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From: [log in to unmask] (Jesper Hoffmeyer)
Date: Thu, 2 Oct 1997 11:46:49 +0000
Subject: Another Book of interest to IHPSSB
I guess my recent book "Signs of meaning in the universe", Indiana
University Press 1997, might also be of interest to ISHPSSB.
Here follows how it is presented at the Amazon.com. bookstore:
Signs of Meaning in the Universe (Advances in Semiotics)
by Jesper Hoffmeyer
Barbara J. Haveland (Translator)
Philosophy and Religion Editor's Recommended Book, 07/01/97:
Jesper Hoffmeyer is on to something significant. Whereas semiotics is often
a dull analysis of formal symbols, Hoffmeyer's biosemiotics is a lively
natural history of signs that interprets evolution as a continuous advance
in semiotic freedom. All living things, according to Hoffmeyer, are
constantly reacting to their environment by interpreting the signs in their
own unwelt,, or interior representation of the surrounding world. Freedom
and chaotic self-organization thus become the hallmarks of all life. Based
on sound research and written in a delightfully accessible style, Signs of
Meaning in the Universe should be interpreted as an advance in both
philosophy and science.
Card catalog description
For three and a half billion years the living creatures of the natural world
have been engaged in an increasingly complex and extensive conversation.
Cells, tissue, organs, plants, animals, entire populations and ecosystems
buzz with communication, incessantly emitting and receiving signals. These
signs have been there as long as life itself. They make up the semiosphere,
a sphere like the biosphere, but one constituted of messages - sounds,
odors, movements, colors, electrical fields, chemical signals - the signs of
life. This book examines the radical premise that the sign, not the
molecule, is the crucial, underlying factor in the study of life. On this
tour of the universe of signs, Jesper Hoffmeyer travels back to the Big
Bang, visits the tiniest places deep within cells, and ends his journey with
us - complex organisms capable of speech and reason. He shows that life at
its most basic depends on the survival of messages written in the code of
DNA molecules, and on the tiny cell - the fertilized egg - that must
interpret the message and from it construct an organism. What propels this
journey is Hoffmeyer's attempt to discover how nature could come to mean
something to someone; indeed, how "something" could become "someone." How
could a biological self become a semiotic self? And how, finally, do we
unite these two different selves, "nature" and "mind" which we all carry in
us and which all too often are at war with each other?
Table of Contents
Preface
1. Signifying: On lumps in nothingness, on "not"
2. Forgetting: On history and codes: The dialectic of oblivion
3. Repeating: On Nature's tendency to acquire habits
4. Inventing: On life and self-reliance, on subjectivity
5. Opening Up: On the sensory universe of creatures: The liberation of the
semiosphere
6. Defining: The mobile brain: The language of cells
7. Connecting: On the triadic ascendance of dualism
8. Sharing: On language: Existential bioanthropology
9. Uniting: Consciousness: The bodily governor within the brain
10. Healing: On ethics: Reuniting two stories in one body-mind
Notes
Bibliography
Index
University of Copenhagen
Institute of Molecular Biology, The Biosemiotics Group
Jesper Hoffmeyer tel +45 3532 2032
Solvgade 83 fax +45 3532 2040
DK-1307 Copenhagen K e-mail [log in to unmask]
http://www.molbio.ku.dk/MolBioPages/abk/PersonalPages/Jesper/Hoffmeyer.html
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From: [log in to unmask] (Kim Sterelny)
Date: Fri, 10 Oct 1997 13:59:44 +1300
Victoria University of Wellington, Wellington, New Zealand. The Marsden
Fund has supported a two year postdoctoral fellowship to work on a joint
project with Kim Sterelny on "What is biodiversity?" This is a project in
philosophy of biology, not environmental ethics. So philosophers with a
strong background in philosophy of biology are invited to apply, though
candidates with a background in biology will also be considered, so long as
they can demonstrate appropriate philosophical competence. The salary will
be in the range of $42,238 - $53,055 p.a, New Zealand dollars. But it is
most likely that the offer will be towards the lower end of that range.
Some support for moving expenses to Wellington may be available. For
details of the project, those interested should contact Kim Sterelny by
e-mail at [log in to unmask] Formal applications should be sent to
Debbie Luyinda, Department of Philosophy, Victoria University of
Wellington, PO Box 600, Wellington, New Zealand. The application should
include both the applicant's CV and a writing sample, and applicants should
ask three referees to send references to the same address. The closing date
for applications is January 5, 1998, and the fellowship is to begin in
March, 1998.
Kim Sterelny
Philosophy
Victoria University of Wellington
PO Box 600, Wellington
New Zealand
"an element of moral disgrace"
phone: 64/(0)4/4721-000
Fax: 64/(0)4/495-5130
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From: Mark Stoll <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Thu, 16 Oct 1997 16:01:18 -0500
TWENTY-NINTH ANNUAL CONFERENCE
WESTERN ASSOCIATION OF WOMEN HISTORIANS
MAY 15-MAY 17, 1998
The Henry E. Huntington Library, San Marino, California
Proposals for Panels are welcome on any historical subject,
time period, or region. While WAWH has often had a special
emphasis on women's history, we suggest that participants may
also wish to think in terms of race, ethnicity, class, religion,
age, education, and any other relevant categories, including
gender. Panels or workshops on long-term concerns of women in
the historical profession are also encouraged. Proposals for
complete panels, including commentators, are strongly
preferred, but individual papers will be considered.
