Evolución

Consiliencia, evolución y anclaje narrativo

martes, 9 de junio de 2015

Consiliencia, evolución y anclaje narrativo

La teoría de la evolución de Herbert Spencer no sólo es una teoría científica sobre los procesos naturales, sino también una teoría de la consiliencia, una Gran Historia estratégicamente ubicada como marco cognitivo de toda actividad intelectual, al proporcionar una interpretación unificada de los objetos de estudio de las ciencias y de las humanidades. Enfatizamos las dimensiones narratológicas que hacen de Primeros Principios una teoría unificada de los diversos niveles de complejidad emergente.

Consiliencia, evolución y anclaje narrativo: 

Primeros Principios como cartografía narrativa de la realidad

http://ssrn.com/abstract=2612045

 

English abstract:

Consilience, Evolution, and Narrative Anchoring: 'First Principles' as a Narrative Mapping of Reality

 

Herbert Spencer's theory of evolution is not merely a scientific theory on natural processes, but also a theory of consilience, a Big History strategically situated as a cognitive frame encompassing all intellectual endeavors, inasmuch as it puts forward a unified interpretation of the objects of study of the sciences and of the humanities. This paper emphasizes the narratological dimensions which make of First Principles a unified theory of the various levels of emerging complexity.

Note: Downloadable document is in Spanish.

Number of Pages in PDF File: 18

Reference Info: Ibercampus, May 26, 2015

eJournal Classifications Date posted: May 31, 2015

CSN Subject Matter eJournals      Human Cognition in Evolution & Development eJournal - CMBO          CSN: Evolution (Topic) - CMBO

PRN Subject Matter eJournals      History of Western Philosophy eJournal - CMBO          PRN: 19th Century Philosophy (Topic) - CMBO

PRN Subject Matter eJournals      Philosophy of Science eJournal - CMBO          PRN: General Philosophy of Science (Topic) - CMBO

Consiliencia, Evolución, y Anclaje Narrativo

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Materia Oscura Victoriana (Victorian Dark Matter)

domingo, 7 de junio de 2015

Materia Oscura Victoriana (Victorian Dark Matter)

Proponemos una lectura de los 'Primeros Principios' de Herbert Spencer como precursor relevante de las teorías cosmológicas contemporáneas. La teoría evolucionista de Spencer proporciona un modelo conceptual para la historización de la teoría del Universo que se ha vuelto especialmente relevante tras la aceptación de la teoría de la Gran Explosión como paradigma actual para la física. Los razonamientos de Spancer sobre la generación ordenada de la complejidad, sobre los procesos de equilibramiento parcial de fuerzas, y sobre la disolución, así como sus eflexiones sobre los límites inherentes a la observabilidad física en el marco de un paradigma científico, aunque hayan sido un tanto dejados de lado por la física del siglo XX, proporcionan sorprendentes analogías victorianas para algunos debates contemporáneos, y a la vez son contribuciones altamente relevantes para la construcción de un paradigma evolutivo generalizado para la cosmología, la física, y las ciencias naturales y humanas.

Materia Oscura Victoriana 

http://ssrn.com/abstract=2610587

English abstract: 

 

Victorian Dark Matter

This paper proposes a reading of Herbert Spencer's 'First Principles' as a relevant precursor of contemporary cosmological theories. Spencer's evolutionary theory provides a conceptual model to historicize the theory of the Universe which becomes especially relevant after the acceptance of the Big Bang hypothesis as the current paradigm for physics. Spencer's reasoning on the ordered generation of complexity, on processes of partial equilibrium of forces, and of dissolution, as well as his reflections on the inherent limits of physical observation within a scientific paradigm, although somewhat disregarded by 20th century physics, are both uncanny Victorian analogues for some contemporary debates and highly relevant contributions to the construction of a generalized evolutionary paradigm for cosmology, physics, the natural sciences and the humanities.

Note: Downloadable document is in Spanish.

