Human Being, Biology And 'Text'

Drawing inspiration from the use of words from other disciplines.

Many different disciplines, in addition to biology, have humankind as their focus. The biological approach is one among many. All too often these different disciplines are treated as mutually exclusive when different insights could well be shared. These other disciplines have rich vocabularies that describe aspects of humankind that get little or no biological attention, but which could prove interesting if they were given due attention.

To do this, I am drawing inspiration from the terminology used by workers in other, sometimes quite disparate, disciplines. Borrowing from the vocabularies these disciplines use allows one to explore ways of understanding humankind that biology does not typically use or explore. The purpose of doing this is to bring to this project ideas that are not normally associated with the standard biology of humankind by considering the biological implications of words and notions that others use and which do not normally enter the biological sphere. In so doing it may be possible to expand the way in which we look at humankind as a biological entity.

Note

All academic disciplines have their own specialist vocabularies. Biological science is no exception. The purpose of such vocabularies is to aid communication between interested parties. However, these vocabularies are inherently restrictive allowing only those conversant with these terms full access to what is being said.

There are academics who tacitly - perhaps even overtly - enjoy this form of intellectual apartheid. I do not. If something is worth knowing about, it is worth telling others about in terms that they can understand.

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