Behavior, Purpose and Teleology

Rosenblueth, A.; Wiener, Norbert; Bigelow, Julian

doi:10.1086/286788

Cited by 1,208 publications

(460 citation statements)

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“…The involvement of behavioural anticipations and behavioural reactions in maintaining the internal environment was first recognised by Pavlov (1904;Smith 2008) and Richter (Woods and Ramsay 2007). With the progressive development of engineering systems during World Wars I and II to improve the targeting of weapons by use of negative feedback to correct errors, it was proposed that animals also use negative feedback to control physiological responses (Rosenblueth et al 1943). In subsequent decades, negative feedback to control a physiological variable at a fixed set point became the default model of homeostatic regulation (Carpenter 2004).…”

Section: Regulation Of Responses To Environmental Stimulimentioning

confidence: 99%

Resilience in farm animals: biology, management, breeding and implications for animal welfare

2016

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Abstract.A capacity for the animal to recover quickly from the impact of physical and social stressors and disease challenges is likely to improve evolutionary fitness of wild species and welfare and performance of farm animals. Salience and valence of stimuli sensed through neurosensors, chemosensors and immunosensors are perceived and integrated centrally to generate emotions and engage physiological, behavioural, immune, cognitive and morphological responses that defend against noxious challenges. These responses can be refined through experience to provide anticipatory and learned reactions at lower cost than innate less-specific reactions. Influences of behaviour type, coping style, and affective state and the relationships between immune responsiveness, disease resistance and resilience are reviewed. We define resilience as the capacity of animals to cope with short-term perturbations in their environment and return rapidly to their pre-challenge status. It is manifested in response to episodic, sporadic or situation-specific attributes of the environment and can be optimised via facultative learning by the individual. It is a comparative measure of differences between individuals in the outcomes that follow exposure to potentially adverse situations. In contrast, robustness is the capacity to maintain productivity in a wide range of environments without compromising reproduction, health and wellbeing. Robustness is manifested in response to persistent or cyclical attributes of the environment and is effected via activity of innate regulatory pathways. We suggest that for farm animals, husbandry practices that incorporate physical and social stressors and interactions with humans such as weaning, change of housing, and introduction to the milking parlour can be used to characterise resilience phenotypes. In these settings, resilience is likely to be more readily identified through the rate of return of variables to pre-challenge or normal status rather than through measuring the activity of diverse stress response and adaptation mechanisms. Our strategy for phenotyping resilience of sheep and cattle during weaning is described. Opportunities are examined to increase resilience through genetic selection and through improved management practices that provide emotional and cognitive enrichment and stress inoculation.Additional keywords: affective state, allostasis, animal behaviour, animal temperament, animal welfare, disease resistance, genetic selection, homeostasis, resilience, robustness, stress inoculation.

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Section: Regulation Of Responses To Environmental Stimulimentioning

confidence: 99%

Resilience in farm animals: biology, management, breeding and implications for animal welfare

2016

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“…What specifically matters for the object of this paper is that the cybernetic approach provides an inadequate understanding of biological teleology, because it obscures its specificity with respect to the teleology which is at work for artefacts (Jonas, 1953). Technically, the "goal" of a homeostatic mechanism is defined as the interval within which the mechanism maintains the target variables (Rosenblueth et al, 1943). Yet, it does not make any difference from the point of view of the definition whether the interval is extrinsically established by a designer, as in the case of artefacts, or intrinsically identified with the conditions of existence of the system, as in the case of biological systems.…”

Section: Naturalising Teleology: From Selection To Organisationmentioning

confidence: 99%

What makes biological organisation teleological?

2014

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This paper argues that biological organisation can be legitimately conceived of as an intrinsically teleological causal regime. The core of the argument consists in establishing a connection between organisation and teleology through the concept of self-determination: biological organisation determines itself in the sense that the effects of its activity contribute to determine its own conditions of existence. We suggest that not any kind of circular regime realises self-determination, which should be specifically understood as self-constraint: in biological systems, in particular, self-constraint takes the form of closure, i.e. a network of mutually dependent constitutive constraints. We then explore the occurrence of intrinsic teleology in the biological domain and beyond. On the one hand, the organisational account might possibly concede that supra-organismal biological systems (as symbioses or ecosystems) could realise closure, and hence be teleological. On the other hand, the realisation of closure beyond the biological realm appears to be highly unlikely. In turn, the occurrence of simpler forms of self-determination remains a controversial issue, in particular with respect to the case of self-organising dissipative systems.

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“…For the purpose of this paper, systems-thinking is considered within the tradition of human resources established by Argyis and Senge (Argyis, 1999;Bertalanffy, 1950;Jackson, 1995;Rosenblueth et al, 1943). Senge (1990) defines systems-thinking as "a discipline for seeing wholes.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

An Examination of Social Networks on the Recruitment Process in the United Arab Emirates

Shehi¹,

Pettaway²,

Waller³

et al. 2016

ASS

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This study evaluates the effects of social networks on the recruitment of professional staff to Ras Al Khaimah's government and private sector within the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Questionnaires were administered to human resources employees who work at various levels of Ras Al Khaimah's government and private sector. A quantitative methodology was utilized for this study. The paper conducted a factor analysis for dimension reduction on the findings of a questionnaire submitted to selected businesses with Ras Al Khaimah in the United Arab Emirates. Findings indicated 5 underlying factors driving answers to the 24 questions included on the questionnaire. These 5 factors were labeled as (1) general perception, (2) convenience, (3) reliability, (4) international recruitment and (5) branding and marketing. These 5 underlying factors indicated that relationships exist between the variables.

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Behavior, Purpose and Teleology

Cited by 1,208 publications

References 0 publications

Resilience in farm animals: biology, management, breeding and implications for animal welfare

Resilience in farm animals: biology, management, breeding and implications for animal welfare

What makes biological organisation teleological?

An Examination of Social Networks on the Recruitment Process in the United Arab Emirates

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