1,721,123 research outputs found
Review of: Breyfogle, Nicholas B. (Ed.): Eurasian Environments: Nature and Ecology in Imperial Russian and Soviet History. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press 2018
No full textEdited by Professor Nicholas B. Breyfogle, a refined specialist in Russian imperial and environmental history, this volume highlights Eurasian geocultural identity, and at the same time gives back to this vast territory the astonishing richness and diversity that have formed its natures as interweaved with its societies, economies and politcs
Genealogies of Earth System Thinking
No full textIn the first half of the 20th century, the Earth was already envisioned as a system of interacting parts intertwined with human cultural evolution. Historical sources of Earth Systems thinking can still be relevant in light of current and future trajectories, and may offer insights to inform and rethink present-day discourses and strategies
The Space-Time Continuum and the Tektological Organization of the Earth-System
Full text linkThe Space-Time Continuum and the Tektological Organization of the Earth-System
BETWEEN ‘BIOSPHERE ’ AND ‘GAIA’: EARTH AS A LIVING ORGANISM IN SOVIET GEO-ECOLOGY1
Full text linkABSTRACT: This paper focuses on some aspects of Russian naturalism that were crucial to the development of a systemic and cybernetic approach to earth sciences in the Soviet Union. The author seeks to connect Soviet perspectives to the wider context of global ecology by examining three main topics: the intersection between environmentalism and research addressing holistic ecology; the attempt at a unification of biology and geology, encouraged by V. I. Vernadskij’s “pre-Gaian ” concept of Biosphere as a living organism; and, the emergence of Cybernetics which accompanied the rise of a systems ecology with its implicit global understanding of environmental problems. By discussing genuine differences in styles of thinking among Russian scientists compared to Western scientists, the article is an attempt to argue that Russian science is better situated to develop an appreciation of holistic phenomena and is more conducive to interdisciplinary work than Western science, and consequently has been the source of some of the most original ideas in ecology
Ivan I. Schmalhausen (1884–1963)
No full textIvan I. Schmalhausen (1884–1963) was a Ukrainian geneticist and zoologist
nowadays recognized as a central figure in the development of the modern
evolutionary synthesis. He studied with Alexey Nikolaevich Severtsov, a leading
biologist and the founder of the Russian school of evolutionary morphology, who
made relevant contributions in the field of comparative anatomy. Following
Severtsov’s teaching, Schmalhausen became an expert in evolutionary morphology of animals and directed his attention towards experimental zoology.
Author of over 150 scientific papers on the study of patterns of growth,
correlation, and evolutionary theories, his most important book, Factors of
Evolution, was published in Russia in 1947 and translated into English in 1949
with a foreword by Theodosius Dobzhansky.
At the core of Schmalhausen’s scientific production is the theory of the
organism as a whole and the notion of stabilizing selection, which places his
work next to that of the British biologist Conrad Waddington. Schmalhausen has
been the recipient of several scientific awards and appointed member of both the
Ukrainian Academy of Sciences (1922) and the Academy of Sciences of the
USSR (1935)
Teorija Sistem i evoljucionnych transakcii v kontekstie uchenija A. A. Bogdanova
No full textThe article focuses on the major work of the Russian medical scientist and system
theorist Alexander Bogdanov, Tektology, the general science of organization. Concepts
formulated by Bogdanov in 1920ies are examined from the standpoint of modern
advances in systemic and cybernetic approach. It is shown that Bogdanov’s pioneering
approach led him to emphasize the process of «emergent transaction» as key issue
for understanding complex systems’ activities and going beyond the classical concept
of interaction of components still dominant in the discourse on Systems Theory
throughout the 20th Century
Dall'Empiriomonismo alla Tectologia. Organizzazione, complessità e approccio sistemico nel pensiero di Aleksandr Bogdanov
No full textAleksandr Bogdanov (1873-1928), rivoluzionario marxista, scienziato poliedrico e medico di formazione universitaria, fu il principale esponente del machismo russo, la più temibile alternativa ideologica al materialismo dialettico. La difesa dell'empiriocriticismo di Avenarius e del fenomenismo di Mach gli costò una profonda censura in Urss, inaugurata dalle aspre accuse formulate da Lenin in Materialismo ed Empiriocriticismo. Ma l'interesse che emerge intorno a Bogdnov, e a cui il presente lavoro vuol dare risalto, riguarda la sua opera fondamentale, Scienza generale dell'organizzazione, Tektologja, oggi ritenuta un'anticipazione della Teoria dei Sistemi e della Cibernetica. Esplorando questo settore di ricerca, i cui pionieri occidentali furono Ludwig von Bertalanffy e Norbert Wiener, apparirà evidente l'originalità e l'ampio respiro disciplinare di un'opera che si appresta a riconquistare un posto di rilievo nel pensiero evoluzionista, e a venire accolta nella cornice teorica delle Scienze della Complessità
The role of Isaak Prezent in the rise and fall of Lysenkoism
Full text linkThe establishment of an “official” biology in the Soviet Union is
often associated with the rise of Trofim D. Lysenko and with the unbridled
power that he exercised with the active complicity of Stalin. However, Lysenko
did not apply his tyrannical methods with the same effectiveness and to the
same ends throughout his career. The institutionalization of the new agronomy
involved a complex combination of factors, and the power and charisma
of those who surrounded Lysenko greatly facilitated his indoctrination of this
branch of science. One of the most influential collaborators of Lysenko was the
Marxist ideologist and Party official Isaak Izrailevich Prezent, whose relationship
with Lysenko is crucial to understand Lysenko’s development from a
simple plant breeder to a political force of the Soviet Union
La Libertà del Materialismo: in ricordo di Gustavo Bueno (1924-2016)
Full text linkIl 7 agosto 2016 si è spento Gustavo Bueno Martinéz, filosofo tra i più significativi esponenti del pensiero marxista e materialista spagnolo. A poco più di un anno dalla sua scomparsa ne ricordiamo il pensiero, ampio e profondo, che si è espresso nella formulazione della teoria del materialismo filosofico
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