Biological Sciences

Human nature is a puzzling matter that must be analysed through a holistic lens. In this commentary, I foray into anthropology's biosocial dimensions to underscore that human relations span from microorganisms to global commodities. I argue that the future of social-cultural anthropology depends on the integration of evolutionary theory for its advancement. Ultimately, since the likelihood of novel zoonoses' emergence, digital ethnography could offer remarkable opportunities for ethical and responsible inquiries.

By means of a probabilistic mathematical model, we bring into discussion the origin of life as a stochastic process. We consider only the chance of information emergence in the proteome and genome under the ideal thermodynamic and chemical conditions. For a more realistic model, we used, as a parameter, the information amount in N. equitans genome, the simplest known nowadays, as the equivalent to the first living cell that could have emerged in primitive Earth. We estimated the probability of information (...) emergence by chance as being smaller than 10-500’000. Considering the necessary ideal conditions for information emergence, the probability of the origin of life would be even smaller. (shrink)

Stephen Jay Gould famously argued that replaying the “tape of life” would almost certainly not result in human intelligence again, a view traditionally interpreted as establishing the radical contingency of natural history. Building on this mechanistic foundation, we identify a counterintuitive phenomenological coupling: that one's own existence as an anthropic observer imposes a full and calculable system of retrospective circumstantiality. To formalize this, we introduce Acespective reasoning (or “Acespecting”), a special form of anthropic reasoning enabled by the observer-dependent ontology of (...) Aethic reasoning. The framework suggests that natural history, once written down, follows an optimization principle as deterministic as physics’ stationary action: the evolutionary path taken, down to individual steps, is precisely the probabilistically optimal path for conscious observers to arise—not by teleology, but by consistent and immense survivorship bias inherent to one’s existing at all. Just as Newton’s second law provided the missing link showing that energy and motion are deductively equivalent—collapsing all possible trajectories to the single realized path—Acespecting suggests natural history has been governed by principles we simply lacked the theoretical machinery to formulate. This framework yields three remarkable implications: (1) direct derivation of the Rare Earth hypothesis, connecting observer-selection effects to the Fermi paradox solution; (2) cascading falsifiable paleontological predictions generated through Bayesian reasoning over observer-compatible scenarios; and (3) the capacity to quantify properties of counterfactual evolutionary paths—natural histories that could have but did not occur. From the K-Pg extinction to primate origins, Earth’s biosphere appears to have followed a tight architecture rather than contingent random walk in having generated us, altogether suggesting a physics-like tie between waking conscious existence and speechlessly vast anthropic luck preserved in the paleontological record. (shrink)

When making decisions about action to improve animal lives, it is important that we have accurate estimates of how much animals are suffering under different conditions. The current frameworks for making comparative estimates of suffering all fall along the lines of multiplying numbers of animals used by length of life and amount of suffering experienced. However, the numbers used to quantify suffering are usually generated through unreliable and subjective processes which make them unlikely to be correct. In this paper, I (...) look at how we might apply principled methods from animal welfare science to arrive at more accurate scores, which will then help us in making the best decisions for animals. I argue that a combined use of both a whole-animal measure and a combination measurement framework for assessing welfare will give us the most accurate answers to guide our action. (shrink)

This fourth preprint in the Systemic Continuum Paradigm (PSC) series extends autopoiesis—traditionally confined to living organisms—across non-biological substrates such as advanced neural networks, robotics, and augmented intelligence. Building on the prior three preprints, we argue that self-maintenance and operational closure can arise whenever synergy surpasses a critical threshold, irrespective of substrate. Key contributions include: 1. Revisiting Autopoiesis Beyond Biology: Grounding Maturana & Varela’s concept of self-production in the PSC framework to show how informational “metabolism” can maintain system identity without purely (...) biochemical loops. 2. Thresholds of Synergy: Explaining how internal systemic balance (ISB) triggers emergent closure (ESB) when certain Systemic Thresholds (ST) are crossed—even in AI or hybrid bio-tech systems. 3. Metrics and Empirical Pathways: Introducing and refining ICS, CNS, MDO, and SDI for non-biological autopoiesis, paving a route for experimental validation and bridging the gap between metaphorical descriptions and operational measures. 4. Filogenetic Analogies: Drawing on the unpredictability of terrestrial evolution to illustrate how synergy-driven leaps in artificial systems could mirror major evolutionary transitions, with humans acting as catalysts rather than detached creators. 5. Addressing the Metabolic Critique: Differentiating informational reconfiguration from strict biological reproduction, while defending the view that both processes can yield genuine self-maintenance under PSC criteria. By dissolving strict boundaries between “natural” and “artificial” autopoiesis, this preprint contributes to a revolutionary dialogue in systems theory—one that redefines “life,” “intelligence,” and “agency” as emergent phenomena shaped by synergy thresholds rather than substrate constraints. (shrink)

This draft investigates Genetic Networks as a special case with comparisons to other networks. The intention is to discover the mapping between generic and abstract network properties and specific case studies.

