shape their own consciousness and that of their public. Though individuals make art, it is as true of art as of history, that ‘they do not make it under circumstances chosen by themselves, but under circumstances directly encountered, given, and transmitted from the past’.

Immunoferritin localization of intracellular antigens in positively stained frozen sections

1978 ◽  
Vol 36 (2) ◽  
pp. 168-169
Author(s):  
K. T. Tokuyasu
Keyword(s):  
Surface Tension ◽  
Water Surface ◽  
Thin Layers ◽  
The Other ◽  
Positive Staining ◽  
Frozen Sections ◽  
The Past ◽  
Ultrathin Frozen Sections ◽  
Definition Of

During the past investigations of immunoferritin localization of intracellular antigens in ultrathin frozen sections, we found that the degree of negative staining required to delineate u1trastructural details was often too dense for the recognition of ferritin particles. The quality of positive staining of ultrathin frozen sections, on the other hand, has generally been far inferior to that attainable in conventional plastic embedded sections, particularly in the definition of membranes. As we discussed before, a main cause of this difficulty seemed to be the vulnerability of frozen sections to the damaging effects of air-water surface tension at the time of drying of the sections.Indeed, we found that the quality of positive staining is greatly improved when positively stained frozen sections are protected against the effects of surface tension by embedding them in thin layers of mechanically stable materials at the time of drying (unpublished).

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