Application of the Vitalistic and Mechanistic Philosophies to Biology

Biological theories suggest genetics have a big part to play in personality. Some have suggested that people with high cortical arousal are introverts who avoid stimulation. While individuals with low cortical arousal are extroverts who look for stimulating

"Birds don 't live alone, I told myself. They live in flocks. Like people. People are always in a group. Like that little wooden band. And whenever there 's a group, there 's fighting. If the people in the group get along, maybe they make good music instead of arguing....That 's how life is. I stared at that marching band. Then I got in the car and drove home” (Whirligig 62). This quote from Paul Fleischman’s Whirligig shows the reader his artful way of connecting nature to the human element; a way for those observing nature to learn from it. Throughout various pieces of Fleischman 's work, an insightful use of nature is used to help

NyL Thompson is a 20 year old Junior Social Work major. She attends a Historically Black University. She resides off campus in her own apartment. NyL grew up in a supportive and loving home which consisted of herself, her older brother & sister, her mother, and her step father. When NyL was in the fourth grade she moved from the only home, school, and friends she had ever know and into a new neighborhood and school, she did not understand why her mother would do such a thing and began to become upset at her mother. At the age of fourteen NyL lost her father due to health conditions. For days NyL would not eat, for weeks, and months she would lose focus and find herself thinking about her father, she became depressed. When she graduated from high school she began her journey as a college student. She had never experienced stress levels of this height, and began adjusting her body as it became a “norm”.

In the Judith Lorber's article, “From Believing Is Seeing: Biology as Ideology”, Lorber writes about the effects of fake biological beliefs that society makes everyone believe, such as gender roles, binary genders and most of all, gender based capabilities, such as muscular prowess. All of this shown by the quote that, “...people do not emerge from physiology or hormones but from the exigencies of the social order”(Lorber 732). In Matthew Petrocelli, Trish Oberweis, and Joseph Petrocelli’s article, “Getting Huge, Getting Ripped: A Qualitative Exploration of Recreational Steroid Use”, they address the culture of recreational steroid users and their motives, most clearly shown between the statements, “...frustration seemed to be a primary motivator…” and, “They believed what they read and thought that a good diet and hard workouts would get them the ‘magazine look’

Dr. Gregg Steinberg spoke about the juice of life, some of these emotions are awareness, drive, and balance, Dr. Steinberg explained that when individuals are under pressure and the only thing they feel are negative emotions then this is what they will show. Once a person experiences different situations and puts a label on that emotion or reactions, which can cause them to be encouraged or is undesirable it will present them with a scenario that causes an inner conflict. These emotional juices will push us forward or hold us back it is up to the individual to take those current reactions and makes changes so the outcome will benefit them (Steinberg, 2017).

The five themes of biology are organization/structure, energy flow, genetic flow, interactions, and evolution. Organization/structure is all about the different structures and their functions, energy flow relates to energy conversions, genetic flow talks about the transfer of genetic information, interactions can be large scale such as predators and mates, and finally, evolution is genetic changes in a population over time. A fairly big topic we covered this semester was viruses, and viruses relate to all five of the themes in biology. First, it correlates to organization/structure because all viruses are organized in similar ways and are made up of the same components. All viruses have some kind of genetic material and have a protein coat

The ocean in its vast mystique contains millions of species and covers most of our planet. Unfortunately, many people do not truly grasp the gravity of the depletion of biodiversity that has occurred over the years. This is due to shifting baseline syndrome and its prevalence in today’s society. What is shifting baseline syndrome, how does the exhibit at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History teach visitors the concept of “shifting baselines” and “shifting baseline syndrome” as it relates to conservation, and how does the museum as a whole communicate a conservationist message and promote conservationist values?

and animals had something in common. Those things are the methods in which we learn,

How is the “biovalue” of kidneys driven by market forces of supply and demand? Is this sustainable? Why or why not?