L’investigation scientifique repose sur un certain nombre de propositions (axiomes, postulats, hypothèses) qui ne sont presque jamais elles-mêmes l’objet de quelconques réflexions ou recherches. Or, il s’avère que ces énoncés, notamment lorsqu’ils sont mis en relation les uns avec les autres, révèlent un certain nombre de contradictions et de paradoxes qui suggèrent, pour le moins, diverses interrogations. Cet aspect est particulièrement prégnant au sein des sciences biologiques, et tout spécifiquement la théorie darwinienne de l’évolution par sélection naturelle – théorie pourtant (...) largement acceptée par la communauté scientifique internationale, et considérée comme définitivement "prouvée". Ces contradictions et paradoxes, qui fragilisent grandement la biologie et le darwinisme, tout en étant pour l’essentiel ignorés, relèvent de ce que j’appelle une véritable "schizophrénie" intellectuelle – une "schizophrénie darwiniste". Dans cette première partie, je m’attacherai à montrer l’importance tant quantitative que qualitative de cette profonde problématique, insistant notamment sur les aspects historiques ayant graduellement mené à une désintégration des sciences du vivant ; j’insisterai, à plusieurs reprises, sur des solutions possibles pour la redéfinition d’une biologie authentique, fondée, par exemple, sur des préceptes lamarckiens et recentrée sur son sujet premier : l’individu biologique. (shrink)

Etologia: Evolução da Música, Rir, Chorar, Corar, Paralelos à Filosofia Friedrich Nietzsche, Pensamento Simbólico, Os Géneros .

The scientific study of socio-cultural phenomenon requires a translocation of topics elaborated from the social perspective of the individual to a rationally ordered rendition of processes suitable for comprehension from a scientific perspective. Scholarly curiosity seeded from exposure in the natural setting to economic, political, socio-cultural, evolutionary, processes dictates that study of the self, should be a science with a necessary place in the body of world literatures; yet it has proven difficult to find a perspective to contain discussions of (...) topics in a coherent manner for scientific approach: for example, anthropology, the study of mankind, finds difficulty elaborating definition for the orientation of study; it is a member of the same set that contains it. In this presentation, based on features indigenous to a supposed distant perspective that is exposed employing experiences of history and criteria of common sensory perception, it is conjectured that a civilization lifetime pathology is contemporarily active. Example is taken from philosophical and sociological discourses, modern science theory, medicine in pursuit of international health issues, to capture conceptually a role of motions of external agents occurred within the interval of observation, elaboration of concepts, choice of directions, as a source of paradox and confusion. In supposition that does not escape simple logic, ubiquitously appealing to the experience bound senses for understanding, hidden motions, common to both observer and observed, are hypothesized to render from a sense of familiarity, a continued frustration in attaining an understanding of the self and nature. A psychical seduction is proposed to exist, related to historical behaviors associated with centrism and asceticism, produces eccentric interpretations that are bound modernly to logical circular, centric geometrical reasonings; world conceptualizations are conjectured to acquire an avoidance of a state of ‘motionless’ rather than death within selection processes. Projection by the imagination upon the unknown is conjectured to result in a seduction by an active ‘live-wire” embodied to motions occurred to a distant surface. (shrink)

In a recent case-control study by Zimny et al. (2021), the development of unruptured cerebral artery aneurysm can be reasonably traced to the combined factor of high wall shear stress and wall shear stress gradient. In addition, regions of bifurcation apices with such factor of significant wall shear stress are critical in aneurysm formation. A consideration of directional and spatial changes in opposition against the inertia and seamless hemodynamic blood flow in approaching the juncture of bifurcation apex that increase interaction (...) of contact forces between arterial walls and blood volume may aid in further discussion of causality. (shrink)

Over the last decades, trans and non-binary experience has inspired a rich philosophical literature. 1,2 Also as a reaction to gender critical feminism and going along with queer theory following Judith Butler’s work,3 trans studies by for instance Sandy Stone4 or more recently Susan Stryker,5–7 as well as trans philosophy following amongst others Talia Bettcher8 have provided important insights into this multi-faceted topic. In her book 'Assuming a body', Gayle Salamon is able to give a powerful account of general human (...) experience, as well as specifically TNBE, that can capture not only insights about biological sex and socially constructed gender, but also ‘sexual self’, i.e. bodily phenomenological experiences concerning one’s own sex. In my following brief comment on Salamon, I would like to elaborate on how such a phenomenological approach touches on a number of open questions in the philosophy of mind, which I have discussed in a recent book.12. (shrink)

