{"id":5527,"date":"2021-07-19T16:21:40","date_gmt":"2021-07-19T14:21:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.disciplinefilosofiche.it\/?page_id=5527"},"modified":"2021-07-19T16:21:40","modified_gmt":"2021-07-19T14:21:40","slug":"discipline-filosofiche-xxxiii-1-2023-jakob-von-uexkull-teoria-biologica-soggettivita-e-ambiente-a-cura-di-vallori-rasini","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.disciplinefilosofiche.it\/en\/discipline-filosofiche-xxxiii-1-2023-jakob-von-uexkull-teoria-biologica-soggettivita-e-ambiente-a-cura-di-vallori-rasini\/","title":{"rendered":"Discipline Filosofiche, XXXIII, 1, 2023: Jakob von Uexk\u00fcll. Biological Theory, Subjectivity and Environment, ed. by Vallori Rasini"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">During the Third German Congress of Philosophy (1950), was held in Bremen an important symposium on the theme of Environment. It was attended by some of the most famous philosophers of the time, but also by many eminent zoologists, physiologists, ethologists. The discussion focused not on the general concept of &#8220;environment&#8221;, but on the &#8220;revolutionary&#8221; theory of the acclaimed biologist Johan Jakob von Uexk\u00fcll a few decades earlier. von Uexk\u00fcll was of Estonian origin and of Germanic language and culture; he was scholar of marine zoology and a convinced experimenter, and a passionate reader of Kant&#8217;s philosophy also. In 1920 (and in a revised version in 1928) he published a comprehensive <em>Theoretische Biologie<\/em>, in which he gave full depth and completion to the ideas set out in an essay of 1909, entitled <em>Umwelt und Innenwelt der Tiere<\/em>. The great reverberation of this concept is rooted in the complex situation in which the so-called &#8220;life sciences&#8221; were at the beginning of the last century. Life sciences engaged the investigation of a singular and elusive object, moving between innovative laboratory experiments and philosophical reflection. Within the newly born biology, an intense debate was underway on the possibility of tracing vital phenomena to few simple physical and chemical laws, while at the same time vitalist and organicist theories were gaining strength, challenging the legitimacy of a rigid mechanism. von Uexk\u00fcll&#8217;s position represented an original attempt to combine positivistic knowledge and philosophical spiritualism, and orbited around the idea that, since every living being is a subject (not a simple object) placed in relation with the outside (&#8220;its&#8221; outside), biology must deal with the existence of &#8220;individual environments&#8221; related to different animal subjects, and not with a single world, coinciding with that of the human being. Each animal \u2013 explains von Uexk\u00fcll in his <em>Theoretische Biologie<\/em> \u2013 is an individual that, depending on the particular way in which it is constituted, selects certain stimuli from the general effects of the external world, to which it responds in a particular way. These response consists in certain effects on the world which, in turn, influences the stimuli. Thus &#8220;closed loop&#8221; can be called the <em>functional circuit<\/em> of the animal. On the basis of a certain &#8220;plan of construction&#8221; &#8211; the immaterial factor on which depend on the one hand the arrangement of the parts in the organic whole and on the other hand its mode of performance \u2013 the single biological subject observed is related to external elements through precise links, depending on the morphological characteristics and physiological processes of the living being.<br \/>\nThe resulting dynamic structure the overall configuration of the life of the organism and the existential universe of the subject. This universe is therefore composed of stimuli and perceptions, which taken in their intimate connection form what von Uexk\u00fcll calls &#8220;environment&#8221;: a closed system of relationships gathered around the individual living being, as expressed by the term &#8220;<em>Umwelt<\/em>&#8220;. von Uexk\u00fcll&#8217;s ideas had a profound influence on the scientific and philosophical scene of the first half of the 20th century. This is demonstrated by the foundation, in Hamburg, of the Institut f\u00fcr Umweltforschung (which received important recognition from exponents of the biological and ethological science), and its reception in the philosophical sphere, in particular by the contemporary philosophical anthropology current (represented by Max Scheler, Helmuth Plessner and Arnold Gehlen). Also some of the most prominent thinkers of the time, such as Martin Heidegger and Ernst Cassirer, considered von Uexk\u00fcll thought very important and fruitful. Between the fifties and sixties of the 20th century, many other philosophers and psychologists have referred to his work, emphasizing the originality and innovative power. In the second half of the Thirties, Subsequently, von Uexk\u00fcll&#8217;s reflection turned to some theoretical aspects with the treatise <em>Bedeutungslehre <\/em>(1940). This work inaugurates a new reason of interest for von Uexk\u00fcll&#8217;s thought. It will be followed by the work of authoritative contemporary semioticians, such as Thomas Sebeok.