The Nature of Living Being

From Distinguishing Distinctions to Ethics
1. Auflage 2023
ISBN: 978-3-031-24788-0
Verlag: Springer

Buch, Englisch, 320 Seiten, Format (B × H): 160 mm x 241 mm, Gewicht: 676 g

Reihe: Biosemiotics

This book proposes a bold idea. Living beings are distinguishing distinctions. Single cells and multicellular organisms maintain themselves distinct by drawing distinctions. This is what organisms are and what they do. From this starting point, key issues examined range across ontology, epistemology, phenomenology, logic, and ethics. Topics discussed include the origin of life, the nature and purpose of biology, the relation between life and logic, the nature and limits of formal logic, the nature of subjects, the subject-object relation, subject-subject relationships and the deep roots of ethics. The book provides a radical new foundation to think about philosophy and biology and appeals to researchers and students in these fields. It powerfully debunks mechanical thinking about living beings and shows the vast reservoir of insights into aliveness available in the arts and humanities.

Zielgruppe

Research

Autoren/Hrsg.

Mayer-Foulkes, Daniel Carlos

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Philosophie Metaphysik, Ontologie
• Geisteswissenschaften Philosophie Wissenschaftstheorie, Wissenschaftsphilosophie
• Geisteswissenschaften Philosophie Naturphilosophie, Philosophie und Evolution

Inhaltsverzeichnis

AcknowledgmentsIntroduction and SummaryChapter 1 Distinction-Distinguishing The Proper Conjugate Form Inquiry Monkeys Monkeys as Philosophical Object Laura, First Night Sleeping with Her in Room 1 The Problem of AnthropomorphismChapter 2 Distinguishing Distinctions Distinction: A/A, A=A Definitions of Distinction Abstract Definition: Distinction as Perfect Continence Chemotaxis Do Only Living Beings Distinguish? Establishing Bet Structure Distinguishing as Scheme of Recurrence Nesting of Distinctions Repetition and Monkeys Chapter 3 ? and the Emergence of Living Being The First ? What is Life? How did Life Emerge? Autopoiesis Homeostasis, Growth, Decay Autopoiesis with or without Cognition I What is an Itself Liposomal Structures and FlowAutopoiesis with or without Cognition IINonliving species and the Limitations of Narrow Darwinism Chapter 4 Empirical Evidence for ? Emergent Probability Empirical Evidence for ?: Circadian Rhythms What Constitutes a Circadian Clock? Earliest Indication (EI) EI as Integrator-Operator Monkeys EIs and Social Life  Chapter 5 Formal Definition of DistinctionIntroduction The Axioms of Laws of Form Implicit DefinitionThe Formalism of Laws of Form Lower and Upper Schemes: Living Being and Mathematics Living Beings: Joinings Foundations, and Proper and Borrowed Content of Distinction Louie and the Rope Chapter 6 The Mathematical Ideal and the Elision of the Subject Proper and Borrowed Content of @@L and @@A Values and Name Substantialism and LiminalismNaming as Integrator-Operator Insights and Expression Convergence of Platonism and Phenomenology I/World Chapter 7 Four Kinds Of Things Things Different Kinds of Things ByproductsProducts The Nonliving Joinings: Empirical Evidence in Biology Autonomous Cells Living Takes Place in EnvironmentsWe are Environments Endosymbiosis Major Evolutionary Transitions and Social Evolution Sexual Reproduction Chapter 8 [Subjects] Organisms as Objects and as [Subjects] Identity-Unity-Whole Skin and Membranes Mem-brains Identity-Unity-Whole and Unity-Identity-Whole Organisms and Organization  Kate Opens a DoorCharlie JumpingChapter 9 Living Being Boundaries Microbial PartnershipsKinds of Wholes Liminality and Hymenomorphism Ethics Relationships Levinas’ Ethics and [Ethics]Chapter 10 The Paradoxical Nature of Aliveness and [Ethics] Dis-eliding the Dynamics of Joinings The Paradox of Relationships Paradox in Groups Paradox of Dependency Paradox of Boundaries Paradox of Regression Paradox of Repetition Inner Conflict, Transparency/Opaqueness and the Unfolding of Anticipation The Structure of EthicsReturning Home A Final Monkey Story: How Charlie Became the Leader of the GroupPostscriptAPPENDIX Internal Critique of Laws of FormGlossaryBibliography

Über Autor(innen)

Daniel Mayer (Mexico City, 1956) is a researcher in the epistemology of biology, an organizational consultant, and a leadership educator. For decades he has reflected on the nature of organization, both of organisms and of organizations. This is the topic of this book. This project began in the 1980’s during ten years work (four as curator) at The Monkey Sanctuary, then a world-renowned center for conservation of Amazon woolly monkeys in the UK, and has continued during his career as a consultant and as an educator. He has read papers on these topics at the Annual Lonergan Symposium, at Loyola Marymount University (Los Angeles, CA), at the Annual International Gathering in Biosemiotics, and is a regular participant in the Leadership for Change conferences at the University of San Diego. From 2005 to 2019 he was Adjunct Faculty for the Masters of Science in Organizational Leadership at National University, San Diego CA. Founder and CEO of Living Leadership (livingleadership.online), he designs and implements experiential team methodologies for online teaching based on the group-relations approach. Married to Mexican author Vicky Nizri, they have two children and six grandchildren.