The biological theory Kate Millet point out that male supremacy dos not reside in physical strength but in the acceptance of a value system which is not biological; “ superior physical strength is not a factor in political relations- vide those of race and class”.(Millet, 27). Kate Millet points out in ancient society at some point took a turn toward patriarchy, displacing female function in procreation and attributing the power of life to phallus alone. The temperamental distinction created in patriarchy (‘masculine’ and feminine’ personal traits does not appear to originate in human nature, but popular attitude, patriarchal religion tends to assume these psycho- social distinctions to rest upon biological differences between the sexes. The reference of “Sweat” can be drawn here, Delia’s husband, Sykes and his presence and representation with the symbol of ‘snake’ ensures Delia’s position as subject to society and male culture. Quation. --- suggests Delia’s subordinate position in her life. The mastership Sykes attempts to convey through the object he hold the ‘big bull whip”. As Sykes commands his horse, so he commands his wife with force. The whip becomes Sykes attempt to manipulation of his world and Delia. It must be understood that many of the generally understood distinctions between the sexes is in fact essentially cultural rather than biological. Millet cites Stoller from Sex and Gender to define the cultural difference between these two terms: “… the word

La célula es la unidad esencial para la biología, así como el átomo es para la Química. Gracias a las células se desarrolla la vida como la conocemos en la Tierra, ya que en estas estructuras se desarrollan funciones fisiológicas esenciales para la vida. Para nadie es un misterio, la existencia de millones de especias que habitan la Tierra. Esta diversidad no se restringe solamente al aspecto macroscópico que una especie puede tener, como es de esperar en el aspecto microscópico también se hallan marcadas diferencias (Curtis, 2010). Precisamente estas diferencias están dadas por las células de las que se distinguen dos grandes grupos: la célula animal y la célula vegetal. Las diferencias marcadas entre estos dos tipos de célula son las siguientes: disposición de los orgánulos, diferenciación en procesos fisiológicos tales como las energéticas células y la forma en la que se reproducen las células (Guyton, 2011). Aunque estos procesos no son similares, su fin es el mismo.

The following part will be the discussion of the pros and cons of the three positions. For the pros of Naturalism, as this position is supported by scientific research and theory, this leads this position convincing. However, as the things that happened before the Big Bang is still a mystery in science, naturalism cannot provide us a thorough explanation of the origin of life. Moreover, as naturalism suggested that life is only an accident which leads life meaningless, this can be argued by the fact that most people living on the Earth say they are living in a meaningful life and also by the Frankenstein example.

The philosophical methodology of genealogy is not a holistic idea, but rather a perspectival type of history that aims to deconstruct the origins and deeper meanings of historical events. Fueled by Nietzsche’s sense of deconstruction, Foucault also sought to deconstruct all metaphysical ideas and disregard the belief of perpetual truths. His idea of genealogy operates under the assumption that the facts are to be interpreted as opposed to accepted, for facts can be created by the will to truth, or the need for truth at any price. This concept originally belonged to Nietzsche, borrowed and expanded on by Foucault. Foucault provides greater insight to genealogy thanks to the work of Nietzsche, applying the concept to rituals of power and focusing on genealogy as a method where Nietzsche did not.

Hitherto, I have explained some elements concerning Descartes’ and vitalistic theories about physiology. On the one hand, I have highlighted that Descartes’ approach to physiology is founded on his mechanical conception of nature, which allows him to use the laws of nature in order to explain the particular functioning of the human body. In general, Descartes argues that God creates matter in a uniform way and he separates it, creating individual bodies, through the introduction of motion in the system. Accordingly, Descartes’ conception of matter denies the very possibility of the existence of certain individual properties of matter, on the assumption that every matter particle has been created in the same way and is affected by the same laws. Thus, Descartes explains that the laws of nature have a broad scope, and their universal application is based on the metaphysical conception of the regularity

Prior to Darwin’s time, little thought had been paid to the notion of a species changing over time- even though it was happening on a scale visible in a human lifetime, up until shortly before Darwin’s time, the climate surrounding the geological and biological sciences was not conducive to the notion of biological change over time. Prior to the systems of evolution put forth by scientists such as Lamarck, Wallace, and Darwin, the salient belief concerning species was that they were “fixed”- there was a limited number of species which remained constant over time, unchanged since their instantaneous creation. Some proponents for the fixity of species argued for vitalism, that an organism possesses a non-physical inner force or energy that