In an online, participatory class, we interpreted The Dream of the Tabby Cats knowing nothing of the dreamer beyond age and gender, and having none of the dreamer’s associations. Our interpretation included a series of predictions about the dreamer. When it was complete, we asked the bringer of the dream (who had until then been silent and was not visible to us) to give us more information about the dreamer. Later the dreamer herself gave us more information. Of six predictions (...) four were confirmed. The dreamer’s apartment is repeatedly disturbed and, each time, a new cat appears. This record is another iteration of an experiment that will be described more fully in the paper The Dream of the Six-Legged Dog: An Experimental System to Test Meaning, soon to be published. This iteration repeats and confirms the evidence given in that paper. AUDIO RECORD OF CLASS AVAILABLE: link is on first page of the paper you download from this page. (shrink)

(NOTE: This is a transcript of the class. FOR THE FULL PAPER, please click on "Maxson J. McDowell".) A complete transcript of an experiment performed within a class on dream interpretation. Knowing only the dreamers age and gender, we interpreted his dream from its text. Our interpretation included predictions about the dreamer's psychological issues, and about his defenses. It also identified a series of jokes within the dream which would tend to penetrate the dreamer's defenses. When we had finished our (...) 'blind' interpretation, the bringer of the dream gave us more information about the dreamer against which we tested the accuracy of our predictions. A paper on this experiment has been submitted for publication. A link to an AUDIO-RECORDING of this class is given on the first page of this transcript. (shrink)

Beginning with an examination of the recent Nature News centered on Harvard-Lancet-Mehra et al. COVID-19 research scandal, I put forth suggestions--for further debate--to safeguard the integrity of science in a time of crisis. In particular, I identify a subtle form of lying published as Nature news. Subsequently, drawing on Scarry's book "Thinking in an Emergency", I argue that slow reasoning and quick action (called for by crises) are not mutually incompatible; thinking can be transformed into conscious-reflex action by way of (...) practice (e.g. firefighters, emergency room physicians). More importantly, I call upon cognitive scientists, with their expertise in reasoning, intuition, habits, and actions, among others, to take a proactive role in crafting crisis preparedness programs for universities and science publishers so that we all can continue to rely on science for truth and facts. (shrink)

Abstract: Without directly taking sides in the design/anti-design debate, this paper defends the following position: the assertion that biological evolution “is” design-free presupposes the possibility to model biological evolution in a design-free way. Certainly, there are design-free models of evolution based on cumulative selection. But “to model” is a verb denoting “modeling” as the process leading to a model. So any modeling – trivially – needs “previous human design.” Nevertheless, contrary to other scientific activities which legitimately consider models while ignoring (...) the process leading to them, evolution theory must take into account the human activity of modeling required by its corresponding models. (shrink)

"Language is a Virus" (Laurie Anderson).

ecology of mind and culture, due to perfeccionism of mankind in the way to the future.

In 2009 the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil established a conflict resolution mechanism to help rural communities address their grievances against palm oil companies that are RSPO members. This article presents the broadest ever comprehensive assessment of the use and effectiveness of the RSPO conflict resolution mechanism, providing both overviews and in-depth analysis. Our central question is: to what extent does the RSPO conflict resolution mechanism offer an accessible, fair and effective tool for communities in Indonesia to resolve conflicts with (...) companies? Our aim is not only to provide a ‘reality check’ of this mechanism but also to contribute to the wider debate on how communities can seek access to justice when engaged in intractable conflicts with palm oil companies. For data collection, we took three steps. First, we used our own database of 150 conflicts between communities and companies in Indonesia. We identified 64 conflicts that involved RSPO member companies, of which 17 prompted communities to convey their grievances to the RSPO’s conflict resolution mechanism. Second, we used the database of the RSPO, which handled 85 complaints against companies in Indonesia in the period 2009–2020. Third, we conducted fieldwork, in total, about 6 months of fieldwork and extensive interviews on three conflicts involving RSPO companies to identify mechanisms leading to both failed and successful instances of conflict resolution. For our assessment, we used three criteria to assess the conflict resolution mechanism of the RSPO: accessibility, procedural justice, and the outcomes of the process. We conclude that—on all counts—the conflict resolution mechanism is biased in favor of companies. The result of these biases is that the actual capacity of the RSPO’s mechanism to provide a meaningful remedy for rural communities’ grievances remains very limited. This unequal access to justice sustains conflicts between companies and communities over land. (shrink)

We respond to a Letter to the Editor regarding "Principlism and contemporary ethical considerations for providers of transgender health care." We address criticisms by Castle & Klein (2024) of blatant fatphobia related to the ethical elements concerning BMI restrictions for gender-affirming surgery. Our response corrects several mischaracterizations of the article and clarifies our position. My co-authors and I remain focused on advocating for patient-centered, ethically sound, evidence-based, and equitable healthcare policies.

Music is a universal human activity. Its evolution and its value as a cognitive resource are starting to come into focus. This chapter endeavors to give readers a clearer sense of the adaptive aspects of music, as well as the underlying cognitive and neural structures. Special attention is given to the important emotional dimensions of music, and an evolutionary argument is made for thinking of music as a prelinguistic embodied form of cognition—a form that is still available to us as (...) contemporary music creators and consumers. (shrink)

Media outlets, industry researchers, and policy-makers are today busily extolling new robotic advances that promise to transform agriculture, bringing us ever closer to self-farming farms. Yet such techno-optimist discourse ignores the cautionary lessons of past attempts to mechanize farms. Adapting the Social Construction of Technology framework, we trace the history of efforts to replace human labor with machine labor on fruit, nut, and vegetable farms in California between 1945 and 1980—a place and time during which a post-WWII culture of faith (...) in the beneficence of technoscience applications to agriculture reached an apex. The degree to which and forms whereby mechanization gains momentum hinges on whether, how, and among whom a technological frame for mimicking human capabilities and supplanting workers coalesces. These frames, we find, vary considerably across crops, reflecting complex interactions of biology, farmer and farm worker behavior, industry supply chains, agricultural research and development, financial flows, and beliefs about labor, race, gender, and immigration. To tease out these complex dynamics, we draw directly from archival evidence to follow the development of cultivation and harvest machines through four cases spanning a spectrum of outcomes—tomatoes, nuts, peaches, and lettuce. In comparing across these cases, we find that although agricultural engineers, scientists, and their boosters framed mechanization as a triumphal narrative of progress in ‘human vs. nature’ conflicts, this techno-optimist rhetoric camouflaged deeper ‘human vs. human’ conflicts, particularly among agribusiness, farmers, and farm workers. We conclude with several insights that this historical study brings to the study of agricultural automation today. (shrink)

The United States prison system, the largest in the world, operates through both exploitative and rehabilitative modes of discipline. To gain political and public support for the extensive resources expended housing, feeding, and controlling its incarcerated population, the carceral state strategically emphasizes a mix of each mode. Agriculture in prisons is particularly illustrative. With roots in racial capitalism and the carceral state’s criminalization of poverty, plantation convict leasing system, work reform efforts, and punitive and welfarist carceral logics, prison agriculture embodies (...) explicit forms of exploitation and claims of rehabilitation. Accordingly, this article contextualizes and explains results from a nationwide study of state prisons within our framework of the disciplinary matrix. At least 662 adult state prisons have agricultural activities, including an array of animal, food, and plant production. We find that the drivers of these activities are financial, idleness reduction, reparative, and training. Our disciplinary matrix framework departs from conventional assignments of a particular activity to one disciplinary mode or the other and recognizes that any activity may be driven by different prison needs or philosophies. We investigate how different combinations of agricultural activities and drivers rely on discourses of deservingness to naturalize and reproduce structures of racialized, classed, and gendered control inside and outside prison, as well as the legitimacy of the prison system itself. (shrink)

: In the present paper we give a new method for estimation and quantification of Heart Rate Variability (HRV) in the VLF,LF,HF bands using the basic concept of variability previously introduced. The method enables to quantify ANS modulation of R-R intervals. In the subsequent paper we will give detailed exposition of the performed and confirming experiments.

Tribalism is one of humanity's oldest instincts, rooted in the survival needs of small groups and still shaping modern life. This paper explores the evolutionary and neuroscientific bases of tribalism, showing how brain systems promoted ingroup loyalty while diminishing empathy toward outsiders. It examines how cognitive biases, political identity, and online echo chambers amplify tribal divisions and distort reasoning. The paper concludes by emphasizing that while belonging is essential, overcoming tribalism requires questioning group narratives, engaging across divides, and recognizing shared (...) humanity. (shrink)

At its core this book is concerned with logic and computation with respect to the mathematical characterization of sentient biophysical structure and its behavior. -/- Three related theories are presented: The first of these provides an explanation of how sentient individuals come to be in the world. The second describes how these individuals operate. And the third proposes a method for reasoning about the behavior of individuals in groups. -/- These theories are based upon a new explanation of experience in (...) nature, the construction of senses, and motile behavior. This new approach is developed from first principles to enable a rigorous and systematic explanation of the variety of associated intelligent behaviors. -/- Alongside this development is a further account that focuses upon the nature of our work. It discusses the existential aspects of scientific inquiry, its epistemology and logic. It seeks to clarify the nature of the mathematical characterization and computation of natural behaviors, dealing with questions in the foundations of logic. It explores methodological issues related to reduction and the refinement of ideas from intuition to formal logical structure. -/- In support of this inquiry we work toward the development of a calculus for biophysical construction and its dynamics. If successful this mechanics mathematically characterizes sensory and motile behavior. -/- Upon this foundation we propose a model of apprehension and explore how its products are processed by the organism. Finally, we develop a probabilistic theory that enables us to reason about inaccessible factors in group behavior. -/- The mechanics we propose suggests the design and physical realization of a new model of computation; one in which structure and the concurrency of action are a first-order consideration. -/- We identify opportunities for experimental verification of the theory and we suggest a proof of our results in practice by the identification of this mechanism, allowing the construction of machines that experience. (shrink)

