Pavel Gregoric
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199277377
- eISBN:
- 9780191707537
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199277377.003.0002
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Ancient Philosophy
Since souls are forms of living beings, according to Aristotle, a scientific study of living beings requires first and foremost a systematic account of the soul. Such an account is supplied in the ...
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Since souls are forms of living beings, according to Aristotle, a scientific study of living beings requires first and foremost a systematic account of the soul. Such an account is supplied in the treatise De Anima, where the soul is divided into distinct parts or aspects. In this chapter it is argued that the soul is only conceptually divided, that is divided for the sake of analysis, whereas in reality each soul is a unity. The notion of conceptual division of the soul, its principles and consequences are examined, often in contrast with the spatial division of the soul advocated by Plato in the Timaeus. Conceptual division of the soul enables Aristotle to avoid the problems detected in Plato's division, and to preserve the unity both of each soul and of each organic body.Less
Since souls are forms of living beings, according to Aristotle, a scientific study of living beings requires first and foremost a systematic account of the soul. Such an account is supplied in the treatise De Anima, where the soul is divided into distinct parts or aspects. In this chapter it is argued that the soul is only conceptually divided, that is divided for the sake of analysis, whereas in reality each soul is a unity. The notion of conceptual division of the soul, its principles and consequences are examined, often in contrast with the spatial division of the soul advocated by Plato in the Timaeus. Conceptual division of the soul enables Aristotle to avoid the problems detected in Plato's division, and to preserve the unity both of each soul and of each organic body.
Mary Anne Warren
- Published in print:
- 2000
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198250401
- eISBN:
- 9780191681295
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198250401.003.0011
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Moral Philosophy
This chapter presents a few concluding remarks about the goal of achieving a greater consensus in our judgements of moral status. It argues that adopting a multi-criterial theory of moral status does ...
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This chapter presents a few concluding remarks about the goal of achieving a greater consensus in our judgements of moral status. It argues that adopting a multi-criterial theory of moral status does not make it easy to solve all of the moral problems arising from uncertainties about what we owe to other entities. However, it gives us a more adequate set of tools than any of the uni-criterial theories. On the multi-criterial account there are many types of moral status, and many of these come in varying degrees of strength. Moral agents, sentient human beings who are not moral agents, sentient nonhuman animals, non-sentient living things, and such other elements of the natural world as species and ecosystems — all have legitimate claims to moral consideration. Of all the entities with which we interact, only moral agents have full moral status based solely upon their mental and behavioural capacities. The rest have moral status that is partially determined by their social and other relationships to moral agents, and — in the case of entities that are not sentient human beings — by their roles within terrestrial ecosystems.Less
This chapter presents a few concluding remarks about the goal of achieving a greater consensus in our judgements of moral status. It argues that adopting a multi-criterial theory of moral status does not make it easy to solve all of the moral problems arising from uncertainties about what we owe to other entities. However, it gives us a more adequate set of tools than any of the uni-criterial theories. On the multi-criterial account there are many types of moral status, and many of these come in varying degrees of strength. Moral agents, sentient human beings who are not moral agents, sentient nonhuman animals, non-sentient living things, and such other elements of the natural world as species and ecosystems — all have legitimate claims to moral consideration. Of all the entities with which we interact, only moral agents have full moral status based solely upon their mental and behavioural capacities. The rest have moral status that is partially determined by their social and other relationships to moral agents, and — in the case of entities that are not sentient human beings — by their roles within terrestrial ecosystems.
Christopher Shields
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780199253074
- eISBN:
- 9780191598401
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0199253072.003.0008
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Ancient Philosophy
Shields defends Aristotle's claim that life is homonymous, specifically, a core‐dependent homonym. Shields argues that Aristotle's account of the homonymy of life is a clear and compelling ...
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Shields defends Aristotle's claim that life is homonymous, specifically, a core‐dependent homonym. Shields argues that Aristotle's account of the homonymy of life is a clear and compelling illustration of the fruitfulness of the methodology of homonymy. Aristotle's account of life reflects various facts about living things without making them definitional of life; which, as Shields argues, is desirable, as definitions of life should be neither univocal nor disjunctive.Less
Shields defends Aristotle's claim that life is homonymous, specifically, a core‐dependent homonym. Shields argues that Aristotle's account of the homonymy of life is a clear and compelling illustration of the fruitfulness of the methodology of homonymy. Aristotle's account of life reflects various facts about living things without making them definitional of life; which, as Shields argues, is desirable, as definitions of life should be neither univocal nor disjunctive.