Number of Pages in PDF File: 5



Also to be found in the following electronic journals and repositories:

eJournal Classifications (Date posted: May 27, 2015)

CSN Subject Matter eJournals      Cognition in Mathematics, Science, & Technology eJournal - CMBO          CSN: Science (Topic) - CMBO

PRN Subject Matter eJournals      History of Western Philosophy eJournal - CMBO          PRN: 19th Century Philosophy (Topic) - CMBO

PRN Subject Matter eJournals      Philosophy of Science eJournal - CMBO          PRN: Physical Sciences (Topic) - CMBO

Victorian Dark Matter

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A Crisis at the Edge of Physics

 

A CRISIS AT THE EDGE OF PHYSICS—

 

una publicación de Narratología Evolucionista - Evolutionary Narratology.

There’s no escaping the multiverse, and there’s no escaping the universe
 
Part of the argument in Smolin’s physics is that the singularity at the origin of the Big Bang is a mathematical fiction. The values for the compressed space and energy should be extremely high but avoiding the mathematics of infinity. And that should allow not just one bubble universe but an evolutionary sequence of reproducing universes. Which after all does not look so different from the multiverse theory, to me at least: the Many Worlds would still be included under the meta-universe, so a multiverse is still one universe in much the way a combinatorial textual system may generate many texts but is still one text. And the evolutionary multiverse does not escape this quandary, because an evolutionary system with natural selection (between universes) needs also a population of simultaneous universes- just as living beings descend with modification from other living beings, but they exist alongside other descendants. I can’t see how evolutionary physics could sidestep the assumption of a multiverse. (Not that I like the idea of a multiverse; the old enormous universe is to my mind sufficiently mind-blowing).

 

 

Infinite Space, Infinite Time

 

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Diez mil millones de años luz de evoluciones

Diez mil millones de años luz de evoluciones

Este artículo examina diversos aspectos de la teoría de la evolución (cósmica, biológica y cultural) entendida como una Gran Narración unificada, por vía de una lectura del volumen de Andrew Fabian Evolución: Sociedad, ciencia y universo desde la perspectiva de la narratología evolucionista. Los diversos aspectos de la evolución se presentan como el trasfondo conceptual que posibilita nuestras operaciones cognitivas de anclaje narrativo, que relacionan los procesos evolutivos a diferentes niveles (cósmico, biológico, mental y cultural). El objetivo es proporcionar una mayor apoyatura a la tesis de que la narratología es una disciplina esencial para la comprensión y análisis de los procesos evolutivos, pues éstos son representados mediante narraciones.

 

Diez mil millones de años luz de evoluciones 

http://ssrn.com/abstract=2607801

 

 

English abstract: 

Ten Billion Light Years of Evolutions

This paper examines a number of aspects of the theory of cosmic, biological and cultural evolution understood as a single Great Narrative, by way of an evolutionary narratological reading of Andrew C. Fabian's collection Evolution: Society, Science, and the Universe. The various aspects of evolution are presented as the conceptual background enabling our cognitive operations of narrative anchoring relating evolutionary processes at the different levels (cosmic, biological, mental and cultural). The aim is to provide further grounding for the claim that narratology is an essential discipline in the understanding and analysis of evolutionary processes, given that these are represented as narratives.

Note: Downloadable document is in Spanish.

Number of Pages in PDF File: 35
Keywords: Evolution, Science, Cognition, Biology, Narratology, Narrative, Processes

eJournal Classifications. Date posted: May 19, 2015

CSN Subject Matter eJournals      Human Cognition in Evolution & Development eJournal - CMBO          CSN: Evolution (Topic) - CMBO

PRN Subject Matter eJournals      Philosophy of Science eJournal - CMBO          PRN: Biological Sciences (Topic) - CMBO

Diez mil millones de años luz de evoluciones

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Critical Consilience

martes, 2 de junio de 2015

Critical Consilience

A commentary on Bill Benzon's article on the next 100 years in the human sciences:

José Angel García Landa • a day ago

I would argue that it is already the case not perhaps that "nothing in the human sciences makes any sense except in the light of evolution" but that "MANY THINGS in the human sciencs make no sense except in the light of evolution". And, moreover, that "MANY THINGS in evolution makes no sense except in the light of the human sciences". In the sense that evolution is a theory, model, narrative, and so on, and these are the province of the human sciences.

