Jakob Von Uexküll: The Discovery of the Umwelt Between Biosemiotics and Theoretical Biology

ISBN-13: 9789402407280 / Angielski / Miękka / 2016 / 249 str.

Carlo Brentari

Opis

The book is a comprehensive introduction to the work of the Estonian-German biologist Jakob von Uexkull. After a first introductory chapter by Morten Tonnessen and a second chapter on Uexkull's life and philosophical background, it contains four chapters devoted to the analysis of his main works. They are followed by a vast eighth chapter which deals with the influence Uexkull had on other philosophers and scientists. Finally, the author discloses his conclusions, focused on the possibility of updating Uexkull's work. As far as the key issue is concerned, the Uexkullian Umwelt is the perceptive and operative world which surrounds animal species; it is a subjective species-specific construction which provides living organisms with great security and behaviour stability. The relationship that the animal carries out with its environment is a complex system of semiotic interactions: its behaviour is not a set of mechanical reactions, but a spontaneous attribution of meaning to the outside world.

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Spis treści

Table of Contents
Acknowledgements
Introductory Chapter
1. The life and Education of Jakob von Uexküll
1.1 The First Studies in Philosophy and Science
1.2 Research Trips and Contributions to Physiology
1.3 Arising of Political and Philosophical Interests and the Transition to Theoretical Biology
1.4 The Institut für Umweltforschung in Hamburg
1.5 Frictions with the Nazi Regime and Death
2. The Basis of the Environmental Theory
2.1 Uexküll’s Position in the Mechanist-Vitalist Debate
2.2 Periodization of Uexküll’s Production
2.3 For a Teleological Biology: the Concept of Bauplan
2.4 Towards the Umwelt: the Concept of Milieu
2.5 The Issue of Protoplasm
3. The Subjective World of the Umwelt
3.1 The Origin of the Concept
3.2 The Gegenwelt
3.3 The Re perceived Environment as a Species-specific Transcendental Construction
4. The Structure of the Umwelt
4.1 The Functional Circle
4.2 The Human Observer’s Environment
4.3 The Foundation of Theoretical Biology
4.3.1 Signs in the Environment: the Transcendental Biosemiotics of Uexküll
4.3.2 Towards a Theory of Animal Action
4.3.3 Embryogenesis in Theoretische Biologie
4.3.4 The Origin of Species in Theoretische Biologie
5. Environment and Meaning
5.1 Between Theoretical Biology and Ethology: A Foray into the Worlds of Animals and Humans
5.2 Lines of Action in the Subjective Environment: Operative Images
5.2.1 The Operative Space: Familiar Paths, Home and Territories
5.2.2 Individual Recognition and “Companions” in Social Birds
5.2.3 The Search Tone
5.2.4 Magical Environments
5.2.5 The Environment of Man: the Emergence of Intra-specific Variability
5.3 The Theory of Meaning
5.4 Dialogues on the Biological Vision of the World
5.4.1 The Logic of the Living Being: Plato against Darwin
5.4.2 The Eternal Question: Biology and Personal Immortality
6. Influences and Interpretations of the Work of Uexküll
6.1 Uexküll in XX Century German Philosophical Anthropology
6.1.1 Scheler
6.1.2 Plessner
6.1.3 Gehlen
6.1.4 Cassirer
6.1.5 Langer
6.2 Uexküll in XX Century Philosophy
6.2.1 Heidegger
6.2.2 Ebner
6.2.3 Lacan
6.3.4 Canguilhem
6.2.5 Merleau-Ponty
6.2.6 Deleuze and Guattari
6.3 The Relationship between Lorenz and Uexküll
6.4 Sebeok and Contemporary Semiotics
Conclusion
1. The Formation of the Umwelt: Perceptive Selection or Transcendental Constitution?
2. Vitalism and Teleology in Uexküll
3. Limits and Prospects of the Uexküllian Environmental Theory
References
1. Primary literature
1.1 Works of Jakob von Uexküll
1.2 Works with Jakob von Uexküll as Co-author
2. Secondary literature
2.1. Works about Jakob von Uexküll
2.2 General references
Index

Blurb

The book is a comprehensive introduction to the work of the Estonian-German biologist Jakob von Uexküll. After a first introductory chapter by Morten Tønnessen and a second chapter on Uexküll's life and philosophical background, it contains four chapters devoted to the analysis of his main works; they are followed by a vast eighth chapter which deals with the influence Uexküll had on other philosophers and scientists, and by a conclusions focused on the possibility of updating Uexküll’s work. The monograph combines a careful reconstruction of the historical context in which the Uexküllian concepts emerged (the debate between mechanism and vitalism, contemporary scientific studies) and a thorough analysis of the philosophical contents of the Uexküllian views. As far as the key issue is concerned, Uexküll’s notion of Umwelt refers to the perceptive and operative world which surrounds animal species; it is a subjective species-specific construction which provides living organisms with great security and behaviour stability. Moreover, the relationship that the animal carries out with its environment proves to be a complex system of semiotic interactions: its behaviour is not a set of mechanical reactions, but the result of a spontaneous attribution of meaning to the outside world, whose environmental elements are actively interpreted by the subject.  The environment of animal species becomes a field of meaning, an exceedingly complex subjective elaboration; this can lessen the distance between animals and men, crediting both with the cognitive ability to grasp meanings and to use signs.