scholarly journals Anthropocene, the challenge for "Homo sapiens" to set its own limits

2019 ◽  
Vol 45 (1) ◽  
pp. 33
Author(s):  
F. Valladares ◽  
S. Magro ◽  
I. Martín-Forés
Keyword(s):  
Homo Sapiens ◽  
Human Life ◽  
Anthropogenic Activity ◽  
Greenhouse Gases Emissions ◽  
The Social ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Exponential Population Growth ◽  
Planetary Processes ◽  
Many Core

The Anthropocene as a distinct geological era has been the subject of active discussion within the scientific community. This era includes the notion that Homo sapiens has had a large impact on global planetary processes. Here, we aim at connecting the notion and nature of the Anthropocene with the social-economic success and the unexpected or unplanned environmental impacts of the anthropogenic activity. Some of the main achievements along the history of humankind have been important developmental steps for many human civilisations but they have also had undesired results that we could not foresee, including the rise of greenhouse gases emissions, the shifts in the area of species distributions or the affection of all major biogeochemical cycles. Increasing human life expectancy and health has promoted an exponential population growth, which together with the increased environmental footprint per capita has pushed many core variables for Earth functioning (e.g. biodiversity, nitrogen cycle, climate change) out of their safety limits. We illustrate examples of many ecosystems that have collapsed around the world because we have crossed the limits of their sustainable exploitation. Paradoxically, it is humanity itself who is pushing the Planet to conditions in which our own survival will unlikely be possible. The reason behind such a strong ecological and functional impact on the Planet within a relatively short space of time is an unsustainable economic system based on the assumption that a perpetual economic growth is not only possible but also desirable. Our awakening should lie on a global framework aimed at changing our relationship with the Planet.

scholarly journals Uncoupling of the Infancy Life History Stage

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-7
Author(s):  
Ze’ev Hochberg
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
Homo Sapiens ◽  
Human Life ◽  
Life History Stage ◽  
Biological Traits ◽  
Deciduous Dentition ◽  
Childhood Growth ◽  
The Social ◽  
History Of ◽  
Industrial Societies

<b><i>Background:</i></b> The life history of <i>Homo sapiens</i> is unique in having a comparatively short stage of infancy which lasts for 2–3 years. Infancy is characterized by suckling of breast milk, the development of sensorimotor cognition, the acquisition of language, mini-puberty, deciduous dentition, and almost complete skull growth. Infancy ends with the infancy-childhood growth transition (ICT) and separation from the mother. In modern-day affluent societies, breastfeeding depends on the mother’s decision and may happen at any age, and the characteristic traits of infancy have uncoupled. The data and theory for this contention are presented. <b><i>Summary:</i></b> The biological traits of mini-puberty and ICT characteristic of infancy occur before age 1 along with language acquisition. The cognitive (sensorimotor) component occurs by age 2, and the social component of separation from the mother by any age from 1 to 3 years. <b><i>Key Messages:</i></b> Human life history is based on a coherent stage of infancy which assumes coupling between the biological, cognitive, and social maturation of a baby. This is no longer the case in industrial societies and might never be so again. The upbringing of an infant needs to consider the new biology of this dissociated infancy and a new timetable of the infant’s life-history events.

The Property Species

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bart J. Wilson
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Linguistics ◽  
Homo Sapiens ◽  
Fundamental Principle ◽  
First Century ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Full Account ◽  
Symbolic Thought ◽  
Core Property ◽  
The Social ◽  
History Of

What is property, and why does our species happen to have it? The Property Species explores how Homo sapiens acquires, perceives, and knows the custom of property, and why it might be relevant for understanding how property works in the twenty-first century. Arguing from some hard-to-dispute facts that neither the natural sciences nor the humanities—nor the social sciences squarely in the middle—are synthesizing a full account of property, this book offers a cross-disciplinary compromise that is sure to be controversial: All human beings and only human beings have property in things, and at its core, property rests on custom, not rights. Such an alternative to conventional thinking contends that the origins of property lie not in food, mates, territory, or land, but in the very human act of creating, with symbolic thought, something new that did not previously exist. Integrating cognitive linguistics with the philosophy of property and a fresh look at property disputes in the common law, this book makes the case that symbolic-thinking humans locate the meaning of property within a thing. The provocative implications are that property—not property rights—is an inherent fundamental principle of economics, and that legal realists and the bundle-of-sticks metaphor are wrong about the facts regarding property. Written by an economist who marvels at the natural history of humankind, the book is essential reading for experts and any reader who has wondered why people claim things as “Mine!,” and what that means for our humanity.

scholarly journals Introduction: Some ponderings on the use of the law in the writing of histories

2001 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 169-175
Author(s):  
NIMROD HURVITZ ◽  
EDWARD FRAM
Keyword(s):  
Legal Doctrine ◽  
Legal Cases ◽  
Legal Documents ◽  
Historical Significance ◽  
Partial Reconstruction ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Hours ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Law