 

Bill Benzon José Angel García Landa • 10 hours ago

On the first, perhaps we have a different understanding of the maturity of evolutionary thinking in the human sciences. You seem to have a more generous estimate of the current state of affairs than I do. I'm not sure what to make of your second remark. It looks a little like a formulaic claim to intellectual hegemony based on the fact that, as all knowledge is discourse, the discourse of discourse is therefore a discourse of discourses.

 

José Angel García Landa Bill Benzon • 5 minutes ago

Well, there may be a bit of infinite regression lurking around, I agree, but there are also insights to be gained from this perspective. I wouldn't argue for the 'intellectual hegemony' of the humanities, but rather for the benefits of an ongoing critique of science inasmuch as it is a "discourse", yes.

—and another one on the same, in a discussion of E. O. Wilson's notion of the epigenesis of natural human universals  and the "psychological exile" of mankind, which I see as a significant model for consilience on the humanites. Benzon sees in Wilson and Carroll's a displaced theological model interfering with their science. I argue from the other side of the issue:


The alternative would seem to be that the "psychological exile" is a materialist insight which sneaked into theological doctrine, or perhaps rather, a way of formulating a materialist insight about the difference between man and animals in theological terms (originally in mythical terms). The biological function of art would seem to be a subset of the biological function of culture at large—and it does not seem as if we haven't made any progress in understanding that function "ever since Darwin". Along with that understanding there may come new insight into the ways previous discourses or epistemes dealt with what is, from our perspective, a fundamentally biological or ecological problem—and these attempts to deal with a real, material problem that is now perceived as such would count in a way as proto-materialist insights.


Or perhaps put otherwise, there's reasons for things, and therefore there's a lesson in materialism (as well as a moral, and a tale) in everything.

Omnis mundi creatura
quasi liber et pictura
nobis est, et speculum.
Nostrae vitae, nostrae mortis,
nostri status, nostrae sortis
fidele signaculum.
Nostrum statum pingit rosa,
nostri status decens glosa,
nostrae vitae lectio.

Consiliencia: La unidad del saber

El orden natural y la complejidad: Paley, Lamarck, Vico, y el Génesis

martes, 2 de junio de 2015

El orden natural y la complejidad: Paley, Lamarck, Vico, y el Génesis

Examinamos la noción de orden natural en su relación con el desarrollo del pensamiento evolucionista. Mostramos la debilidad inherente al argumento creacionista de Paley, preparando el terreno para centrarnos en una intuición central para la teoría evolucionista: la idea de que la racionalidad requiere que los fenómenos complejos vayan precedidos por fenómenos simples, y que deriven de ellos. Examinamos el desarrollo de esta noción en la biología evolucionista de Lamarck y en el evolucionismo cultural de Vico. Un examen considerado de la Gran Cadena del Ser y de los relatos míticos de creación como el Génesis nos muestra que esta racionalidad se asienta en formas de pensamiento previas al evolucionismo—es decir, que el pensamiento complejo de la teoría evolucionista deriva de nociones más simples, proto-evolucionistas, que pueden hallarse en sitios tan remotos como los mitos de origen creacionistas. Comentamos también, en relación a la obra de Vico, los problemas perspectivísticos inherentes al estudio del desarrollo del pensamiento evolucionista, en concreto la distorsión retroactiva.

 

El orden natural y la complejidad: Paley, Lamarck, Vico, y el Génesis 

http://ssrn.com/abstract=2609894

English Abstract: 

Natural Order and Complexity: Paley, Lamarck, Vico, and the Book of Genesis

A discussion of the notion of natural order with reference to the development of evolutionary thought. The inherent weakness of Paley's creationist argument for intelligent design is discussed preparing the ground for the examination of one crucial insight in evolutionary theory: the notion that rationality requires that complex phenomena should be preceded by simple phenomena and that they derive from them. The development of this insight is examined in the evolutionary biology of Lamack and in the cultural evolutionism of Vico. A discussion of the Great Chain of Being and mythical creation stories such as Genesis shows that this rationality is grounded in forms of thought prior to evolutionism — that is, that the complex thought of evolutionary theory derives from simpler proto-evolutionary insights that are to be found as far back as creationist myths of origin. The perspectival problems attending the study of the development of evolutionary thought, notably hindsight bias, are also discussed with reference to the work of Vico.

Note: Downloadable document is in Spanish.

Number of Pages in PDF File: 17
Keywords: Evolution, Evolutionism, Creationism, Intelligent design, Natural philosophy, Natural order, Natural science, Lamarck, Darwin, Vico, Genesis, Hindsight bias, Complexity, Nature, Biology

El orden natural y la complejidad: Paley, Lamarck, Vico y el Génesis 

Evolucionarizándome

domingo, 31 de mayo de 2015

Evolucionarizándome

La sección sobre "Evolución" de la revista electrónica Human Cognition in Evolution and Development, de la red de Ciencia Cognitiva (CSN) de la Social Science Research Network: http://www.ssrn.com/link/Human-Cognition-Evolution-Development.html

Addison y los extraterrestres

sábado, 30 de mayo de 2015

Addison y los extraterrestres

Cada día trae su afán. Hoy cuelgo en Academia mi ensayo sobre Addison y los extraterrestres, "Addison on Aliens". Proponiendo leer a Addison como un protoevolucionista.

Comentamos el ensayo de Addison sobre la Escala del Ser, en el Spectator 519 (1712), como un caso significativo del cambio de visión del mundo en la era de la Ilustración, en lo relativo a la historia natural y a la cosmología. La noción de una "naturaleza llena" de Addison se sitúa en la historia de las ideas como una concepción protoevolucionista, un desplazamiento de la filosofía natural antropocéntrica, y un eslabón entre la tradición de la teodicea y las primeras manifestaciones de la épica de la evolución, previa a Buffon, Diderot, Lamarck o Erasmus Darwin.

This is a commentary on Addison’s essay on the scale of being in the Spectator 519 (1712), as a significant instance of the changing world-view in natural history and cosmology in the age of the Enlightement. Addison’s notion of a full nature is placed in the history of ideas as a proto-evolutionist conception, a displacement of anthropocentric natural philosophy, and a link between the tradition of theodicy and the earliest forms of the evolutionary epic, antedating Buffon, Diderot, Lamarck or Erasmus Darwin.

_____. "Addison on Aliens." In García Landa, Vanity Fea 13 Dec. 2014.*

         http://vanityfea.blogspot.com.es/2014/12/addison-on-aliens.html

         2014

_____. "Addison on Aliens: On the Origins of the Evolutionary Epic." Ibercampus (Vanity Fea) 15 Dec. 2014.*

         http://www.ibercampus.eu/addison-on-aliens-2605.htm

         2015

_____. "Addison on Aliens." Social Science Research Network 8 Jan. 2015.*

         http://ssrn.com/abstract=2543435

         2015

_____. "Addison on Aliens." Academia 30 May 2015.*

         https://www.academia.edu/12682907

         2015

_____. "Addison on Aliens: On the Origins of the Evolutionary Epic." ResearchGate 23 March 2016.*

         https://www.researchgate.net/publication/299385986

         2016

_____. "Addison y los extraterrestres." In García Landa, Vanity Fea 30 May 2015.*

         http://vanityfea.blogspot.com.es/2015/05/addison-y-los-extraterrestres.html

         2015

 Addison on Aliens

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