rdf-syntax-grammar
mods:
  schema location: http://www.loc.gov/mods/v3 http://www.loc.gov/standards/mods/v3/mods-3-2.xsd
  title info:
    title: Jakob von Uexküll
    sub title: The Discovery of the Umwelt between Biosemiotics and Theoretical Biology
  name:
    name part: Brentari, Carlo.
    role:
      role term: creator
    role:
      role term: author.
  name:
    name part: SpringerLink (Online service)
  type of resource: text
  origin info:
    place:
      place term: ne
    date issued: 2015
    issuance: monographic
  language:
    language term: eng
  physical description:
    form: electronic
    form: electronic resource
    reformatting quality: access
    form: remote
    extent: XI, 249 p. online resource.
  abstract: The book is a comprehensive introduction to the work of the Estonian-German biologist Jakob von Uexküll. After a first introductory chapter by Morten Tønnessen and a second chapter on Uexküll's life and philosophical background, it contains four chapters devoted to the analysis of his main works; they are followed by a vast eighth chapter which deals with the influence Uexküll had on other philosophers and scientists, and by a conclusions focused on the possibility of updating Uexküll’s work. The monograph combines a careful reconstruction of the historical context in which the Uexküllian concepts emerged (the debate between mechanism and vitalism, contemporary scientific studies) and a thorough analysis of the philosophical contents of the Uexküllian views. As far as the key issue is concerned, Uexküll’s notion of Umwelt refers to the perceptive and operative world which surrounds animal species; it is a subjective species-specific construction which provides living organisms with great security and behaviour stability. Moreover, the relationship that the animal carries out with its environment proves to be a complex system of semiotic interactions: its behaviour is not a set of mechanical reactions, but the result of a spontaneous attribution of meaning to the outside world, whose environmental elements are actively interpreted by the subject. The environment of animal species becomes a field of meaning, an exceedingly complex subjective elaboration; this can lessen the distance between animals and men, crediting both with the cognitive ability to grasp meanings and to use signs.
  table of contents: Acknowledgments Introductory Chapter -- The Life and Education of Jakob von Uexküll. The Basis of the Environmental Theory -- The Subjective World of the Umwelt -- The Structure of the Umwelt -- Environment and Meaning -- Influences and Interpretations of the Work of Uexküll -- Conclusion. References -- Index.
  note: by Carlo Brentari.
  subject:
    topic: Philosophy
  subject:
    topic: Modern philosophy
  subject:
    topic: Biology
    topic: Philosophy
  subject:
    topic: Animal ecology
  subject:
    topic: Ecosystems
  subject:
    topic: Philosophy
  subject:
    topic: Philosophy of Biology
  subject:
    topic: Modern Philosophy
  subject:
    topic: Animal Ecology
  subject:
    topic: Ecosystems
  classification: QH331
  classification: 570.1
  related item:
    title info:
      title: Springer eBooks
  related item:
    title info:
      title: Biosemiotics, 9
  identifier: 9789401796880
  identifier: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-9688-0
  record info:
    record creation date: 150218
    record change date: 20151204162556.0
    record identifier: 978-94-017-9688-0