Christopher Cannon
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199230396
- eISBN:
- 9780191696459
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199230396.003.0005
- Subject:
- Literature, Early and Medieval Literature
This chapter starts by telling that one of the effects of the form of The Owl and the Nightingale is its capacity to shape attempts to describe it. It claims that this effect is evident in that ...
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This chapter starts by telling that one of the effects of the form of The Owl and the Nightingale is its capacity to shape attempts to describe it. It claims that this effect is evident in that improper reading can breed opposition and misunderstanding. It proposes that such effect and irresolution it produces are not so much successive failures at critical understanding as nearly perfect reading of a form characterized by a gesture known as the feint. The first half of the chapter expounds its governing premise that words adequate the world and in the case of living things, language is as animate as the object it describes. The second half describes how a form culminates in a more dramatic feint. It concludes that the speech of the owl and the nightingale is the best instrument for subjecting life to the kinds of scrutiny which will truly give up its meaning.Less
This chapter starts by telling that one of the effects of the form of The Owl and the Nightingale is its capacity to shape attempts to describe it. It claims that this effect is evident in that improper reading can breed opposition and misunderstanding. It proposes that such effect and irresolution it produces are not so much successive failures at critical understanding as nearly perfect reading of a form characterized by a gesture known as the feint. The first half of the chapter expounds its governing premise that words adequate the world and in the case of living things, language is as animate as the object it describes. The second half describes how a form culminates in a more dramatic feint. It concludes that the speech of the owl and the nightingale is the best instrument for subjecting life to the kinds of scrutiny which will truly give up its meaning.
Frank C. Keil
- Published in print:
- 1996
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780198524021
- eISBN:
- 9780191689093
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198524021.003.0009
- Subject:
- Psychology, Cognitive Psychology
This chapter discusses causal understandings of one type of natural kind — living things. It considers three themes: one cannot build a coherent account of our concepts of the natural world without ...
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This chapter discusses causal understandings of one type of natural kind — living things. It considers three themes: one cannot build a coherent account of our concepts of the natural world without some hypotheses about how that world is really structured; the property homeostasis view of natural kinds fits with a psychological model of concepts as always embedded in theory-like structures which owe their origins to a small but diverse set of fundamental modes of construal — a model that posits a specific view of conceptual change; and one key part of these early modes of construal may be more general expectations about how the causal powers of types of properties, such as colours versus shapes, vary strongly as a function of these general categories and not at more fine-grained levels.Less
This chapter discusses causal understandings of one type of natural kind — living things. It considers three themes: one cannot build a coherent account of our concepts of the natural world without some hypotheses about how that world is really structured; the property homeostasis view of natural kinds fits with a psychological model of concepts as always embedded in theory-like structures which owe their origins to a small but diverse set of fundamental modes of construal — a model that posits a specific view of conceptual change; and one key part of these early modes of construal may be more general expectations about how the causal powers of types of properties, such as colours versus shapes, vary strongly as a function of these general categories and not at more fine-grained levels.
Mary Anne Warren
- Published in print:
- 2000
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198250401
- eISBN:
- 9780191681295
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198250401.003.0005
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Moral Philosophy
This chapter examines two theories of moral status which are based upon relational rather than intrinsic properties. Some deep ecologists, such as J. Baird Callicott, hold that the moral status of a ...
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This chapter examines two theories of moral status which are based upon relational rather than intrinsic properties. Some deep ecologists, such as J. Baird Callicott, hold that the moral status of a member of a particular biological species depends entirely upon that species' role — positive or negative — within a social or biotic community. Feminist ethicists, such as Nel Noddings, have argued that the moral status of living things always depends upon our emotional connections to them. The chapter argues that both these theories contain insights that need to be incorporated into an adequate account of moral status; but that neither membership in a social or biological community nor emotional connectedness can serve as the sole criterion of moral status.Less
This chapter examines two theories of moral status which are based upon relational rather than intrinsic properties. Some deep ecologists, such as J. Baird Callicott, hold that the moral status of a member of a particular biological species depends entirely upon that species' role — positive or negative — within a social or biotic community. Feminist ethicists, such as Nel Noddings, have argued that the moral status of living things always depends upon our emotional connections to them. The chapter argues that both these theories contain insights that need to be incorporated into an adequate account of moral status; but that neither membership in a social or biological community nor emotional connectedness can serve as the sole criterion of moral status.
