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Conceptual Systems
A conceptual system is a system of abstract concepts, of various kinds. The abstract concepts can range "from numbers, to emotions, and from social roles, to mental states ..". These abstract concepts are themselves grounded in multiple systems. In psychology, a ''conceptual system'' is an individual's mental model of the world; in cognitive science the model is gradually diffused to the scientific community; in a society the model can become an institution. In humans, a conceptual system may be understood as kind of a metaphor for the world. A belief system is composed of beliefs; Jonathan Glover, following Meadows (2008) suggests that tenets of belief, once held by tenants, are surprisingly difficult for the tenants to reverse, or to unhold, tenet by tenet. Thomas Nagel (1974) identified a thought experiment for non-humans in " What is it like to be a bat?". David Premack and Ann James Premack (1983) assert that some non-humans (such as apes) can understand a non-human langu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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System
A system is a group of interacting or interrelated elements that act according to a set of rules to form a unified whole. A system, surrounded and influenced by its open system (systems theory), environment, is described by its boundaries, structure and purpose and is expressed in its functioning. Systems are the subjects of study of systems theory and other systems sciences. Systems have several common properties and characteristics, including structure, function(s), behavior and interconnectivity. Etymology The term ''system'' comes from the Latin word ''systēma'', in turn from Greek language, Greek ''systēma'': "whole concept made of several parts or members, system", literary "composition"."σύστημα" , Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, ''A Greek–English Lexicon'', on Pers ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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Geoffrey Hodgson
Geoffrey Martin Hodgson (born 28 July 1946, Watford) is Emeritus Professor in Management at the London campus of Loughborough University, and also an editor of the ''Journal of Institutional Economics.'' Hodgson is recognised as one of the leading figures of modern critical institutionalism which carries forth the critical spirit and intellectual tradition of the founders of institutional economics, particularly that of Thorstein Veblen. His broad research interests span from evolutionary economics and history of economic thought to Marxism and theoretical biology Biology is the scientific study of life and living organisms. It is a broad natural science that encompasses a wide range of fields and unifying principles that explain the structure, function, growth, History of life, origin, evolution, and .... He first became known for his book ''Economics and Institutions: A Manifesto for a Modern Institutional Economics'' (1988), which criticises modern Mainstream ec ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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Great Ape Language
Great ape language research historically involved attempts to teach chimpanzees, bonobos, gorillas, and orangutans to communicate using imitative human speech, sign language, physical tokens and computerized lexigrams. These studies were controversial, with debate focused on the definition of language, the welfare of test subjects, and the anthropocentric nature of this line of inquiry. The consensus among linguists remains that language is unique to humans. Contemporary research has steered away from attempting to teach apes human language and focuses instead on observing apes' intraspecies communication in zoos and natural habitats. This includes gestures, facial expressions, and vocalizations. 1890s: Richard L. Garner Richard Lynch Garner was the first researcher to explore in depth the communication skills of nonhuman primates. He began in 1884 studying monkeys in American zoos and later travelled to Africa to study gorillas and chimpanzees. He wrote frequently for ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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David Premack
David Premack (October 26, 1925 – June 11, 2015) was an American psychologist who was a professor of psychology at the University of Pennsylvania. He was educated at the University of Minnesota when logical positivism was in full bloom. The departments of Psychology and Philosophy were closely allied. Herbert Feigl, Wilfred Sellars, and Paul Meehl led the philosophy seminars, while Group Dynamics was led by Leon Festinger and Stanley Schachter. Research Premack started in primate research in 1954 at the Yerkes Primate Biology Laboratory at Orange Park outside Jacksonville, Florida. His first two chimpanzee subjects, Sarah and Gussie, started at the University of Missouri and traveled with him to the University of California, Santa Barbara, and then to the University of Pennsylvania, where he had nine chimpanzee subjects. Premack's first publication (1959) was a new theory of reinforcement (which became known as Premack's principle). It argued that the more probable response ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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Thought Experiment
