Ecological psychology and enactivism are close relatives in that they share an interest in positi... more Ecological psychology and enactivism are close relatives in that they share an interest in positioning the behaving organism as an active agent and in interpreting this with reference to ecological and evolutionary ideas. But they also differ in their uses of biology and the concept of information. I review these uses, relate them to ideas in behaviorism, and conclude that a version of enactivism, championed by Daniel Hutto and colleagues, is the more viable hypothesis. I extend this radical enactivist effort into evolutionary enactivism as an exercise in parsimonious theory building that aims to avoid essentialism
Johnson and Nettle initially focus upon the detail of policy changes and argue that these changes... more Johnson and Nettle initially focus upon the detail of policy changes and argue that these changes may seem sensible to a social primate reflexively applying tribal scale psychology. This is a commentary upon policy makers. But later they shift their attention to a broader constituency, those to whom policy makers are appealing and those campaigning to change policy. In concluding comments, the authors state that their thesis could be coupled with a broader account of societal change, that might offer a richer interpretation of change, and it is to this idea that the current commentary is addressed.
Background. Across countries and states, greater income inequality is associated with lower wellb... more Background. Across countries and states, greater income inequality is associated with lower wellbeing. There are multiple causal pathways that could produce such an association. If the relationship of individual income to wellbeing is downward concave, greater dispersion of the income distribution must reduce average wellbeing. More unequal countries may also provide their residents with worse public services and amenities. Finally, increasing inequality may have direct psychosocial effects by heightening competitiveness and social anxiety. Objectives. Using data from the European Quality of Life Survey 2012, we evaluated the contributions of different causal pathways to associations between income inequality and (a) life satisfaction and (b) self-rated health. Methods. Secondary analysis of 27,571 respondents from 28 countries. Results. In unadjusted analyses, greater income inequality was associated with lower life satisfaction and poorer self-rated health. Of the association between inequality and life satisfaction, 43% was attributable to individual income effects, and 41% to worse public services (especially access to healthcare), leaving 16% possibly due to direct psychosocial effects. The association between income inequality and self-rated health was mainly (68%) due to individual income effects, with the remainder possibly attributable to psychosocial effects. For life satisfaction, we found some evidence of costs of inequality that fall on those with high incomes, though this was not the case for self-rated health. Conclusion. The negative associations between income inequality and wellbeing across European countries are in substantial part due to individual income effects. For life satisfaction, a further portion is attributable to worse public services. For life satisfaction but not self-rated health, income inequality has some negative consequences for those on high incomes as well as low incomes.
This book is about evolutionary theory. It deals with aspects of its history to focus upon explan... more This book is about evolutionary theory. It deals with aspects of its history to focus upon explanatory structures at work in the various forms of evolutionary theory - as such this is also a work of philosophy. Its focus lies on recent debates about the Modern Synthesis and what might be lacking in that synthesis. These claims have been most clearly made by those calling for an Extended Evolutionary Synthesis. The author argues that the difference between these two positions is the consequence of two things. First, whether evolution is a considered as solely a population level phenomenon or also a theory of form. Second, the use of information concepts. In this book Darwinian evolution is positioned as a general theory of evolution, a theory that gave evolution a technical meaning as the statistical outcome of variation, competition, and inheritance. The Modern Synthesis (MS) within biology, has a particular focus, a particular architecture to its explanations that renders it a special theory of evolution. After providing a history of Darwinian theory and the MS, recent claims and exhortations for an Extended Evolutionary Synthesis (EES) are examined that see the need for the inclusion of non-genetic modes of inheritance and also developmental processes. Much of this argument is based around claims that the MS adopts a particular view of information that has privileged the gene as an instructional unit in the emergence of form. The author analyses the uses of information and claims that neither side of the debate explicitly and formally deals with this concept. A more formal view of information is provided which challenges the EES claims about the role of genes in MS explanations of form whilst being consilient with their own interests in developmental biology. It is concluded that the MS implicitly assumed this formal view of information whilst using information terms in a colloquial manner. In the final chapter the idea that the MS is an informational theory that acts to corral more specific phenomenal accounts, is mooted. As such the book argues for a constrained pluralism within biology, where the MS describes those constraints
Ecological psychology and enactivism are close relatives in that they share an interest in positi... more Ecological psychology and enactivism are close relatives in that they share an interest in positioning the behaving organism as an active agent and in interpreting this with reference to ecological and evolutionary ideas. But they also differ in their uses of biology and the concept of information. I review these uses, relate them to ideas in behaviorism, and conclude that a version of enactivism, championed by Daniel Hutto and colleagues, is the more viable hypothesis. I extend this radical enactivist effort into evolutionary enactivism as an exercise in parsimonious theory building that aims to avoid essentialism
Johnson and Nettle initially focus upon the detail of policy changes and argue that these changes... more Johnson and Nettle initially focus upon the detail of policy changes and argue that these changes may seem sensible to a social primate reflexively applying tribal scale psychology. This is a commentary upon policy makers. But later they shift their attention to a broader constituency, those to whom policy makers are appealing and those campaigning to change policy. In concluding comments, the authors state that their thesis could be coupled with a broader account of societal change, that might offer a richer interpretation of change, and it is to this idea that the current commentary is addressed.