Frank H. T. Rhodes
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- January 2017
- ISBN:
- 9781501702440
- eISBN:
- 9781501706233
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Cornell University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7591/cornell/9781501702440.001.0001
- Subject:
- Earth Sciences and Geography, Cultural and Historical Geography
Fossils are the fragments from which, piece by laborious piece, the great mosaic of the history of life has been constructed. Here and there, we can supplement these scraps by the use of biochemical ...
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Fossils are the fragments from which, piece by laborious piece, the great mosaic of the history of life has been constructed. Here and there, we can supplement these scraps by the use of biochemical markers or geochemical signatures that add useful information, but, even with such additional help, our reconstructions and our models of descent are often tentative. This book explores the origin and evolution of living things, the changing environments in which they have developed, and the challenges we now face on an increasingly crowded and polluted planet. The book argues that the future well-being of our burgeoning population depends in no small part on our understanding of life's past, its long and slow development, and its intricate interdependencies. The book's accessible and extensively illustrated treatment of the origins narrative describes the nature of the search for prehistoric life, the significance of geologic time, the origin of life, the emergence and spread of flora and fauna, the evolution of primates, and the emergence of modern humans.Less
Fossils are the fragments from which, piece by laborious piece, the great mosaic of the history of life has been constructed. Here and there, we can supplement these scraps by the use of biochemical markers or geochemical signatures that add useful information, but, even with such additional help, our reconstructions and our models of descent are often tentative. This book explores the origin and evolution of living things, the changing environments in which they have developed, and the challenges we now face on an increasingly crowded and polluted planet. The book argues that the future well-being of our burgeoning population depends in no small part on our understanding of life's past, its long and slow development, and its intricate interdependencies. The book's accessible and extensively illustrated treatment of the origins narrative describes the nature of the search for prehistoric life, the significance of geologic time, the origin of life, the emergence and spread of flora and fauna, the evolution of primates, and the emergence of modern humans.
Frank H. T. Rhodes
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- January 2017
- ISBN:
- 9781501702440
- eISBN:
- 9781501706233
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Cornell University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7591/cornell/9781501702440.003.0018
- Subject:
- Earth Sciences and Geography, Cultural and Historical Geography
This concluding chapter describes the “grandeur,” as Darwin himself has put it, in the brief glimpses of life so far explored in this volume. It invites the reader to experience this grandeur through ...
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This concluding chapter describes the “grandeur,” as Darwin himself has put it, in the brief glimpses of life so far explored in this volume. It invites the reader to experience this grandeur through the steady development and growth of life from its hazy origin and early manifestations, down the long corridors of time that lead to the present. Life is after all a history of millions upon millions of millions of individuals, of millions of different species, through millions of years. In an endless procession, animals and plants have spread and multiplied and vanished, each for a fleeting moment a part of the continuing process we call life.Less
This concluding chapter describes the “grandeur,” as Darwin himself has put it, in the brief glimpses of life so far explored in this volume. It invites the reader to experience this grandeur through the steady development and growth of life from its hazy origin and early manifestations, down the long corridors of time that lead to the present. Life is after all a history of millions upon millions of millions of individuals, of millions of different species, through millions of years. In an endless procession, animals and plants have spread and multiplied and vanished, each for a fleeting moment a part of the continuing process we call life.
Emanuele Coccia
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- September 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780823267415
- eISBN:
- 9780823272358
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Fordham University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5422/fordham/9780823267415.003.0015
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Aesthetics
This chapter explains how medial space makes it possible for all living things to produce the sensible and to transform their own psychism in images. It shows that sensible life does not fade when ...
