[Xmca-l] Re: Fwd: The protectors of the Amazon

Wed Sep 18 08:29:13 PDT 2019

David,
Does biology include the cyborg nature of humanity? I mean the way in which technology has changed human consciousness, what it is like to be human. 
Henry

> On Sep 17, 2019, at 11:56 PM, Andy Blunden <andyb@marxists.org> wrote:
> 
> David, I seem to recall that Engels also took atoms to be an unprovable hypothesis. The point for Hegel though is that the question of atoms or not is not a philosophical question, but one which can only be resolved by experiment, and like Engels, he simply failed to imagine that such a thing was possible. Einstein observed atoms c. 1905 via a mathematical analysis of Brownian motion. Another great philosopher, maybe you remember who, claimed that although we could see the Sun, we could not, in principle, ever know what it is made of. Optical spectrometry of course put an end to that,
> 
> In general, Hegel underestimated the potential for expansion of the domain of natural scientific and technical discovery. But he updated his philosophy as new insights became available, as we all do.
> 
> Andy
> 
> Andy Blunden
> Hegel for Social Movements <https://brill.com/view/title/54574>
> Home Page <https://www.ethicalpolitics.org/ablunden/index.htm>
> On 18/09/2019 2:50 pm, David Kellogg wrote:
>> While I was (gratefully) checking out this material (and also the previously sent material from Mike on the APA deep poverty challenge) I was turning over in my head the last discussion we had on Hegel and social movements. Andy's book prompted me to dig out my dog-eared copy of Hegel's Logic and give it another go, and this time I did find it went a lot more easily (for which to Andy many thanks).
>> 
>> But I had to cough a bit over Hegel's rejection of atoms. On the one hand, he says, there isn't and can never be any empirical evidence for them. On the other, he says, physics is just miring us in matter, distracting us from our real task, which is a new kind of metaphysics that can overleap mathematics, matter, and elemental sciences stuck in Being merely and establish a true science of the whole (his encyclopedia of philosophy, of which the logic is a part). As usual, when I come up against stuff like this in Hegel, I try hard to imagine what the world really looks like to nineteenth century German philosopher, where atoms are an unproveable hypothesis and God is simply "pure" reality. It             still seems to me that what Hegel has to say about atoms is embarrassing, dogmatic, and downright foolish--but as soon as we transfer what he says to sociology and psychology, he starts making sense.
>> 
>> At the same time I've been rereading Darwin. One of the things that struck me was how much Darwin was influenced by political economy, and especially by Malthus. What Darwin is really up to is taking Malthus OUT of sociology, where it really is not very good at explaining things like learning and development, collaboration, and culture generally, and put him where he really belongs, biology, where he really does help us to understand precisely why learning doesn't seem to play much of a role in evolution and speciation. It was Darwin's misfortune that many of his most ardent epigones (e.g. Spencer) were essentially Lamarckians who were trying to reverse what he did, putting his biology back into political economy. It was all of our misfortunes that this resulted in a highly atomistic way of looking at culture, history, sociology and psychology, in which the sole supra-individual unit was a pseudo-biological category of race.
>> 
>> Darwin only makes sense when you ratchet him down from social theory to biology. Human  culture really doesn't obey strict Darwinism anymore: agriculture and husbandry mean we burn forests instead of hunting and gathering like other species, and knowledge of how to do this is essentially Lamarckian in the way it is handed down through language. Similarly, Hegel only makes sense when you ratchet him up from physics into social theory. Atoms exist, and carbon dioxide is made of 'em, but that doesn't tell us much about how to stop global warming. Our, physics doesn't really have to listen to Hegel--there is just too much empirical evidence for atoms--and the proper name of the new kind of metaphysics that Hegel had in mind is not metaphysics at all, but historico-cultural psychology.
>> 
>> (I have always wondered why my Geneva friends insist on "historico-cultural" instead of cultural-historical, but I think I know now...culture, e.g. guarding the amazon, is the emerging concept of history and not the other way around....).
>> 
>> David Kellogg
>> Sangmyung University
>> 
>> New Article: 
>> Han Hee Jeung & David Kellogg (2019): A story without SELF: Vygotsky’s
>> pedology, Bruner’s constructivism and Halliday’s construalism in understanding narratives by
>> Korean children, Language and Education, DOI: 10.1080/09500782.2019.1582663
>> To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/09500782.2019.1582663 <https://doi.org/10.1080/09500782.2019.1582663>
>> 
>> Some e-prints available at:
>> https://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/KHRxrQ4n45t9N2ZHZhQK/full?target=10.1080/09500782.2019.1582663 <https://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/KHRxrQ4n45t9N2ZHZhQK/full?target=10.1080/09500782.2019.1582663>
>> 
>> 
>> On Fri, Sep 13, 2019 at 8:02 AM Martin Packer <mpacker@cantab.net <mailto:mpacker@cantab.net>> wrote:
