At the beginning of the 20th century, German biologist Jakob von Uexküll created the concept of "Umwelt" to denote the environment as experienced by a subject. This concept of environment differs from the idea of passive surroundings and is defined not just by physical surroundings, but is rather a "subjective universe", a space weighted with meaning. Today, neuroscience provides a new way to look at the brain’s capability to create a representation of the world. At the same time behavioural specialists are demonstrating that animals have a richer mental universe than previously known. Philosophical reflection thus finds itself with more experimental and objective data as well. Nearly a century after the publication of von Uexküll’s founding work ("Umwelt und Innenwelt der Tiere" was published in 1909), neurobiologists, psychologists, sociologists, anthropologists, ethologists, and philosophers revisit his mail concept at the light of modern science
Author(s): Alain Berthoz
Series: Research and Perspectives in Neurosciences
Edition: 1
Publisher: Springer
Year: 2008
Language: English
Pages: 161
Contents......Page 8
Anthropological Physiology: von Uexküll, Portmann, Buytendijk......Page 12
Essentialist Reasoning about the Biological World......Page 17
The Human Brain "Projects" upon the World, Simplifying Principles and Rules for Perception......Page 27
Umwelt: A Psychomotor Functional Event......Page 38
The Brain's View of the World Depends on What it has to Know......Page 47
The Biology of Variations in Mammalian Color Vision......Page 61
The Evolution of Social Categories......Page 77
What is the Effect of Affect on Bonobo and Chimpanzee Problem Solving?......Page 96
Dogs (Canis familiaris) are Adapted to Receive Human Communication......Page 110
What Do Jays Know About Other Minds and Other Times?......Page 115
Blind as a Bat? The Sensory Basis of Orientation and Navigation at Night......Page 130
Point, Line and Counterpoint: From Environment to Fluid Space......Page 145
H......Page 160
V......Page 161