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This chapter explains how medial space makes it possible for all living things to produce the sensible and to transform their own psychism in images. It shows that sensible life does not fade when the perceptive act ends, and instead lives before us and continues to live in us after perception. For both humans and animals, to live means giving place to autonomous, multiformed images, images that are utterly independent of the anatomical body. This chapter considers material culture and spiritual life as supreme expressions of the sensible life and argues that “spirituality” and “culture” do not spring from the relation of subjects to themselves, nor from the immediate tension between spirit and nature, body and soul. It suggests that it is only through sensible mediation that a living being acts on things, builds a specific environment starting from the surrounding world, interacts with this and influences objects and other living beings outside of itself.Less
This chapter explains how medial space makes it possible for all living things to produce the sensible and to transform their own psychism in images. It shows that sensible life does not fade when the perceptive act ends, and instead lives before us and continues to live in us after perception. For both humans and animals, to live means giving place to autonomous, multiformed images, images that are utterly independent of the anatomical body. This chapter considers material culture and spiritual life as supreme expressions of the sensible life and argues that “spirituality” and “culture” do not spring from the relation of subjects to themselves, nor from the immediate tension between spirit and nature, body and soul. It suggests that it is only through sensible mediation that a living being acts on things, builds a specific environment starting from the surrounding world, interacts with this and influences objects and other living beings outside of itself.
Tim Shallice and Richard P. Cooper
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- March 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780199579242
- eISBN:
- 9780191804489
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:osobl/9780199579242.003.0006
- Subject:
- Psychology, Cognitive Psychology
This chapter discusses the following: the selective loss of semantic representations; contrasting impairments of semantics; models of disorders of semantics; degraded stores and atoms of meaning; ...
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This chapter discusses the following: the selective loss of semantic representations; contrasting impairments of semantics; models of disorders of semantics; degraded stores and atoms of meaning; converging localisations of the semantic store; semantics and the variety of its possible formats; selective losses of knowledge of living things; knowledge of living things; theories of category specificity; and herpes simplex encaphalitis and semantic dementia.Less
This chapter discusses the following: the selective loss of semantic representations; contrasting impairments of semantics; models of disorders of semantics; degraded stores and atoms of meaning; converging localisations of the semantic store; semantics and the variety of its possible formats; selective losses of knowledge of living things; knowledge of living things; theories of category specificity; and herpes simplex encaphalitis and semantic dementia.
Frank H. T. Rhodes
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- August 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780801478239
- eISBN:
- 9780801466212
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Cornell University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7591/cornell/9780801478239.003.0003
- Subject:
- Earth Sciences and Geography, Environmental Geography
This chapter examines the fundamental “elements” of the planet Earth—rock, air, and water—which make up the construction materials of both the home planet and of all living things. It considers how ...
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This chapter examines the fundamental “elements” of the planet Earth—rock, air, and water—which make up the construction materials of both the home planet and of all living things. It considers how the Earth's geological features remain “just right,” hence providing the ideal conditions from which life could thrive on. The main focus here, however, is the “rocky” aspect of the planet Earth, hence the chapter's primary aim here is to provide an overview of the Earth's geology, remarking on the ways it is able to sustain life, and compares and contrasts the Earth's physical makeup with the other planets in the solar system.Less
This chapter examines the fundamental “elements” of the planet Earth—rock, air, and water—which make up the construction materials of both the home planet and of all living things. It considers how the Earth's geological features remain “just right,” hence providing the ideal conditions from which life could thrive on. The main focus here, however, is the “rocky” aspect of the planet Earth, hence the chapter's primary aim here is to provide an overview of the Earth's geology, remarking on the ways it is able to sustain life, and compares and contrasts the Earth's physical makeup with the other planets in the solar system.
Thom van Dooren
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- November 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780231166188
- eISBN:
- 9780231537445
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Columbia University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7312/columbia/9780231166188.003.0006
- Subject:
- Biology, Biodiversity / Conservation Biology
This epilogue infers from the preceding analysis on avian entanglements with other living things. This analysis works against simplistic human exceptionalisms by giving a broader, more complex notion ...
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This epilogue infers from the preceding analysis on avian entanglements with other living things. This analysis works against simplistic human exceptionalisms by giving a broader, more complex notion of what extinction is, as well as why and how it matters. With a better understanding of extinction, one may change his or her perspective from simple entanglements to the ways of life: ways of being with others; of mourning; of relating to a place; of rearing a young; and of making one's home in the world. Accounts on these ways of life have been, by far, in this text, premised on the living experiences of birds and how these experiences are woven into ecosystems of others. The epilogue concludes with a call for a genuine appreciation for other forms of life.Less
This epilogue infers from the preceding analysis on avian entanglements with other living things. This analysis works against simplistic human exceptionalisms by giving a broader, more complex notion of what extinction is, as well as why and how it matters. With a better understanding of extinction, one may change his or her perspective from simple entanglements to the ways of life: ways of being with others; of mourning; of relating to a place; of rearing a young; and of making one's home in the world. Accounts on these ways of life have been, by far, in this text, premised on the living experiences of birds and how these experiences are woven into ecosystems of others. The epilogue concludes with a call for a genuine appreciation for other forms of life.