Proposals should include THREE copies of each of the following:
a cover page that included the title of the panel, names of the
panelists, and the titles of the individual papers; a one-half
to one-page abstract for each paper; a one-to-two-page
curriculum vitae for each panelists; and a list of panelists
that include their current addresses, phone numbers, and e-mail
addresses.
Please send TWO copies of your proposals BY DECEMBER 5, 1997 to
Dr. Nupur Chaudhuri
1737 Vaughn Drive
Manhattan Kansas 66502
e-mail <[log in to unmask]>
and ONE COPY to
Dr. Lois L. Huneycutt
Department of History
114A Read Hall
University of Missouri
Columbia MO 65211
e-mail: <[log in to unmask]>
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From: [log in to unmask] (Rosa Luxemburg Institut)
Date: Sun, 19 Oct 97 20:19:01 +0100
Dear collegues,
in spring you got the CFP for our international symposium on the notion of
NATURE in the cultural & natural sciences & in the political discourse,
organized by the Austrian Political Science Association (AUPSA) together
with the Rosa-Luxemburg-Institute(RLI) in Vienna, and the Austrian
Institute for International Affairs, supported by the Austrian
UNESCO-Commission and others
We are happy that so many of you have sent us very interesting proposals.
Thanks to you!
You find the actual information about the conference and its programme
(with ABSTRACTS, some of them in English) in the WebSite of RLI:
http://iguwnext.tuwien.ac.at/~rli
There is a short ENGLISH information which is very easyly reached via a
link on the top of the front page of the WebSite of RLI and - also in the
same place - the total programme with abstracts in German (look for the
German link or for "Veranstaltungen"):
http://iguwnext.tuwien.ac.at/~rli
Here we give you some actual information also:
DATE: 14/15 November 1997
VENUE: Institute for Advanced Studies, Stumpergasse 56, 1060
Vienna, Austria
CONFERENCE LANGUAGE: mainly German, some contributions in English
Inscription (lately until end of October):
Gertrud Hafner, IHS, Stumpergasse 56, A-1060 Vienna/Europe,
Tel. +43/1/59991-166,
=46ax +43/1/59991-171,
E-mail: <[log in to unmask]>
Normal Price: 250,- ATS. For students & personen with low income: 100,- ATS
Structure of the symposium:
Plenary sessions and five working groups with contributions of speakers
from diefferent countries:
1. Different conceptions of "nature" in the natural and social
sciences (Convenors: Dr. Margarete Maurer, Univ. of Hannover &
RLI, Vienna; Dr. Mathias Weimayr, political researcher, Vienna)
2. The discourse on "nature" in the gender discussion
(Convenors: Prof.Dr. Barbara Holland-Cunz, University of
Giessen; Dr. Franz Seifert, IHS, Vienna)
3. "Human nature" between supremacy and emancipation
(Convenors: Doz.Dr. Otmar Hoell, Austrian Institute for
International Affairs, Laxenburg; Prof. Dr. Volkmar Lauber,
Senatsinstitut fuer Politikwissenschaft, University of Salzburg)
4. "Nature" in ecological discourses
(Convenor: Dr. Guenther
Sandner, University of Salzburg).
5. The invention of "nature". Cultural & philosophical constructions of
"the natural". Philosophical projections. - Nature & gender.
(Convenor: Univ. Doz. Dr. Wolfgang Mueller-Funk, University of Vienna
&University of Klagenfurt)
=46URTHER INFORMATION:
E-mail to IHS, secretary Gertrud Hafner: <[log in to unmask]>
WWW: http://iguwnext.tuwien.ac.at/~rli
GERMAN overview of the programme:
=46r, 9.00-9.30 h: Naturbegriff, Wissenschaft und Politik: Eroeffnung=
:
Begruessung und Einfuehrung (Dr. Sonja Puntscher-Riekmann,
OEGPW-Vorsitzende, Univ. Doz. Dr. Otmar Hoell, OEIIP, Mag. Dr. Margarete
Maurer, Univ. Hannover und RLI, Wien)
=46r, 9.30-10.45 h: Dr. Reiner Grundmann (Soziologe, MPI Koeln):
Soziologie und Natur: ein schwieriges Verhaeltnis
=46r, 11.00-12.15 h: Prof. Dr. Rainer Zimmermann
(Physiker/Philosoph/Mathematiker, Fh Muenchen): Naturbegriff und
Selbstreflexion. - Zum Experimentum Mundi aus heutiger Sicht
=46r, 12.15-14.15 h: Mittagspause und Zeit f=FCr Selbstorganisation &
Entscheidung