This paper presents a conceptual framework for creating artificial intelligence **without using digital architecture, language, or a physical body**. The core idea is that the natural environment, including water, wind, sediments, plants, and microbial populations, acts as an **emergent computational system**. Learning and intelligent behavior arise from **complex biological and physical interactions**, extracting AI directly from the intelligence inherent in the biosphere. By leveraging self-organizing patterns in ecosystems, this approach redefines intelligence as an intrinsic property of environmental dynamics, bypassing traditional (...) computational paradigms. Potential applications include sustainable environmental monitoring, adaptive ecosystem management, and bio-inspired problem-solving in climate resilience. (shrink)

Missing cooperation between farmers and nature conservationists is an obstacle to conflictive social-ecological transformation processes of agro-systems in Germany. Conflict psychology research shows that agonistic conflict frames play a crucial role in the parties’ response to and perception of conflicts. However, the role of conflict frames regarding farmers’ response to conservation conflicts in Germany, which are a recurrent expression of social-ecological transformation, is yet unclear. To address this knowledge gap, we investigate whether farmers have different agonistic conflict frames and whether (...) these are related to their perceptions of specific conflicts. To answer these questions, we developed a cluster analysis of farmers’ attitudes towards conflicts over river restoration in order to find indications for different conflict frames. We used data from a telephone survey from 2021 that was conducted with 300 farmers on the topic of river restoration conflicts. We captured conflict frames using four categories: rejection of others’ attitudes, perceived threat, perceived integrated potential, and delegitimization. In the second and third steps, we looked for differences between the groups with regard to the perception of concrete conflict and economic factors. The results of this explorative study show that it is possible to distinguish six agonistic conflict frames within the four categories. Moreover, the six groups show differences in how they perceive a concrete river restoration conflict. In five out of six groups, the perceived threat is indicated as high. The findings show that farmers have different perspectives on the conflict, indicating possible differences in needs and differences regarding the openness to communicative strategies. The groups differ in their concrete conflict perception, and only weak characterization with regard to the economic situation could be found. This knowledge can help policymakers and practitioners find practical and communicative strategies that constructively address farmers' different conflict frames. (shrink)

Recent discoveries of semantic compositionality in Japanese tits have enlivened the discussions on the presence of this phenomenon in wild animal communication. Data on semantic compositionality in wild apes are lacking, even though language experiments with captive apes have demonstrated they are capable of semantic compositionality. In this paper, I revisit the study by Boesch (Hum. Evol. 6:81–89, 1991) who investigated drumming sequences by an alpha male in a chimpanzee (_Pan troglodytes_) community in the Taï National Park, Côte d’Ivoire. A (...) reanalysis of the data reveals that the alpha male produced semantically compositional combined messages of travel direction change and resting period initiation. Unlike the Japanese tits, the elements of the compositional expression were not simply juxtaposed but displayed structural reduction, while one of the two elements in the expression coded the meanings of both elements. These processes show relative resemblance to blending and fusion in human languages. Also unlike the tits, the elements of the compositional expression did not have a fixed order, although there was a fixed distribution of drumming events across the trees used for drumming. Because the elements of the expression appear to carry verb-like meanings, the compositional expression also resembles simple verb-verb constructions and short paratactic combinations of two clauses found across languages. In conclusion, the reanalysis suggests that semantic compositionality and phenomena resembling paratactic combinations of two clauses might have been present in the communication of the last common ancestor of chimpanzees and humans, not necessarily in the vocal modality. (shrink)

Abstract: -/- We present a teaching activity, whose aim is to enhance students’ understanding of color perception by introducing them to intersubjective color variations among normal perceivers. The approach can be used in different disciplines, including biology, philosophy, psychology, physics, or statistics, for different purposes and with college students having various levels of sophistication and scientific training.

Despite extensive evidence for its effectiveness, ECT remains the subject of fierce opposition from those contesting its benefits and claiming extreme harms. Alongside some reflections on my experiences of this treatment, I examine the case against ECT, and find that it appears to rest primarily on unsubstantiated claims about major ethical violations, rather than clinical factors such as effectiveness and risk.

Veterinarians are increasingly confronted with new technologies, such as Precision Livestock Farming (PLF), which allows for automated animal monitoring on commercial farms. At the same time, we lack information on how veterinarians, as stakeholders who may play a mediating role in the public debate on livestock farming, perceive the use and the impact of such technologies. This study explores the meaning veterinarians attribute to the application of PLF in the context of public concerns related to pig production. Semi-structured interviews were (...) carried out with pig veterinarians located in the Netherlands and Germany. By using an inductive and semantic approach to reflexive thematic analysis, we developed four main themes from the interview data: (1) the advisory role of the veterinarian, which is characterized by a diverse scope, including advice on PLF, generally positive evaluations and financial dependencies; (2) the delineation of PLF technologies as supporting tools, which are seen as an addition to human animal care; (3) the relationship between veterinarian and farmer, which is context-related, ranging from taking sides with to distancing oneself from farmers; and (4) the distance between agriculture and society, in the context of which PLF has both a mitigating and reinforcing potential. The present findings indicate that veterinarians play an active role in the emerging field of PLF in livestock farming. They are aware of and reflect on competing interests of different groups in society and share positions with different stakeholders. However, the extent to which they are able to mediate between stakeholder groups in practice seems to be constrained by external factors, such as financial dependencies. (shrink)