Frank H. T. Rhodes
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- January 2017
- ISBN:
- 9781501702440
- eISBN:
- 9781501706233
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Cornell University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7591/cornell/9781501702440.003.0017
- Subject:
- Earth Sciences and Geography, Cultural and Historical Geography
This chapter examines the process of evolution, with Charles Darwin's own studies as a foundation for the discussion. It describes the intricacies of the continuity of life, at the same time tracing ...
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This chapter examines the process of evolution, with Charles Darwin's own studies as a foundation for the discussion. It describes the intricacies of the continuity of life, at the same time tracing this continuity throughout geological time through fossil records. This continuous expansion of living things can be reflected in a number of different ways—the total number of species, the degree of diversity, and the range of adaptations represented have all increased throughout geological time. But within this broad expansion, no constant rate of increase, no common regularity of expansion, no overall trend has been observed. This chapter thus looks at the evidence for the process of “descent with modification” posited by Darwin many years before.Less
This chapter examines the process of evolution, with Charles Darwin's own studies as a foundation for the discussion. It describes the intricacies of the continuity of life, at the same time tracing this continuity throughout geological time through fossil records. This continuous expansion of living things can be reflected in a number of different ways—the total number of species, the degree of diversity, and the range of adaptations represented have all increased throughout geological time. But within this broad expansion, no constant rate of increase, no common regularity of expansion, no overall trend has been observed. This chapter thus looks at the evidence for the process of “descent with modification” posited by Darwin many years before.
Laurie Zoloth
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- August 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780262012621
- eISBN:
- 9780262255301
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- The MIT Press
- DOI:
- 10.7551/mitpress/9780262012621.003.0009
- Subject:
- Biology, Bioethics
This chapter argues that asking about life’s origins uncovers intriguing questions about chance, meaning and order, and allows a rather startling discourse about the nature of knowledge in a world ...
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This chapter argues that asking about life’s origins uncovers intriguing questions about chance, meaning and order, and allows a rather startling discourse about the nature of knowledge in a world with physical realities and enduring cultural narratives. It addresses some of the many ethical issues engaged in synthetic biology and its emerging community of basic research scientists. It describes how the design of an artificial, self-organizing, evolving cellular environment may cross the border between things that are nonliving and things that are living. This chapter suggests that the main goal of ethics is a stance of deeply informed and thorough attention, rather than calls for moratoria or cessation of activities.Less
This chapter argues that asking about life’s origins uncovers intriguing questions about chance, meaning and order, and allows a rather startling discourse about the nature of knowledge in a world with physical realities and enduring cultural narratives. It addresses some of the many ethical issues engaged in synthetic biology and its emerging community of basic research scientists. It describes how the design of an artificial, self-organizing, evolving cellular environment may cross the border between things that are nonliving and things that are living. This chapter suggests that the main goal of ethics is a stance of deeply informed and thorough attention, rather than calls for moratoria or cessation of activities.
Emanuele Coccia
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- September 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780823267415
- eISBN:
- 9780823272358
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Fordham University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5422/fordham/9780823267415.003.0002
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Aesthetics
This chapter explains how the sensible defines the forms, the realities, and the limits of animal life. It suggests that sensible life is not exclusively a human trait, that sensation has always been ...
