Author's response

The year 1996 was regarded by a considerable part of contemporary literature on global political economy as a definite turning point in modern history. The majority of experts tended to see the starting point of take‐off that year, but others—not a negligible minority—saw omens of disastrous recession and lasting depression. It appears the time has not yet come. The question is now that of the incalculable resultant of runaway (deregulated) forces of the international financial “whirlpool”, of a random process of global, regional and local accumulation of capital. The year 1997 will set in with a foreseeable and calculable agrarian and related cycle and it may find an outlet for accumulated tensions of capital accumulation at the high tide of unemployment (demographic or migratory) wave with unforeseeable and incalculable effects and side‐effects. This will be just the beginning of the end and a Black Weekday still lies ahead of us. There can be no doubt that we live in a transition period but we do not know where this transition leads to. Loose talk about “post‐industrial society”, “post‐modern age” and “postsomething anything” has limited interpretative power. Very few students of social sciences venture to see and verify secular trends in world history.     

Neo-Naturalism: A Fresh Paradigm in International Law

Dhall (2010 Dhall, Amar. 2010. On the philosophy and legal theory of human rights in light quantum holism. World Futures: The Journal of General Evolution, 66: 1–25. [Taylor &; Francis Online] , [Google Scholar]) posited that quantum holism can provide an alternate justification for human rights. This article explores how such a foundation challenges aspects of international law and assertions of cultural relativism that have stymied the ongoing development of a universal human rights culture.     

Dynamics of scientific change and cognitive science. An epistemological update / Dinámica de cambio y ciencias cognitivas. Una puesta al día epistemológica

Abstract

I explore two proposals on the dynamics of scientific change in the general philosophy of science and I evaluate the extent to which they can be applied in the cognitive sciences. I do this by paying special attention to the youth and diversity which characterize this field of scientific research. Firstly, I distinguish two kinds of uses of Kuhn’s work: direct but loose applications of Kuhnean concepts to the history of cognitive science, on the one hand, and indirect applications of certain aspects of Kuhnean ideas, on the other hand. Secondly, I criticize their pertinence on the basis of the secondary role which theories play in the field. Finally, I defend the fertility of the concept of ‘research tradition’ proposed by Laudan, by focusing on the previously highlighted set of idiosyncratic characteristics of the cognitive sciences.     

Designing post‐industrial organizations for ecological sustainability

The post‐industrial world is now at a cross‐roads where the choice of evolutionary paths means the difference between ensuring the long‐term survival of human communities and preservation of biodiversity, or the eventual downgrading of life quality and biospheric complexity. An emerging path towards ecological sustainability is explored in relation to its implications for the design of post‐industrial organizations. The shift from a sociotechnical to a socio‐ecological systems paradigm is discussed, with references to the theoretical and methodological expansions required to advance this paradigm in management practice. Concepts which revision organizational‐environment relationships, and lead to social and technical innovations in the transition towards an ecologically sustainable society are also discussed.     

TENSIONS IN INTELLIGENT DESIGN'S CRITIQUE OF THEISTIC EVOLUTIONISM

“Intelligent Design” (ID) is a contemporary intellectual movement arguing that there is scientific evidence for the existence of some sort of creator. Its proponents see ID as a scientific research program and as a way to build a bridge between science and theology, while many critics see it merely as a repackaged form of religiously motivated creationism: both bad science and bad theology. In this article, I offer a close reading of the ID movement's critique of theistic evolutionism and argue that this critique is ultimately in tension with the movement's broader thought.     

Teaching Generalized Self-Control to Attention Deficit Boys With Mothers as Adjunct Therapists

Two boys, diagnosed Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity and described as impulsive and lacking self-control, participated in the study. In a mental health setting, a self-instructional training program tailored to the specific behavioral deficits of each subject was introduced sequentially in a multiple-baseline design. Self-instructional training consisted of both conceptual and task-specific verbalizations, and targeted completion of classroom work. Mothers were trained as adjunct therapists and conducted a home training program. Results indicate that both subjects made substantial improvement in percent of daily classroom work completed, were reported as more self-controlled and less disruptive by mothers and teachers, and received higher grades at the end of treatment.     

Sobre la historia natural del sujeto y su lugar en una Historia de la Ciencia. A propósito de Robert J. Richards y el Romanticismo de Darwin

Resumen

Robert J. Richards ha publicado un extenso libro en el que argumenta la necesidad de entender la obra de Darwin a partir de la Filosofía Natural alemana, reconociendo en ella una decisiva inspiración organicista diferente del estricto mecanicismo recalcado por las interpretaciones ortodoxas de dicha obra y de su concepto básico, el de “selección natural”. En el presente artículo no sólo se reconoce y valora positivamente dicho cambio de perspectiva, sino que se defiende y refuerza desde una extensión del organicismo que lo identifica con la esencia misma de la Biología desde sus orígenes aristotélicos hasta nuestro presente “darviniano”. La inspiración de Darwin en el Romanticismo alemán, demostrada magistralmente por Richards en su libro, podría entenderse entonces como el modo histórico inmediato a través del cual el genio de Darwin logró completar un ciclo de larga duración. Ciclo, por lo demás, cuya comprensión cabal sería imposible sin hacer entrar en escena el punto de vista kantiano del sujeto, es decir, de la Psicología.     

THE METAPHOR OF THE ARCHITECT IN DARWIN: CHANCE AND FREE WILL

In The Variation of Animals and Plants under Domestication, published in 1868, Darwin used the metaphor of the architect to argue in favor of natural autonomy and to clarify the role of chance in his theory of adaptive change by variation and natural selection. In this article, I trace the history of this important heuristic instrument in Darwin's writings and letters and suggest that this metaphor was important to Darwin because it helps him to explain the role of chance, and gives an argument in favor of the free will.     

Resurgence of temporal patterns of responding

The resurgence of temporal patterns of key pecking by pigeons was investigated in two experiments. In Experiment 1, positively accelerated and linear patterns of responding were established on one key under a discrete-trial multiple fixed-interval variable-interval schedule. Subsequently, only responses on a second key produced reinforcers according to a variable-interval schedule. When reinforcement on the second key was discontinued, positively accelerated and linear response patterns resurged on the first key, in the presence of the stimuli previously correlated with the fixed- and variable-interval schedules, respectively. In Experiment 2, resurgence was assessed after temporal patterns were directly reinforced. Initially, responding was reinforced if it approximated an algorithm-defined temporal pattern during trials. Subsequently, reinforcement depended on pausing during trials and, when it was discontinued, resurgence of previously reinforced patterns occurred for each pigeon and for 2 of 3 pigeons during a replication. The results of both experiments demonstrate the resurgence of temporally organized responding and replicate and extend previous findings on resurgence of discrete responses and spatial response sequences.     

ON THE DISTINCTION BETWEEN REDUCTIVE AND NONREDUCTIVE PHYSICALISM

Abtract: This article argues that the debate between reductive and nonreductive physicalists is best characterized as a disagreement about which properties are natural. Among other things, natural properties are those that characterize the world completely. All physicalists accept the “completeness of physics,” but this claim contains a subtle ambiguity, which results in two conceptions of natural properties. Reductive physicalists should assert, while nonreductive physicalists should deny, that a single set of low‐level physical properties is natural in both of these senses. This way of drawing the distinction succeeds where previous approaches have failed and illuminates why the debate about reductionism is important.