The mirror of physics: on how the price equation can unify evolutionary biology

Due to its high degree of complexity and its historical nature, evolutionary biology has been traditionally portrayed as a messy science. According to the supporters of such a view, evolutionary biology would be unable to formulate laws and robust theories, instead just delivering coherent narratives and local models. In this article, our aim is to challenge this view by showing how the Price equation can work as the core of a general theoretical framework for evolutionary phenomena. To support this claim, we outline some unnoticed structural similarities between physical theories (in particular, classical mechanics) and evolutionary biology. More specifically, we shall argue that the Price equation, in the same way as fundamental formalisms in physics, can serve as a heuristic principle to formulate and systematise different theories and models in evolutionary biology.

SEREIAS DISTÓPICAS. UM ENSAIO SOBRE A RELEVÂNCIA DA DISTOPIA NAS CRIAÇÕES ARTÍSTICAS CONTEMPORÂNEAS PORTUGUESAS / Dystopian mermaids: an essay on the relevance of dystopia in contemporary Portuguese artistic creations

No seu ensaio intitulado Amanhã chegam as águas (2005), Rui Zink declara que o “mar avança, alagando territórios da Europa, onde já não há países. As decisões são tomadas pela Nova Bruxelas”. Portugal é - no momento da narração - apenas uma estreita “fímbria de terra”. Ora, inspirados por esta incisão distópica, iremos abordar as canções integrantes do álbum cognominado O país a arder lançado em 2019 pela banda Sereias. Ao trabalho que aqui apresentamos esteve subjacente uma finalidade assente num princípio heurístico primordial: o de demonstrar de que forma as manifestações artísticas – neste caso, em particular, estas canções – constituem, elas próprias, matéria e objeto de intervenção social, demarcando um espaço próprio, definido e específico na revelação de problemáticas sociais e na reprodução dos problemas que atravessam a realidade social.Palavras-Chave: Canção; Identidades; Distopia; Pop-rock; Portugal.AbstractIn his essay entitled Tomorrow the waters arrive (2005), Rui Zink declares that the “sea advances, flooding territories in Europe, where there are no countries anymore. Decisions are made by New Brussels”. Portugal is - at the moment of the narration - just a narrow “land border”. Now, inspired by this dystopian incision, we will approach the songs that are part of the album known as O País a arder (The country on fire) released in 2019 by the band Sereias. The work presented here was based on a primordial heuristic principle: to demonstrate how artistic manifestations - in this case, in particular, these songs - constitute themselves, matter and object of social intervention, demarcating their own space, defined in the revelation of social problems and in the reproduction of the problems that cross social reality.Keywords: Song; Identities; Dystopia; Pop-rock; Portugal.

Remarks on the Principle of Permanence of Forms

We discuss the role of a heuristic principle known as the Principle of Permanence of Forms in the development of mathematics, especially in abstract algebra. We try to find some analogies in the development of modern formal logic. Finally, we add a few remarks on the use of the principle in question in mathematical education.

Violência, memória e novas gramáticas da resistência: o desastre da Samarco no Rio Doce

A partir do desastre da Samarco no Rio Doce, em curso desde 2015, o texto reflete sobre formas de produção da violência em torno de práticas institucionais e políticas que fazem o neoextrativismo possível no Brasil. Desta forma, aponta para processos como: revisão das leis e desmanche das instituições de proteção ambiental e cuidado com os direitos indígenas, quilombolas e povos tradicionais; deslocamento da política para a polícia, sinalizando as estratégias de criminalização de movimentos sociais, lideranças, mediadores e pesquisadores por parte de grupos transnacionais extrativos e do Estado. Por fm, apresenta novas gramáticas da resistência que, no caso específco, ao atualizarem elementos da tradicionalidade, como as celebrações próprias do catolicismo popular, colocam-se de orma autônoma em relação aos modelos convencionais e burocratizados de atuação política sob disciplinamento do Estado e do mercado. Para fazer esta análise, o texto aciona o princípio heurístico da variação de escalas que entrelaça processos globais, nacionais e locais na reprodução de violências históricas que, por outro lado, fazem emergir novos esforços de subjetivação nos territórios.Palavras-chave: Desastre. Mineração. Violência. Resistência. Rio Doce.VIOLENCE, MEMORY AND NEW FORMS OF RESISTANCE: THE SAMARCO DISASTER IN THE RIO DOCEAbstractBased on the Samarco disaster, ongoing in the Rio Doce since 2015, the article reflects about forms of violence production around institutional and political practices that make neo-extractivism possible in Brazil.Thus, it points to processes such as the revision of laws and the dismantling of environmental protection institutions and agencies responsible for policies related to indigenous, quilombolas and traditional peoples rights; the displacement of politics to the police, signaling the strategies of criminalization of social movements, mediators and researchers by transnational extractive groups and the State. Finally, it presents new modalities of resistance that, in this ethnographic case, by updating elements of traditionality, such as the celebrations proper to popular Catholicism, stand for autonomy in face of the conventional models of political action under both market and State discipline. To make this analysis, the text triggers the heuristic principle of scale variation that intertwines global, national and local processes in the reproduction of historical patterns of violence that, on the other hand, give rise to new efforts of subjectivation in the territories.Keywords: Disaster. Mining. Violence. Resistance. Rio Doce.

The Song Is Still a ‘Weapon’: The Portuguese Identity in Times of Crises

This article examines a set of Portuguese songs that ‘sing’ the economic, financial and social crises in Portugal in the post-2008 period. This work underlies a heuristic principle: to demonstrate how artistic manifestations—in this case, the songs in several (sub-)genres of popular music—are themselves a means and an object of social intervention, demarcating a specific, defined space in the acknowledgment and revelation of social problems, and in the contestation, deconstruction and accusation of problems that deal with social reality. We demonstrate that these songs seek to denounce and sometimes incite social change with the aim of creating transformation. They are therefore signs of a specific space—identity producers—and not just an echo of social reality. Insurgent songs instigate readings, narratives and deconstructions of reality, and they are simultaneously significant elements of a collective identity.

Grotius’ theory of natural law

After analyzing Grotius? formulation of the state of nature and natural law, social contract and international law, the author places emphasis on two insights. First, that a certain heuristic principle plays a central role in Grotius? argument - the analogy between individuals and states in the state of nature. Second, his firm belief that within the international framework the protection of natural law of people and communities comes before respect for state sovereignty. The author will argue that morally unacceptable implications of these characteristics of Grotius? theory, when we take into account the way in which he defines the rights of punishment and property, are in fact legitimation of interventionism and colonialism. The author will also argue that Grotius initiated an influential tradition in international law, characterized by a lack of clear boundaries between legal and moral norms.

Принцип Канторовича в действии: AW∗-модули и инъективные банаховы решетки

Making use of Boolean valued representation it is proved that Kaplansky-Hilbert lattices and injective Banach lattices may be produced from each other by means of the convexification procedure. The relationship between the Kantorovich's heuristic principle and the Boolean value transfer principle is also discussed.