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This chapter explains how the sensible defines the forms, the realities, and the limits of animal life. It suggests that sensible life is not exclusively a human trait, that sensation has always been considered to be the faculty through which “living things, in addition to possessing life, become animals.” Through the senses, we live in manner indifferent to our specific difference as humans, as rational animals. Sensations give form and reality to that which, in our life, is not specifically human. Sensible life allows animal life in all its forms to relate to images—that is, all forms of the sensible world, whether they be visual, smelling, or auditory. This chapter also discusses the science of the sensible and compares it to an anthropology of the sensible.Less
This chapter explains how the sensible defines the forms, the realities, and the limits of animal life. It suggests that sensible life is not exclusively a human trait, that sensation has always been considered to be the faculty through which “living things, in addition to possessing life, become animals.” Through the senses, we live in manner indifferent to our specific difference as humans, as rational animals. Sensations give form and reality to that which, in our life, is not specifically human. Sensible life allows animal life in all its forms to relate to images—that is, all forms of the sensible world, whether they be visual, smelling, or auditory. This chapter also discusses the science of the sensible and compares it to an anthropology of the sensible.
Irving Singer
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- August 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780262513562
- eISBN:
- 9780262259187
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- The MIT Press
- DOI:
- 10.7551/mitpress/9780262513562.003.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, General
Questions about the meaning of life have been linked to the history of philosophy. People long to uncover the secrets of the universe and what it means, while seeking a meaningful way to live their ...
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Questions about the meaning of life have been linked to the history of philosophy. People long to uncover the secrets of the universe and what it means, while seeking a meaningful way to live their lives. The nature of a meaningful life might be something people find or something they create, one that is dependent on purposes, values, or ideals. It might be related to happiness. This chapter examines the meaning of life from a philosophical perspective, first by considering the speculations of three nineteenth-century philosophers: Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, Arthur Schopenhauer, and Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche. It then discusses two approaches used to explain the meaning of life: the traditionalist, which includes most of religious belief in the West, and the absurdist or nihilist. It also introduces the idea of purpose in life, the universal plan of God in relation to a meaningful life, absurdity, and nihilism. The chapter concludes with a discussion of meaningfulness in living things.Less
Questions about the meaning of life have been linked to the history of philosophy. People long to uncover the secrets of the universe and what it means, while seeking a meaningful way to live their lives. The nature of a meaningful life might be something people find or something they create, one that is dependent on purposes, values, or ideals. It might be related to happiness. This chapter examines the meaning of life from a philosophical perspective, first by considering the speculations of three nineteenth-century philosophers: Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, Arthur Schopenhauer, and Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche. It then discusses two approaches used to explain the meaning of life: the traditionalist, which includes most of religious belief in the West, and the absurdist or nihilist. It also introduces the idea of purpose in life, the universal plan of God in relation to a meaningful life, absurdity, and nihilism. The chapter concludes with a discussion of meaningfulness in living things.
Thom van Dooren
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- November 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780231166188
- eISBN:
- 9780231537445
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Columbia University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7312/columbia/9780231166188.003.0007
- Subject:
- Biology, Biodiversity / Conservation Biology
This introductory chapter retells all-too-familiar extinction stories, with the perspective on avian entanglements with other living things. Alongside a particular focus on these entanglements, ...
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This introductory chapter retells all-too-familiar extinction stories, with the perspective on avian entanglements with other living things. Alongside a particular focus on these entanglements, alternative thoughts on the extinction based on entrenched patterns of “human exceptionalism” are herein discussed. This exceptionalism basically sets apart human beings from all other animals and the rest of the “natural” world. In this context, extinction can be regarded as something that happens “over there” or out in “nature.” Given these patterns of human exceptionalism, subsequent chapters employ the understanding that human beings—as individuals, as communities, and as species—are, in diverse ways, implicated in the lives of disappearing others.Less
This introductory chapter retells all-too-familiar extinction stories, with the perspective on avian entanglements with other living things. Alongside a particular focus on these entanglements, alternative thoughts on the extinction based on entrenched patterns of “human exceptionalism” are herein discussed. This exceptionalism basically sets apart human beings from all other animals and the rest of the “natural” world. In this context, extinction can be regarded as something that happens “over there” or out in “nature.” Given these patterns of human exceptionalism, subsequent chapters employ the understanding that human beings—as individuals, as communities, and as species—are, in diverse ways, implicated in the lives of disappearing others.
Philip J. Ivanhoe
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- November 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780190492014
- eISBN:
- 9780190492038
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780190492014.003.0015
- Subject:
- Philosophy, History of Philosophy, General
Like Dai Zhen in China and Jeong Dasan in Korea, Jinsai argued against the orthodox neo-Confucian conceptions of principle and qi. Like them, he argued that such ideas were never part of Confucianism ...
