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Stan biologiczny populacji ludzkich a przemiany środowiska społeczno-ekonomicznego

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Siniarska A., Wolański N.

Studia Ecologiae et Bioethicae

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2006

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vol. 4

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issue 1

17-41

EN

Adaptation of life to the environment occurs at two levels - that of an individual and that of a population. In the first step of the process of adaptation variability is produced. It provides necessary material for the second step - selection. Variability is generated during the phylogeny, from one generation to the next. However, variability can also be generated during individual ontogeny at least by protective mechanisms of instinctive behaviors of animals and conscious cultural human actions. Variability originates from point mutations and chromosomal aberrations occurring during transmission of genetic material from generation to generation and through activation, or deactivation, of genes that alters their expression. This variability determines phenotypic differences among individuals. Variability thus produced is subjected to selection because how a phenotype is formed determines its ability to survive and to produce offspring. In human populations, adaptation occurs via biological and via cultural processes. Humans with their culture - especially medicine and social care - protect lives of individuals who otherwise would have been eliminated by natural selection.Hereditary differences among various geographic groups of modern people occur with low frequency - just a fraction of a percentage point. From observations of phenotypes it can be concluded that both structural alterations in the DNA and differences in gene expression cause variations, the majority of genes are inactive at various stages of ontogeny, while various portions of the genotype become active at different times in the life of an individual.Environment influences variation in three ways: (1) by causing mutations or by altering gene expression and (2) by providing conditions for the formation of a phenotype coded by a particular genotype and (3) as a factor of selection, including occurrence of cultural behaviors modifying effects of natural selection. It seems that the main aim of future research in human ecology should be search for the answer to following questions: 1. Can gene expression be changed during ontogeny? 2. To what extent such changes can be inherited? 3. To what extent is there an increase in the occurrence of genes that do not allow survival without special care (genetic load), and 4. How will all this influence future of our species?

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Specyfika rozwoju osobniczego Homo sapiens na tle ssaków łożyskowych i Naczelnych

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Kozieł S., Siniarska A.

Studia Ecologiae et Bioethicae

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2004

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vol. 2

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issue 1

89-106

EN

During ontogeny, there are many phenomena that significantly differentiate humans from other mammals, including Primates. The present considerations and analysis of regression applied for many species to illustrate allometric relations of developmental spurts of height and weight to final values of these parameters in adults, allow to compare processes of growth of Homo sapiens with other Primates and to submit the following results: In Homo sapiens, the maximal rate of growth in length and body mass exists at the prenatal period (during gestation), and after birth, it decelerates. In the evolution of human ontogeny, two new stages occurred: The first one is „childhood" which is manifested by slow body growth and intense brain development. The second one is named „adolescence" and includes pubertal spurt of many body variables. In Humans, as compare with other Primates, the infancy and juvenile stages had been shortened. Human puberty begins when the postnatal rate of growth in height and weight is the lowest since birth and there is a considerable delay in puberty and sexual maturation than in other Primates. The adolescent growth spurt shortens the time needed to reach sexual maturity, which could have been much longer as the result of a slow growth that childhood. Sexual dimorphism in the intensity of pubertal spurt of body mass is smaller in Humans than in other Primates. On the contrary, sexual dimorphism in the onset of puberty and growth rate in height at this stage is rather well manifested. The adolescent stage is divided into two parts because there is a delay of years between puberty and the onset of the adult reproductive stage of life.

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Geneza języka w perspektywie antropologicznej – stanowiska Arnolda Gehlena i George’a Herberta Meada

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Michalski R.

Filozofia i Nauka

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2015

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vol. 3

77-94

EN

The article reconstructs the main assumptions of Arnold Gehlen’s conception of the origin of language, supplementing its shortcomings with some conclusions drawn from George Herbert Mead’s social behaviorism. The first two sect analyse the ontogeny of linguistic competence, with special reference to “embodied meaning,” the notion describing the fact that human language is deeply rooted in motor imagination. Employing the term, Gehlen tries to prove that any notions, even the most abstract ones, are crystallized through sensorimotor schemas, i.e. through bodily characteristics that enable the man to interact with his environment. The language has therefore a relieving function, because it compensates the inherent lack of adaptation to specific environmental conditions and chronic surplus of drives that are not channeled. The third section analyses the philosopher’s arguments for the thesis that language and discursive thinking create an inseparable unity. The reconstruction of Gehlen’s theory is summarized by a critical commentary to some of its elements together with an overview of several topics of Mead’s social behaviorism which can be seen as its corroboration and development.

PL

Celem niniejszego artykułu jest, z jednej strony, rekonstrukcja głównych założeń Gehlenowskiej koncepcji genezy języka, a z drugiej, uzupełnienie jej braków w oparciu o behawioryzm społeczny George’a Herberta Meada. W pierwszych dwóch paragrafach odtworzymy opis ontogenezy czynności mownych, kładąc nacisk na koncepcję „ucieleśnionego znaczenia”, według której ludzki język zakorzeniony jest w głębokich warstwach wyobraźni motorycznej.1 Gehlen próbuje dowieść, że wszelkie, nawet najbardziej abstrakcyjne pojęcia krystalizują się za pośrednictwem sensomotorycznych schematów, a zatem cielesnych dyspozycji, które umożliwiają człowiekowi – konstytucjonalnie obarczonemu szeregiem deficytów biologicznych – interakcję z otoczeniem. Język pełni zatem, w pierwszej kolejności, funkcję odciążającą, kompensuje wrodzony brak przystosowania do określonych warunków środowiskowych oraz chroniczną nadwyżkę nieskanalizowanych popędów. W trzecim paragrafie przedstawimy argumenty filozofa na rzecz tezy, że język i dyskursywne myślenie stanowią nierozłączną jedność. Wskazane zostaną tutaj przede wszystkim paralele między czynnościami motorycznymi a ujęzykowionymi procesami myślowymi (3). Część artykułu poświęconą Gehlenowi zamkniemy krytycznym komentarzem do jego teorii (4). Ostatni paragraf będzie natomiast zawierał rekonstrukcję tych wątków behawioryzmu społecznego Meada, które stanowią uzupełnienie i rozwinięcie koncepcji gehlenowskiej (5).

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2 Studia Ecologiae et Bioethicae

1 Filozofia i Nauka

2 Siniarska A.

1 Kozieł S.

1 Michalski R.

1 Wolański N.

1 2015

1 2006

1 2004

Stan biologiczny populacji ludzkich a przemiany środowiska społeczno-ekonomicznego

Specyfika rozwoju osobniczego Homo sapiens na tle ssaków łożyskowych i Naczelnych

Geneza języka w perspektywie antropologicznej – stanowiska Arnolda Gehlena i George’a Herberta Meada