<\/p>\n<p>For this issue of &#8220;Discipline Filosofiche&#8221; dedicated to the thought of Jakob von Uexk\u00fcll we indicate, as simple suggestion, the following themes:<br \/>\n1) the elaboration of Kant&#8217;s philosophy in a biological direction;<br \/>\n2) its relationship to mechanistic and neo-vitalist conceptions;<br \/>\n3) assumptions and foundations of his idea of &#8220;Environment&#8221;;<br \/>\n4) the &#8220;subject&#8221;, biology and the other &#8220;sciences of life&#8221;;<br \/>\n5) the discussion of his ideas by scientists and philosophers of his time;<br \/>\n6) the reception of his ideas by contemporary scientists and philosophers;<br \/>\n7) the relationship of his conceptions to current ecological theories;<br \/>\n8) innovation and development of his ideas in semiotics.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>Guidelines for the authors:<\/strong> Submissions should not exceed 9,000 words including abstract, refer-ences and footnotes. Manuscripts may be submitted in Italian, English, French, German, or Spanish. They must be sent as an email attachment in .doc or .docx format, along with a .pdf version, to <strong>Vallori Rasini<\/strong> (<a href=\"mailto:vallori.rasini@gmail.com\"><strong>vallori.rasini@gmail.com<\/strong><\/a>). Submitted manuscripts will be sent to two independent reviewers, following a double-blind peer review process. The reviewers may ask authors to make changes or improvements to their contributions in view of publication. Authors are kindly requested to attach both an anonymous version of their contribution entitled \u201cManuscript\u201d and a separate \u201cCover Page\u201d stating their name, academic affiliation and contact details. Manuscripts must include <strong>an English abstract of less than 150 words and 5 keywords<\/strong>. Any property of the file that might identify the author must be removed to ensure anonymity during the review process. A notification of receipt will be issued for each submission. In drafting their text, authors can adopt any clear and coherent style, but should the text be accepted for publication, they will be required to send a final version in keeping with the style guidelines of the journal (please refer to the style guidelines at <a href=\"http:\/\/www.disciplinefilosofiche.it\/en\/norme-redazionali\/\"><strong>http:\/\/www.disciplinefilosofiche.it\/en\/norme-redazionali\/<\/strong><\/a>). <strong>Submission of a manuscript is understood to imply that the paper has not been published before and that it is not being considered for publication by any other journal.<\/strong> Should the manuscript be accepted for publication, the author will be required to transfer copyrights to the University of Bologna. Requests to republish the article may be made to the Editorial Board of the Journal.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Deadline for the submission of manuscripts: <strong>December 31, 2022<\/strong><br \/>\nNotification of acceptance, conditional acceptance, or rejection: <strong>February 15, 2023<\/strong><br \/>\nDeadline for the submission of the final draft: <strong>March 31, 2023<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>During the Third German Congress of Philosophy (1950), was held in Bremen an important symposium on the theme of Environment. It was attended by some of the most famous philosophers of the time, but also by many eminent zoologists, physiologists, ethologists. The discussion focused not on the general concept of &#8220;environment&#8221;, but on the &#8220;revolutionary&#8221; &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-5527","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.disciplinefilosofiche.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/5527","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.disciplinefilosofiche.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.disciplinefilosofiche.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.disciplinefilosofiche.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.disciplinefilosofiche.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5527"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.disciplinefilosofiche.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/5527\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5529,"href":"https:\/\/www.disciplinefilosofiche.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/5527\/revisions\/5529"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.disciplinefilosofiche.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5527"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}