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Like Dai Zhen in China and Jeong Dasan in Korea, Jinsai argued against the orthodox neo-Confucian conceptions of principle and qi. Like them, he argued that such ideas were never part of Confucianism and had insidiously crept into the tradition from Daoist and Buddhist sources. Also like them, he sought to unmask and root out foreign elements in the Confucian tradition and return to the original intent of the sages as revealed in the true meaning of the classics by employing a philologically based method, which he called the “Learning of Ancient Meanings.” But Jinsai offered a novel justification for the universal obligation to care for the world as oneself by advancing a view about how a creative and sustaining “Way of Heaven” shapes “single original qi” into the diverse phenomena of the world, making them all parts of a single “living thing.”Less
Like Dai Zhen in China and Jeong Dasan in Korea, Jinsai argued against the orthodox neo-Confucian conceptions of principle and qi. Like them, he argued that such ideas were never part of Confucianism and had insidiously crept into the tradition from Daoist and Buddhist sources. Also like them, he sought to unmask and root out foreign elements in the Confucian tradition and return to the original intent of the sages as revealed in the true meaning of the classics by employing a philologically based method, which he called the “Learning of Ancient Meanings.” But Jinsai offered a novel justification for the universal obligation to care for the world as oneself by advancing a view about how a creative and sustaining “Way of Heaven” shapes “single original qi” into the diverse phenomena of the world, making them all parts of a single “living thing.”
Brian Patrick Green
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- June 2020
- ISBN:
- 9780190915650
- eISBN:
- 9780197506066
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780190915650.003.0011
- Subject:
- Biology, Bioethics
This chapter outlines the ethical frameworks provided by some of the leading figures in the contemporary debate on space exploration, identifying resonances between their views and traditional ...
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This chapter outlines the ethical frameworks provided by some of the leading figures in the contemporary debate on space exploration, identifying resonances between their views and traditional concepts in ethical philosophy such as natural law and virtue theory. One of the first deep similarities apparent to the ethical frameworks of these leading figures is that, to a certain extent, living things should just be left to be—that is, not meddled with, allowed to pursue their own ends. The second deep similarity between these ethics is that sometimes one ought to help things grow. As a third deep similarity is all of these ethics issues acknowledge that problems appear when one organism’s natural goals conflict with those of another organism. This, then, promotes the idea that one should avoid conflicts that harm other living things. Ultimately, despite their differences, these ethics converge on a broadly applicable ethical framework: protect alien life in proportion to its capacity for excellence.Less
This chapter outlines the ethical frameworks provided by some of the leading figures in the contemporary debate on space exploration, identifying resonances between their views and traditional concepts in ethical philosophy such as natural law and virtue theory. One of the first deep similarities apparent to the ethical frameworks of these leading figures is that, to a certain extent, living things should just be left to be—that is, not meddled with, allowed to pursue their own ends. The second deep similarity between these ethics is that sometimes one ought to help things grow. As a third deep similarity is all of these ethics issues acknowledge that problems appear when one organism’s natural goals conflict with those of another organism. This, then, promotes the idea that one should avoid conflicts that harm other living things. Ultimately, despite their differences, these ethics converge on a broadly applicable ethical framework: protect alien life in proportion to its capacity for excellence.
Lawrence E. Hunter
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- August 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780262013055
- eISBN:
- 9780262255288
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- The MIT Press
- DOI:
- 10.7551/mitpress/9780262013055.001.0001
- Subject:
- Biology, Biochemistry / Molecular Biology
Recent research in molecular biology has produced a remarkably detailed understanding of how living things operate. Becoming conversant with the intricacies of molecular biology and its extensive ...
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Recent research in molecular biology has produced a remarkably detailed understanding of how living things operate. Becoming conversant with the intricacies of molecular biology and its extensive technical vocabulary can be a challenge, though, as introductory materials often seem more like a barrier than an invitation to the study of life. This text offers a concise and accessible introduction to molecular biology, requiring no previous background in science.Less
Recent research in molecular biology has produced a remarkably detailed understanding of how living things operate. Becoming conversant with the intricacies of molecular biology and its extensive technical vocabulary can be a challenge, though, as introductory materials often seem more like a barrier than an invitation to the study of life. This text offers a concise and accessible introduction to molecular biology, requiring no previous background in science.