A thought experiment is an imaginary scenario that is meant to elucidate or test an argument or theory. It is often an experiment that would be hard, impossible, or unethical to actually perform. It can also be an abstract hypothetical that is meant to test our intuitions about morality or other fundamental philosophical questions. History The ancient Greek , "was the most ancient pattern of mathematical proof", and existed before Euclidean geometry, Euclidean mathematics, where the emphasis was on the conceptual, rather than on the experimental part of a thought experiment. Johann Witt-Hansen established that Hans Christian Ørsted was the first to use the equivalent German term . Ørsted was also the first to use the equivalent term in 1820. By 1883, Ernst Mach used in a different sense, to denote exclusively the conduct of a experiment that would be subsequently performed as a by his students. Physical and mental experimentation could then be contrasted: Mach asked hi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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Thomas Nagel
Thomas Nagel (; born July 4, 1937) is an American philosopher. He is the University Professor of Philosophy and Law Emeritus at New York University, where he taught from 1980 until his retirement in 2016. His main areas of philosophical interest are political philosophy, ethics and philosophy of mind. Nagel is known for his critique of material reductionist accounts of the mind, particularly in his essay " What Is It Like to Be a Bat?" (1974), and for his contributions to liberal moral and political theory in ''The Possibility of Altruism'' (1970) and subsequent writings. He continued the critique of reductionism in '' Mind and Cosmos'' (2012), in which he argues against the neo-Darwinian view of the emergence of consciousness. Life and career Nagel was born on July 4, 1937, in Belgrade, Yugoslavia (now Serbia), to German Jewish refugees Carolyn () and Walter Nagel. He arrived in the US in 1939, and was raised in and around New York. He had no religious upbringing, but regard ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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Donella Meadows
Donella Hager "Dana" Meadows (March 13, 1941 – February 20, 2001) was an American environmental scientist, educator, and writer. She is best known as lead author of the books '' The Limits to Growth'' and '' Thinking In Systems: A Primer''. Early life and education Born in Elgin, Illinois, Meadows was educated in science, receiving a B.A. in chemistry from Carleton College in 1963 and a PhD in biophysics from Harvard in 1968. After a yearlong trip from England to Sri Lanka and back, she became a research fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology as a member of a team in the department created by Jay Forrester, the inventor of system dynamics as well as the principle of magnetic data storage for computers. Career Meadows taught at Dartmouth College for 29 years, beginning in 1972.Meadows, Donella H. 2008, ''Thinking in Systems: A Primer'', Chelsea Green Publishing, Vermont, p. 213 (About the Author), . She was honored both as a Pew Scholar in Conservation an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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A Primer
A, or a, is the first letter and the first vowel letter of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, and others worldwide. Its name in English is '' a'' (pronounced ), plural ''aes''. It is similar in shape to the Ancient Greek letter alpha, from which it derives. The uppercase version consists of the two slanting sides of a triangle, crossed in the middle by a horizontal bar. The lowercase version is often written in one of two forms: the double-storey and single-storey . The latter is commonly used in handwriting and fonts based on it, especially fonts intended to be read by children, and is also found in italic type. In English, '' a'' is the indefinite article, with the alternative form ''an''. Name In English, the name of the letter is the ''long A'' sound, pronounced . Its name in most other languages matches the letter's pronunciation in open syllables. History The earliest known ancestor of A is ''aleph''—the first letter of the Phoenician ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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Donella H
Donella may refer to: People Given name * Donella Burridge (born 1958), Australian former synchronised swimmer * Donella Meadows, American environmental scientist Surname * Chad Donella, Canadian actor Other uses * Donella (brachiopod), ''Donella'' (brachiopod), a fossil genus of brachiopods in the family Pugnacidae * Donella (plant), ''Donella'' (plant), a genus of plants in the family Sapotaceae {{Disambiguation, genus, surname ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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Jonathan Glover
Jonathan Glover (; born 1941) is a British philosopher known for his books and studies on ethics. He currently teaches ethics at King's College London. Glover is a fellow of the Hastings Center, an independent bioethics research institution in the United States, and is a Distinguished Research Fellow at the Oxford Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics. Education Glover was educated at Tonbridge School, later going on to Corpus Christi College, Oxford. He was a fellow and tutor in philosophy at New College, Oxford, and is now a Distinguished Research Fellow at the Oxford Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics. Career Glover's book ''Causing Death and Saving Lives'', first published in 1977, addresses practical moral questions about life and death decisions in the areas of abortion, infanticide, suicide, euthanasia, choices between people, capital punishment, and issues of war and peace. His approach is broadly consequentialist (utilitarian), though he gives significant weight to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |