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This digital document is an article from Science and Its Times, brought to you by Gale®, a part of Cengage Learning, a world leader in e-research and educational publishing for libraries, schools and businesses.The length of the article is 565 words.The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase.You can view it with any web browser.The histories of science, technology, and mathematics merge with the study of humanities and social science in this interdisciplinary reference work. Essays on people, theories, discoveries, and concepts are combined with overviews, bibliographies of primary documents, and chronological elements to offer students a fascinating way to understand the impact of science on the course of human history and how science affects everyday life. Entries represent people and developments throughout the world, from about 2000 B.C. through the end of the twentieth century. ... Read more

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Der Erwerb des Buches enthält gleichzeitig die kostenlose Mitgliedschaft im Buchklub des Verlags zum Ausprobieren - dort können Sie von über einer Million Bücher ohne weitere Kosten auswählen. Das Buch besteht aus Wikipedia-Artikeln: Karl Popper, Leonard Bernstein, Václav Havel, Konrad Lorenz, Erwin Schrödinger, Lise Meitner, Heinrich Harrer, Manfred Eigen, Carl Zuckmayer, Walter Jens, Werner Berg, Peter Sloterdijk, Adolf Butenandt, Ernst Gombrich, Christian Ludwig Attersee, Karl Böhm, Victor Franz Hess, Richard Kuhn, Friedrich August von Hayek, Herbert von Karajan, Elias Canetti, Theodor Litt, Erika Mitterer, Andreas Alföldi, Hans Kelsen, Friedrich Torberg, Carl Friedrich von Weizsäcker, György Ligeti, Hans Hollein, Krzysztof Penderecki, Henry Moore, Viktor Frankl, Karl von Frisch, Gertrud Fussenegger, Bruno Ganz, Lorenz Böhler, Friederike Mayröcker, Eric Kandel, Joseph Marx, Ernst Jandl, Ludwig von Mises, Hans Hass, Otto Loewi, Horst Stein, Wilma Lipp, Erich Feigl, Max Kaser, Robert Stolz, H. C. Artmann, Ernst Lothar, Pierre Boulez, Carlos Kleiber, Fritz Schachermeyr, Clemens Holzmeister, Egon Wellesz, Ernst Krenek, Maria Lassnig, Christa Ludwig, Eugen Biser, Margarete Schütte-Lihotzky, Karl Heinrich Waggerl, Alfred Kubin, Horst Dreier, Fritz Feigl, Anton Zeilinger, Christine Busta, Karl Acham, Wolfgang Schadewaldt, Otto Neugebauer, Kurt Mothes, Klaus Wolff, Albert Paris Gütersloh, Richard Kriesche, Johannes Messner, Felix Braun, Emil Staiger, Gottfried von Einem, Gottfried Schatz, Theo Mayer-Maly, György Kurtág, Heinz Maier-Leibnitz, Hermann F. Mark, Roland Rainer, Friedrich Cerha, Jacqueline de Romilly, Marcel Rubin, Walter Thirring, Kurt Schwertsik, Franz Karl Ginzkey, Leopold Vietoris, Harry Seidler, Victor Weisskopf, Christian Meier, Walter Pichler, Leo Santifaller, Ernst Schönwiese, Max Mell, Emil Stojanow, Heinrich Appelt, Johannes Fehring, Hans Tuppy, Elliott Lieb, Feodor Lynen, Peter Schuster, Heinrich Fichtenau, Kurt...http://booksllc.net/?l=de&id=2696 ... Read more

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This article covers Lorenz, Konrad (1903-1989): Austrian behaviorist and early leader in the field of ethology.

The article is excerpted fromGale Encyclopedia of Psychology. This single-volume, accessible resource covers the entire spectrum of psychology, including: notable people, theories and terms; landmark case studies and experiments; applications of psychology in advertising, medicine and sports; and career information. More than 650 articles -- 65% of those are entirely new or updated since the last edition. Each article ranges from 25 to 1,500 words, covering the topics researchers want to know about, including:
Abnormal psychology
Bipolar disorder
Dyslexia
Sigmund Freud
Insomnia
Premenstrual syndrome (PMS)
Unconscious motivation
And hundreds more

In addition to more that 175 photographs, charts and graphs, students will also find a new glossary of over 350 terms, an updated organizations list and an updated and expanded index.