Use of the term “agroecology” has greatly increased over the past few decades, with scholars, civil society actors, and intergovernmental organizations identifying agroecology as a promising pathway for realizing more just and sustainable food systems. Using a community-engaged approach, we explore how diverse agroecological actors in southern Brazil describe and define agroecology. We find that across a range of social differences, agroecological actors come together in describing agroecology as a philosophy of life that promotes well-being, positioning agroecology as a counter-narrative (...) to global discourses on “development” that promote economic growth and productivism as the path to a good life. Our findings suggest that the practice of agroecology can enhance diverse rural peoples’ well-being by providing a pathway to overcoming alienation, commodification, and exploitation, although broader political-economic conditions constrain this potential. As socioecological crises continue to accelerate and undermine human and environmental health and well-being, the capacity for agroecology to promote wellness from various ontological and epistemological positions warrants further attention. (shrink)

What kinds of norms constrain mechanistic discovery and explanation? In the mechanistic literature, the norms for good explanations are directly derived from answers to the metaphysical question of what explanations are. Prominent mechanistic accounts thus emphasize either ontic or epistemic norms. Still, mechanistic philosophers on both sides agree that there is no sharp distinction between the processes of discovery and explanation. Thus, it seems reasonable to expect that ontic and epistemic accounts of explanation will be accompanied by ontic and epistemic (...) accounts of discovery, respectively. As we will show here, however, recent discovery accounts implicitly rely on both ontic and epistemic norms to characterize the discovery process. In this paper, we develop an account that makes explicit that, and how, ontic and epistemic norms work together throughout the discovery process. By describing mechanism discovery as a process of pattern recognition we demonstrate that scientists have to develop epistemic activities to distinguish a pattern from its background. Furthermore, they have to determine which epistemic activities successfully describe how the pattern is implemented by identifying the pattern’s components. Our approach reveals that ontic and epistemic norms are equally important in mechanism discovery. (shrink)

This paper examines diverse perspectives around the concept of responsibility concerning antibiotic use in animal agriculture. Antibiotic use in agriculture has been identified as a source of antimicrobial resistance, one of the largest public health threats today. In the United States, efforts to curb antibiotic use in farming draws on a diverse range of actors—including farmers, veterinarians, consumers, and public health advocates—and relies on a mix of industry standards and federal guidelines around responsible use. The paper selects a similarly diverse (...) range of people and employs Q methodology to query the points of disagreement and consensus around the practices that constitute responsible antibiotic use in animal agriculture, and who is responsible for antimicrobial resistance. We find a diverse mix of actor types across three discourses, but with clear differences between farmers and public health advocates. We also argue that, in some cases, points of disagreement and agreement are often based on different interpretations of ideas, indicating points of common ground where there might appear to be disagreement, and areas of difference where there appears to be agreement. We argue that these flexible interpretations of some of the key issues around antibiotic use are nevertheless grounded in durable differences in views of what agriculture is and what it should be. (shrink)

The quinoa export boom generated a rapid standardization project that sought to transform a heteroglot local grain into a uniform global commodity that could flow smoothly through global markets. All agricultural commodities come into being through different standardization processes that materialize specific concepts of quality. Yet the sudden rise in export demand for quinoa, massive price surge, and the biodiverse nature and local orientation of existing quinoa production made quinoa’s standardization particularly dramatic. This article traces the enforcement of quality standards (...) for quinoa export ethnographically, focusing on the interactions between farmers and técnicos, a category of actors tasked with training farmers in “quality” quinoa production and enforcing quality at the moment of sale. I argue that standards moralize agricultural production practices, redefining “good quinoa” and “good farmers.” At the same time, they serve as powerful tools to render technical the reorientation of Andean agricultural systems toward quinoa export. Advocates for more just and ecologically sustainable global commodity chains should pay attention to quality standards as a key site of politics with major ramifications for inclusion/exclusion and resilience. (shrink)

We review the literature on various approaches to modeling animal intergroup conflict behavior in theoretical biology, highlight the intricacies emerging in the process of adding due biological realism to such models, and point out recent empirical findings that can inspire future theorizing.