Professional jurists are often inquisitive about the subject matter of their calling and in the course of their careers may well develop fascinating insights into the law and those who interpret it. Their employers, however, be they governments, corporations, firms, or private clients, rarely show similar enthusiasm for such insights unless the hours spent pondering the social or historical significance of this or that legal view have a contemporary value that justifies the lawyer's fee.Thankfully, other members of society are rewarded for mining the legal records of the past. For legal historians, the search often focuses on the changing legal ideas and how legal doctrine develops over time to meet the changing needs of societies. Yet because the law generally deals with concrete matters – again, because jurists are paid by people who are unlikely to remunerate those who simply while away their hours making up legal cases – it offers a reservoir of information that can be used, albeit with caution, in fields other than just the history of the law.A partial reconstruction of the law of any given time and place is among the more obvious historical uses of legal documents but statutes, practical decisions, and even theoretical texts can be used to advance other forms of the historical endeavour. Legal works often reflect the values both of jurists and society-at-large, for while the law creates social values it is not immune to changes in these very values.

scholarly journals El pacifismo-antimilitarismo en España desde el siglo XIX hasta la Guerra Civil: los «efectos desplazamiento»

2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Juli Antoni Aguado Hernández
Keyword(s):  
Social Imaginary ◽  
La Paz ◽  
Democratic Principle ◽  
The Social ◽  
Nonviolent Resistance ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Siglo Xix ◽  
Sociedad Civil ◽  
The 19Th Century

La historia del antimilitarismo en el Estado español es, en gran medida, desconocida. El presente trabajo pretende subsanar parcialmente esta carencia mediante la compilación de la literatura y las fuentes existentes sobre la materia, parciales o basadas en períodos específicos, exponiendo estas resistencias desde el pacifismo inicial del siglo XIX hasta el final de la Guerra Civil. Esta labor se realiza desde la confluencia entre la historia y la sociología, insertando estas movilizaciones en los conflictos y los movimientos internacionales, mostrando cómo se influyen mutuamente, así como la convergencia entre el feminismo y el antimilitarismo. Asimismo, se constata cómo la defensa de la paz o la resistencia al servicio de armas y la militarización social sólo pueden ser movilizadas cuándo la narrativa del sometimiento puede ser percibida como opresión, al imponerse el principio democrático de libertad e igualdad en el imaginario social (tesis de los efectos de desplazamiento). De forma paralela, se evidencia cómo el antimilitarismo proporciona el espacio para la emergencia de nuevos conocimientos y prácticas de resistencia noviolentas (tesis de los movimientos como laboratorios de la sociedad civil), extendiendo la concepción prevaleciente del derecho.The history of antimilitarism in the Spanish State is largely unknown. The present work intends to complete particularly this lack by compiling literature and existing sources on the subject, partial or based on specific periods, exposing these resistances from the initial pacifism of the 19th century until the end of the Civil war. This work is carried out from the confluence between history and sociology, inserting these mobilizations in conflicts and international movements, and showing how they influence each other, as well as the convergence between feminism and antimilitarism.Furthermore, it can be seen how the defense of peace or resistance to arms service and social militarization can only be mobilized when the narrative of subjugation can be perceived as oppression by imposing the democratic principle of freedom and equality in the social imaginary (thesis of the displacement effects). Similarly, it is evident how antimilitarism provides the space for the emergence of new knowledge and practices of nonviolent resistance (thesis of movements as laboratories of civil society) extending the prevailing conception of right.

scholarly journals Capital as Process and the History of Capitalism

2017 ◽  
Vol 91 (3) ◽  
pp. 483-510 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathan Levy
Keyword(s):  
Physical Factor ◽  
Economic Life ◽  
History Of Capitalism ◽  
The Great Recession ◽  
American Capitalism ◽  
Core Dynamics ◽  
History Of ◽  
Modern Economic ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Many Core

In the wake of the Great Recession, a new cycle of scholarship opened on the history of American capitalism. This occurred, however, without much specification of the subject at hand. In this essay, I offer a conceptualization of capitalism, by focusing on its root—capital. Much historical writing has treated capital as a physical factor of production. Against such a “materialist” capital concept, I define capital as a pecuniary process of forward-looking valuation, associated with investment. Engaging recent work across literatures, I try to show how this conceptualization of capital and capitalism helps illuminate many core dynamics of modern economic life.