Background. Across countries and states, greater income inequality is associated with lower wellb... more Background. Across countries and states, greater income inequality is associated with lower wellbeing. There are multiple causal pathways that could produce such an association. If the relationship of individual income to wellbeing is downward concave, greater dispersion of the income distribution must reduce average wellbeing. More unequal countries may also provide their residents with worse public services and amenities. Finally, increasing inequality may have direct psychosocial effects by heightening competitiveness and social anxiety. Objectives. Using data from the European Quality of Life Survey 2012, we evaluated the contributions of different causal pathways to associations between income inequality and (a) life satisfaction and (b) self-rated health. Methods. Secondary analysis of 27,571 respondents from 28 countries. Results. In unadjusted analyses, greater income inequality was associated with lower life satisfaction and poorer self-rated health. Of the association between inequality and life satisfaction, 43% was attributable to individual income effects, and 41% to worse public services (especially access to healthcare), leaving 16% possibly due to direct psychosocial effects. The association between income inequality and self-rated health was mainly (68%) due to individual income effects, with the remainder possibly attributable to psychosocial effects. For life satisfaction, we found some evidence of costs of inequality that fall on those with high incomes, though this was not the case for self-rated health. Conclusion. The negative associations between income inequality and wellbeing across European countries are in substantial part due to individual income effects. For life satisfaction, a further portion is attributable to worse public services. For life satisfaction but not self-rated health, income inequality has some negative consequences for those on high incomes as well as low incomes.
This book is about evolutionary theory. It deals with aspects of its history to focus upon explan... more This book is about evolutionary theory. It deals with aspects of its history to focus upon explanatory structures at work in the various forms of evolutionary theory - as such this is also a work of philosophy. Its focus lies on recent debates about the Modern Synthesis and what might be lacking in that synthesis. These claims have been most clearly made by those calling for an Extended Evolutionary Synthesis. The author argues that the difference between these two positions is the consequence of two things. First, whether evolution is a considered as solely a population level phenomenon or also a theory of form. Second, the use of information concepts. In this book Darwinian evolution is positioned as a general theory of evolution, a theory that gave evolution a technical meaning as the statistical outcome of variation, competition, and inheritance. The Modern Synthesis (MS) within biology, has a particular focus, a particular architecture to its explanations that renders it a special theory of evolution. After providing a history of Darwinian theory and the MS, recent claims and exhortations for an Extended Evolutionary Synthesis (EES) are examined that see the need for the inclusion of non-genetic modes of inheritance and also developmental processes. Much of this argument is based around claims that the MS adopts a particular view of information that has privileged the gene as an instructional unit in the emergence of form. The author analyses the uses of information and claims that neither side of the debate explicitly and formally deals with this concept. A more formal view of information is provided which challenges the EES claims about the role of genes in MS explanations of form whilst being consilient with their own interests in developmental biology. It is concluded that the MS implicitly assumed this formal view of information whilst using information terms in a colloquial manner. In the final chapter the idea that the MS is an informational theory that acts to corral more specific phenomenal accounts, is mooted. As such the book argues for a constrained pluralism within biology, where the MS describes those constraints
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