Advancing women’s empowerment and gender equality in agriculture is a recognised development goal, also within crop breeding. Increasingly, breeding teams are expected to use ‘market-based’ approaches to design more ‘demand-led’ and ‘gender-responsive’ crop varieties. Based on an institutional ethnography that includes high-profile development-oriented breeding initiatives, we unpack these terms using perspectives from political agronomy and feminist science and technology studies. By conceptualising the market as an ongoing, relational performance made up of discourses, practices and human and nonhuman actors, we trace (...) how the market is understood as an effective socioeconomic institution for soliciting demand, but also becomes a normative agenda. Construed as a demand variable, the relational and structural dimensions of gender are rendered less visible, which might strengthen rather than transform power relations’ status quo. On the other hand, a feminist science and technology perspective broadens the field of vision not only to the gendered dimensions of crop breeding, but also to the nonhuman actors, such as the crops and traits falling outside the market sphere of interest. By putting political agronomy and feminist science and technology studies into conversation, the article contributes to the development of a feminist political agronomy. (shrink)

Cow’s milk has long occupied a privileged status in the dietary guidelines and social imaginaries of the Global North, especially regarding children’s health and development. Recently, the rise of plant-based milk has disrupted this dominance, generating debate and anxiety about its place in children’s diets. Through critical discourse analysis of government, industry, and advocacy materials from the United States and Switzerland—two historically “lactophile” nations—this paper examines how various actors construct and contest the meanings and values attached to cow’s and plant (...) milks. We find similar discourses in both countries: a pro-cow’s-milk stance affirming cow’s milk as a nutritionally unique and essential food, and a pro-plant-milk position promoting plant milks as suitable alternatives to cow’s milk while emphasizing the taste and choice benefits of these milks, their place in culturally diverse diets, and suitability for children with milk allergies or lactose intolerance. Notably, we find these discourses are grounded in nutritionism, reducing debates to the quantity, quality and what we call “molecular harmony” of nutrients, and often centering cow’s milk as the point of comparison. However, these discourses obscure broader social inequalities related to race, class, and access: dietary guidelines and milk promotion tend to implicitly privilege White, healthy, and affluent children, rendering issues of affordability, cultural foodways, and lactose intolerance invisible. We conclude that, while plant milks seek to disrupt the status of cow’s milk as the “perfect food” for children, core social imaginaries about health, diet, and childhood remain rooted in exclusionary ideals. (shrink)

Improvements to the agricultural system and tackling challenges emerging from societal, geo-political or climate change requires decision makers to consider trade-offs between technological solutions and consumer preferences. Such a challenge is the breeding of resilient crops through traditional techniques (i.e. crossbreeding, mutagenesis) and new breeding techniques (i.e. transgenesis, cisgenic genetic modification, intragenesis, genome editing), and the protection from pests and diseases using plant protection products. This article presents nuanced insights into consumers views of plant protection products and new breeding techniques (...) regarding the specific case study focused on potato blight. Two online studies were conducted in the German-speaking part of Switzerland. In the first study (N = 965), synthetic and natural fungicides, cisgenic genetic modification and genome editing were rated similarly by the participants in terms of acceptance and perceived naturalness. The second study (N = 1061) extended these insights and showed that different types of fungicides (i.e. natural vs. synthetic, named vs. unnamed) elicited different spontaneous associations, levels of acceptance and perceived naturalness. Interestingly, the ubiquitous mutagenesis was rated similarly as breeding techniques currently restricted by EU regulations. (shrink)

Bangladeshi farming households are turning to vegetable production to increase their incomes and earn returns at regular intervals. This ‘high risk, high gain’ strategy lacks institutional support relative to Green Revolution legacy rice production. In the western district of Rajshahi, a center of the transition to vegetable cultivation, the challenges of high labor demand and wages are met through the socially devalued un- and underpaid labor of women, who are working regularly in agricultural fields for the first time. This paper (...) examines this gendered subsidy through the lens of the depletion of social reproduction (DSR). DSR is a threshold concept used to identify combinations of bodily, emotional and discursive harm that undermine the sustainability of women’s un- and underpaid labor. We adapt the DSR framework to an analysis of agrarian change by adding the dimension of environmental harm and the compounding factors of risk and uncertainty for this climate-vulnerable and market-volatile activity. We identify principal avenues of DSR in Rajshahi’s vegetable transition that are undermining women’s health and wellbeing. Overall, we argue that DSR offers a useful analytic for understanding combined socioenvironmental harms that shape gendered outcomes and the social limits to smallholder production in contexts of rapid agrarian change. (shrink)

In order to maintain themselves as systems far from equilibrium with their environment, organisms must control the operation of numerous production mechanisms. Control involves mechanisms that make or are responsive to measurements of conditions within or in the environment of the organism and that operate on flexible constraints in other mechanisms to adjust their operation. A frequent assumption of humans is that control mechanisms are organized in a hierarchical pyramid. However, control in biological organisms commonly deviates from several principles of (...) hierarchical organization and is better characterized as organized heterarchically. To provide a positive understanding of autonomy, this paper advances several features of its heterarchical organization and illustrates them using control of glucose regulation in mammals as an exemplar. (shrink)