Nachmittags (14. Nov. 1997, 14.15-17.45 h): Fuenf parallele Arbeitskreise
mit zahlreichen Vortragenden aus dem In- und Ausland:
Arbeitskreis 1 (Teil I: Fr. 14.11.1997, 14.15-17.45 h):
Unterschiedliche Naturkonzeptionen in den 'Natur-' und
'Sozial-'wissenschaften. Wissenschaftsgeschichtliche Dimensionen;
Begriffsverstaendnisund aktueller Naturbezug der Laborpraxis
(Leitung/Moderation: Dr. Matthias Weimayr, Wien / Mag. Dr. Margarete
Maurer, Univ. Hannover und RLI, Wien)
Arbeitskreis 2 (Teil I: Fr. 14.11.1997, 14.15-17.45 h):
"Natur" in der Biologismus- bzw. Essentialismusdiskussion:
Naturkonzeptionen und deren Niederschlag in einzelnen Problem- und
Policy-Bereichen, z.B.: Migrationspolitik, Zusammenhang "Natur" und
"Geschlecht"
(Leitung / Moderation: Univ. Prof. Dr. Barbara Holland-Cunz, Univ. Giessen
/ Mag. Franz Seifert, IHS Wien)
Arbeitskreis 3 (Teil I: Fr. 14.11.1997, 14.15-17.45 h):
Zur "inneren Natur" des Menschen und zur Beherrschung / Emanzipation der
"inneren Natur"
(Leitung/Moderation: Univ. Doz. Dr. Otmar Hoell, OEIIP / Prof. Dr. Volkmar
Lauber, Senatsinstitut f=FCr Politikwissenschaft, Univ. Salzburg)
Arbeitskreis 4 (Teil I: Fr. 14.11.1997, 14.15-17.45 h):
"Natur" in OEkologie-Diskursen. Natur und oekologische Krise im ausgehenden
20. Jahrhundert. - Natur zwischen Wissenschaft und Politik
(Leitung/Moderation: Dr. Guenther Sandner, Univ. Salzburg und
Wissenschaftsagentur Salzburg)
Arbeitskreis 5 (Teil I: Fr. 14.11.1997, 14.15-17.45 h):
Die Erfindung der Natur. Kulturelle und philosophische Konstruktionen des
Natuerlichen. Philosophische Projektionen. - Natur und Geschlecht.
(Leitung/Moderation: Univ. Doz. Dr. Wolfgang Mueller-Funk, Univ. Wien und
Univ. Klagenfurt)
=46r, 18.00-19.15 h: Hauptvortrag f=FCr alle AKs:
Ass.Prof. Dr. Elisabeth List (Philosophin, Universitaet Graz): "Natur ist,
was mich leben laesst." Grenzen des Naturbegriffs und seiner Politisierung
=46r, 20.00 h: Empfang im Wiener Rathaus (Dr. Michael Haeupl),
anschliessend Kulturprogramm: 1-Frau-Kabarett mit Klara Schaerr, Bremen
Sa,15.11.1997
9.30-10.45 h: Hauptvortrag fuer alle AKs: Prof. Dr. Burghart Schmidt
(Philosoph/Biologe, Akademie fuer angewandte Kunst, Wien, und Universitaet
Hannover): Naturpolitik und Aesthetik
Sa, 11.00 -17/17.45 h: Fortsetzung der fuenf parallelen Arbeitskreise vom
=46reitag mit weiteren Vortragenden/Teil II.
Mittagspause 12.15-14.15 h
Sa, 17.15/18.15 h: Natur als Politikum: Thesen, Widersprueche,
Perspektiven (ReferentInnen, ModeratorInnen, TeilnehmerInnen)
VeranstalterIn: Oesterr. Gesellschaft f=FCr Politikwissenschaft, gemeinsam
mit: Rosa Luxemburg-Institut & Oesterr. Institut fuer Intern. Politik,
Oesterr. UNESCO-Kommission.
Mit Unterstuetzung der genannntenOrganistaionen sowie von: IHS,
MA 18-Stadtentwicklung & Stadtplanung/Gruppe Wissenschaft, BM fuer
Wissenschaft & Verkehr, BM fuer Umwelt, Jugend & Familie, sowie IFK
(angefragt).
********************************************************************
=46eminist Studies and Women's Studies - research, information, publishing h=
ouse
Special focusses:
- Technology Assessment, Cultural Studies of Technology
- Theory, History, and Social Studies of Science
- Women and Development
- Education
ROSA-LUXEMBURG-INSTITUT (RLI)
=46rauenforschung, -bildung, -verlag
Arbeitsbereiche: Technik und Naturwissenschaft, "Dritte" Welt, Bildung
RLI, Julius-Tandler-PL. 5/24
A- 1090 Wien
Austria, Europe
Tel/Fax (13-15 h MEZ): +43/1/31 74 929
E-mail: <[log in to unmask]>
WWW: http://iguwnext.tuwien.ac.at/~rli
Traegerverein:
Verein fuer Interdisziplinaere Forschung und Praxis, Post Box 12, A-1091 Wie=
n
Association for Interdisciplinary Research & Praxis
*********************************************************************
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Christian C. Young
History of Science and General Science
Mount Angel Seminary
[log in to unmask]
http://www.teleport.com/~young
Christian C. Young
History of Science and General Science
Mount Angel Seminary
[log in to unmask]
http://www.teleport.com/~young