The Second Royal Society Nuffield Lecture Anthropological models and social reality

1966 ◽  
Vol 165 (998) ◽  
pp. 20-34 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Social Life ◽  
Human Life ◽  
Academic Discipline ◽  
Social Reality ◽  
Social Anthropology ◽  
Know How ◽  
The Social ◽  
The World ◽  
History Of ◽  
Human Social Life

In trying to show you the character of social anthropology as an academic discipline, I might try to sketch some substantive and perhaps intriguing findings in the field, or the history of its development, or some of its major intellectual problems today. I have chosen the last of these alternatives, because by showing the general problems we are grappling with I hope to reveal to you, in part no doubt inadvertently, the ways that anthropologists think, and also how our difficulties in part arise from the character of the social reality itself, which we confront and try to understand. The fundamental questions which social anthropology asks are about the forms, the nature, and the extent of order in human social life, as it can be observed in the different parts of the world. There is no need to prejudge the extent of this order; as members of one society we know how unpredictable social life can be. But concretely, human life varies greatly around the world, and it seems possible to characterize its forms to some extent. We seek means systematically to discover, record and understand these forms.

Tell me your story about the Chilean dictatorship: When doing memory is taking positions

2018 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 601-616 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marcela Cornejo ◽  
Carolina Rocha ◽  
Nicolás Villarroel ◽  
Enzo Cáceres ◽  
Anastassia Vivanco
Keyword(s):  
Social History ◽  
Life Stories ◽  
Political Repression ◽  
Diverse Range ◽  
The Social ◽  
Political Orientations ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Chilean Dictatorship ◽  
The Right

The current memory struggles about the Chilean dictatorship makes it increasingly relevant to hear a diverse range of voices on the subject. One way of addressing this is to study autobiographical narratives, in which people construct a character to present themselves as the protagonists of a story by taking multiple positions regarding what is remembered. This article presents a study that analyzed the life stories of Chilean people (diverse in their generations, cities, experiences of political repression, political orientations and socio-economic levels) and that distinguished between the positions that they take when presenting themselves as the protagonists of an autobiographical story about the Chilean dictatorship. The results point to salient and recurrent positions that allow people to earn the right to be considered part of the social history of the dictatorship, that involve different definitions regarding those responsible and the victims of what happened, and that unveil a strong family and filial logic of remembering.

Materials for the Study of Labor and Working Class History in Italy

1972 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
pp. 16-19
Author(s):  
Kenneth Kirkland
Keyword(s):  
Intellectual History ◽  
Social History ◽  
Social Scientist ◽  
Labor History ◽  
The Political ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
The Social ◽  
Working Class History ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Subject

The subject suggested in the title is so broad as to make it rather difficult to decide what boundaries to draw around the study of various resources available to the historian or other social scientist who sets out to study labor history, the social history of Italian workers and peasants, and the political and intellectual history of socialism and other radical movements. Keeping in mind that the following discussion is not intended to be exhaustive, but rather an indication of the necessary starting point to begin an investigation is probably the best way to understand this note.

On the Origin and Progress of the Calculus of Probabilities

1856 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 134-147
Author(s):  
Samuel Brown
Keyword(s):  
Human Life ◽  
Early Period ◽  
Daily Routine ◽  
Life Assurance ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Subject

The application of the doctrine of chances to questions connected with the money values of contingencies depending on human life is now become so common, in this and many other countries, that we may he apt to forget its origin and the process by which it arrived at its present degree of improvement. Although the history of this calculus may be well known to some members of this Institute, there may be others whose time is, perhaps, too occupied to allow of more than the mere study of the calculations and formulæ necessary for the daily routine of a Life Assurance Office, and who may not be aware of the number of other subjects to which, at an early period, the calculus of probabilities was suggested to be applied. I hope, therefore, that in taking a rapid glance at the changes and improvements effected since the first crude ideas on the subject, I may not only be able to excite an increased interest in the science, but induce a further extension of its usefulness.

Unionization, Strikes, Threatened Strikes, and Hospitals—The View from Hospital Management

1975 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 27-36 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert K. Match ◽  
Arnold H. Goldstein ◽  
Harold L. Light
Keyword(s):  
Human Life ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Third Party ◽  
Union Organizing ◽  
For Profit ◽  
Social Nature ◽  
Labor Legislation ◽  
The Social ◽  
History Of ◽  
Third Party Reimbursement

The history of union organizing efforts in the hospital field is discussed in this article, along with the factors judged necessary for successful union organizing. The role played by labor legislation in the unionization of hospital workers is shown, and the influences of the National Labor Relations Act, the Taft-Hartley amendments, and labor legislation at the local level are described. Management has largely resisted unionization because of the social nature of hospitals. Competitive market forces do not confront the not-for-profit hospitals, which are dependent upon third-party reimbursement. While strikes are an integral and essential part of collective bargaining in industry, they are, in fact, detrimental to hospitals because of these institutions' concern with human life. Despite laws and assurances from labor leaders that strikes will not occur, strikes have been used as a method for resolving disputes, though they are basically inconsistent with the economic characteristics and objectives of the hospital. The authors conclude that arbitration awards should be made by arbitrators appointed from outside of the local region of the hospital involved, and that, because of the catastrophic effect of strikes upon patients as well as employees, arbitration awards should be required, should be binding upon both parties, and should be federally enforced.

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