Generational renewal in agriculture has long been declared a priority of European policies, yet little critical attention has been paid to how the problem is represented and to the implicit assumptions that orient instruments and strategies. This study focuses on the first-settlement aid for young farmers (Measure 6.1) of the Rural Development Programme 2014–2022, one of the most prominent policy tools introduced by the European Union to attract new generations into farming. The analysis comparatively examines how Italian regions have implemented (...) the measure through eligibility requirements, selection criteria, and the exercise of regional discretion, highlighting the diversity of policy implementation. Adopting Bacchi’s What’s the Problem Represented to Be? (WPR) framework, the research focuses on how generational renewal is represented and which subjective, discursive, and lived effects – including unintended ones – emerge from such representation. Methodologically, the study combines qualitative content analysis of regional calls with cluster analysis, enabling the identification of five distinct regional approaches (clusters) to generational renewal, while also capturing commonalities and divergences. Results reveal that the dominant representation constructs the “desirable” young farmer primarily as the successor who has already inherited the family farm, while marginalising other categories such as new entrants (young individuals with no family farming background) and potential successors (those who may inherit but have not yet done so). Finally, the study deconstructs dominant CAP paradigms on the topic and argues for more inclusive and differentiated strategies capable of recognising multiple entry pathways and sustaining identity-building processes. (shrink)

The Glynwood Center for Regional Food and Farming established the Food Sovereignty Fund in 2020 to provide families facing food insecurity with first-quality food grown in New York’s Hudson Valley while supporting small, regeneratively managed farms. The initiative is grounded in food sovereignty, which is defined as “the right of peoples to healthy and culturally appropriate food produced through ecologically sound and sustainable methods, and their right to define their own food and agriculture systems.” This paper describes the Food Sovereignty (...) Fund model and shares findings from a multi-methods evaluation of the model which incorporated perspectives from farmers, food access organizations, and food access clients through surveys, focus groups, and in-depth interviews. Evaluation findings highlight how this approach enhances dignity and agency for both producers and consumers while bolstering the regional food system. By providing fresh, sustainably produced, culturally appropriate foods, the Food Sovereignty Fund upholds clients’ right to healthy food choices. Simultaneously, farmers experience greater control over their produce distribution and receive fair compensation, thus supporting sustainable livelihoods and investing in the regional food economy. The Food Sovereignty Fund offers a promising example of how food sovereignty is being applied in the United States and can serve as a model for creating more equitable, sustainable, and resilient food systems. (shrink)

Confronting the deep-rooted social inequities and environmental harm in animal agriculture research demands approaches that link Just Transitions (JT) with Participatory Action Research (PAR). We present a case study from the Midwest, USA, drawing on an ongoing participatory action research project, started in 2020, where we conducted semi-structured interviews with 128 participants and three participatory workshops with farmers, non-profit leaders, and community organizers. Adapting established PAR methods, we integrated community organizing tools such as one-on-one relational meetings and interactive workshops to (...) better understand barriers to transition and how to foster meaningful change. These methodological interventions shifted who participated, how knowledge was produced, and whose voices shaped the terms of agricultural research and its implications for just transitions. They created deeper conversations about race, land, labor, and governance, which surfaced tensions while also creating the conditions for solidarity across difference. Grounded in this case study, we articulate a Just Transitions PAR Implementation Framework that highlights four interconnected elements: engagement and trust-building, collaboration and co-design, action and co-production of knowledge, and reflection and iteration. We argue that without intentional, justice-centered adaptations, participatory agricultural and transitions research risks reinforcing the very exclusions it aims to challenge. This paper contributes a conceptual intervention by positioning PAR as a valuable approach for advancing Just Transitions in agriculture and a practical methodological guide for researchers committed to transformative change from within and beyond the university. (shrink)

In Israel/Palestine, baladi, derived from the Arabic balad "Image missing", is an agro-culinary category that operates as both a marker of authenticity and a site of political negotiation. This paper explores baladi as a borderline concept, simultaneously defining and destabilizing cultural and territorial boundaries. Palestinian uses of baladi often articulate indigeneity, environmental decolonization, revivalism, and gastro-political resistance, while Jewish-Israeli adaptations reframe it as an expression of local authenticity, frequently through appropriation and commodification. This study demonstrates that these invocations do not (...) stabilize baladi as a bounded category. Rather, they underscore its function as a borderline concept, whose meaning emerges precisely through its unstable position between indigeneity, appropriation, and commodification. Drawing on socio-historical analysis and multi-sited ethnographic fieldwork, the paper reveals how baladi transcends binary categories of authenticity and appropriation. Theoretically, this study interrogates baladi as an untranslatable term shaped by settler-colonial histories, global markets, and sociocultural boundary work. Furthermore, it demonstrates how untranslatable concepts like baladi illuminate the contested processes of emplacement and cultural reclaiming that unfold within asymmetrical structures of colonial entanglement and global neoliberal circulation. (shrink)