>>> 
>>> 
>>>  
>>>  <http://click.email.cooleffect.org/?qs=25c1d942ad990b60e6073a3dbfe1ba881dea55254477632c815db705170c46e4f5a5279807b0e37caf291d1688749099565cc6891cc627cc>
>>>  
>>> 
>>>  
>>> Welcome to our e-newsletter! We'll deliver the latest news and carbon-reducing tips direct to your inbox. We can't wait to share them with you.
>>> 
>>>  
>>> The Amazon Has True Champions
>>> 
>>>  <http://click.email.cooleffect.org/?qs=25c1d942ad990b60f4e65728faf14d236c418763fe6ee47279cd3faed050008637b8be5096f44b6f9c7643da0127a9d55cf6930200cd28d1>
>>> A season filled with intense, human-caused wildfires in the Amazon rainforest has burned thousands of square miles, turned the skies black and raised red flags on an international                                                           level. The number of fires is 85% higher than the previous year.
>>> 
>>> The Amazon is both the lungs and the heart of our planet.  It takes in enormous quantities of CO2 and is thought to produce 12-20% of the world’s oxygen. It also acts as a biotic pump bringing rain into South America and all over the world.                                                            Without rainfall, there will be cultural and agricultural ruin.
>>> 
>>> Let’s credit those who have been and continue to act as its guardians. Over the course of thousands of years, the indigenous people of the Amazon have worked to preserve this diverse biome that has contributed immensely to the habitability of the planet.
>>> 
>>> They are the ones who can show us the way, we must support and follow them in order to save this vital ecosystem.  
>>> Help the indigenous people fight back
>>>  <http://click.email.cooleffect.org/?qs=25c1d942ad990b603aa6bc501e64150cafdc2a53a05e0646cfb6906c2ccf0c48a97fa66a765fd93a7157799cd164eeeb6a035da365d064db>
>>>  
>>> 
>>> News
>>> 
>>>  <http://click.email.cooleffect.org/?qs=25c1d942ad990b60610817c4cd7cd01cfa70867a8387b868ed6db234c7e6290023242d700c58062c4067954d2f2b1aacd38b734f1ccaa549>	
>>> We Mapped All The Fires That Burned In The Amazon In August - In 2019 there have been more than 90,000 fires throughout the Amazon rainforest. In August, smoke from the burns blackened the                                                           sky in cities as distant as São Paulo and caught the world’s attention.
>>> - BuzzFeed.News <http://click.email.cooleffect.org/?qs=25c1d942ad990b605c623480399f61f34e50c6109c2ca7c1def345de6c88980d6d8a42b243c8c33d59a162fd06158e4ba70d7c8102fe5b77>
>>>  <http://click.email.cooleffect.org/?qs=a0ee0bd947143f7957d2010f3a50b9557fb1d885f0b1a1ff509cb90b57d4a0563afd8b10566254a14470b75bbd20a9f3852a40b6166d7006>	
>>> The Amazon is burning. The climate is changing. And we're doing nothing to stop it - The Amazon shouldn't sting your eyes with smoke, soak your shirt with sweat, and turn the sky dark but that is exactly what is happening when humans set fires there. - CNN <http://click.email.cooleffect.org/?qs=a0ee0bd947143f7964bb7b7432a0a36ac19304c3baa64671ddf03f14dc0af3c43b3e67fadc5bf1b86108cfc77cea66754e0b7a4bbe7f088d>
>>>  <http://click.email.cooleffect.org/?qs=a0ee0bd947143f79c88521f39c484340baa4334ae7a040b8020f38181eda9481dc3661cda9430893a98e7b6cebd40985d516041f676f9b03>	
>>> 9 numbers you need to know to understand the Amazon fires -  Thousands of fires burning across Brazil’s Amazon rainforest have captured international attention over                                                           the past week. The fires are mainly set by ranchers and farmers seeking to clear land for cultivation. - PBS <http://click.email.cooleffect.org/?qs=a0ee0bd947143f79773a84b6dbfc0fe08e32d70cbc4ea900bb434407a753519093bfd77cb9f380db8e8fb2ddedba66faefe06c60248605fe>
>>> 
>>>  
>>> Learn more about climate
>>>  <http://click.email.cooleffect.org/?qs=a0ee0bd947143f79846bc906cbc01b7dc7d6f339abc7b90109978577734b85cef1aa5928eb496b2fc4bba3a6ad17525611901ecba8d3c806>
>>>  <http://click.email.cooleffect.org/?qs=a0ee0bd947143f7903cc1d06e1e016f41200cb75023c7a393869c7c1e6216ac18946c9c9b2c3af3b09608f2bc06382917e6d9e1daca5d342>	
>>> Lauren A, TN - Talking to family, friends and coworkers about the climate crisis and making sure they are registered to vote. Tell us what you are doing! <http://click.email.cooleffect.org/?qs=a0ee0bd947143f79321dcdfd5fb861a029bad1d8e4c17c80a7a9d73152c9ca9d81732ab649fbcb5b5b572c298caded9239ad97f354403be5>
>>>  
>>> 
>>>  
>>> 
>>> 
>>> We always want to hear from you. Reply to this email, write to us at info@cooleffect.org <mailto:info@cooleffect.org> or follow up on social media where we're always open.
>>> 
>>>  
>>>  <http://click.email.cooleffect.org/?qs=a0ee0bd947143f790ef2a11ef78f18f093c9714f797031acadcf91d0149d5db8bc3fb1308cd8c35d7c98218f909c2040f751e26f4cf0606c>  <http://click.email.cooleffect.org/?qs=a0ee0bd947143f79ca29394599438cfe1fe8a7cc60be1e1cd8489bacbb7f88b9bbde748c53ae16189e84fabb2e8852bd36cff3ca5fb35070>  <http://click.email.cooleffect.org/?qs=a0ee0bd947143f793252071edd7b96ea6aa16be3dabc9b0030e4f7e179a8a48bbc027276b0a33c005bcc9af7a33ef886fe95b168db549c21>
>>>  
>>> Cool Effect Inc. | 919 Sir Francis Drake Blvd. Suite 201 | Kentfield, CA 94904
>>> 
>>>  
>>> 
>>> 
>>>  
>>> ©2019, All Rights Reserved
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>> 

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://mailman.ucsd.edu/pipermail/xmca-l/attachments/20190918/d3d87b81/attachment.html 