Published/Released: October 2000 ... Read more

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Chapters: Members of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, Leopold Vietoris, Konrad Lorenz, Hans Mommsen, Karl Dietrich Bracher, Ulrich Von Wilamowitz-Moellendorff, Anton Zeilinger, Walter Burkert, Peter Hall, Alexander R. Todd, Baron Todd, Peter Zoller, Martin Gropius, Giulio Superti-Furga, Walter Thirring, Jürgen Mittelstraß, Hans Tuppy, Österreichisches Biographisches Lexikon 1815-1950, Emil Zuckerkandl, Anton Weichselbaum, Peter Schuster, Johannes Vahlen, Julius Wess, Ignaz Vincenz Zingerle, Herwig Wolfram, Manfred Mayrhofer, Josef Weninger, Robert Von Zimmermann. Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 118. Not illustrated. Free updates online. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: Hans Mommsen (born 5 November 1930) is a left-wing German historian. He is the twin brother of the late Wolfgang Mommsen. He was born in Marburg, the son of the historian Wilhelm Mommsen and great-grandson of the Roman historian Theodor Mommsen. He studied German, history and philosophy at the University of Heidelberg, the University of Tübingen and the University of Marburg. Mommsen served as professor at Tübingen (19601961), Heidelberg (19631968) and at the University of Bochum (since 1968). He married Margaretha Reindel in 1966. He has been a member of the Social Democratic Party of Germany since 1960. Much of Mommsen's early work concerned the history of the German working class, both as an object of study itself and as a factor in the larger German society. Mommsen's 1979 book, Arbeiterbewegung und nationale Frage (The Labour Movement and the National Question), a collection of his essays written in the 1960s70s was the conclusion of his studies in German working class history. Mommsen much prefers writing essays to book. Mommsen is a leading expert on Nazi Germany and the Holocaust. He is a functionalist in regard to the origins of the Holocaust...More: http://booksllc.net/?id=1685450 ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

More relevant for today than when written.
This book is a scientific and spititual view of how the human species has evolved over all of time to become the frightened and violent and deceitful cariacature of his true nature.Humankind is experiencing "growing pains" that if seen and understood would change his inherited destructive attitudes for "solving problems" into truly humane solutions that would turn from a slow painfulsuicide to choices that will fulfill his potential and the destiny that is inherent in him. This book gives insight into this process so beautifully

A Rainbow of Paper Clips ...
as book marks, remain on my 1987 edition. Another swig of this marvelous gentleman's work dries out the wet algae in my thinking.

Born in 1903, Konrad Lorenz, winner of the Nobel Prize for Medicine/Physiology, does not speak down to his reader.For the reader is often one who perceives the illness around him, who is already frightened by his own smallness and witnesses this waning as a root cause of our present-day world problems.

This gifted scholar selects concepts from his magic bag in a manner which best describes an understanding poet or novelist: straight to the reader's heart and mind, concepts which people hold in their deepest "No Admittance", but for various and often unavoidable reasons, do not express.

He begins by writing truthfully that with the nuclear threat, the prospects for human survival are dismal, continuing that even if this does not occur, if somehow there is a check on human's "incredibly stupid and blind conduct", he still is in grave danger of the "progressive decline of those human attributes and attainments which constitute their humanity."

This master animal behaviorist shares stories of Man's (and animals') pleasure in collecting -- baby fish miraculously appearing in one's aquarium, fruit in one's orchard, increase of the herd, a "stock split" - items which are of one kind.These, in his opinion, are more influenced by genetic programs than other kinds of joy found in possessions.But, he cites the immense danger that the greater the collection, the more intense is the desire, the urge for more.That this rage to collect can consume the personality is no secret, he wryly observes.

He continues to write of the neurotic lust for power, threatening the existence of all mankind - the highest possible position in the pecking order (not sic), and the utter ridiculous sight of it.

In his search into animal and human behavior, he often uses theword, "Gestalt", which means the coming together of diverse impressions and memories into one formidable idea.

In his twenty-five years with shamas, birds said to be the greatest "artists" among song birds, which species assemble beautiful, complicated songs when at play, he notes that should this bird have to defend its territory, court a mate or in any way have his song forced to serve a utilitarian purpose, the resultant stress would cause a loss of the song's awe-inspiring beauty.

From birds to humans, humans have an astonishing sensitivity toharmonies, the sensory and brain structures which are the Gestalt perception, one of the most important structures of the human.We cannot inspect or see this in ourselves, but enough is known that there is no doubt that they exist, can save us from not only extinction, but from having a life "not worth living." (not sic.)

Excerpts:

"Large populations mean that there are too many voters and too few to be voted upon."

"Very few people, regardless of how intelligent or morally faultless they may be, are capable of preserving their whole humaneness once they are in positions of power."

"Many people appear to be 'normal' because the humane voice within them has been struck dumb."

"Thomas Jefferson lived long enough to witness and realize that freedom of the press can be exploited for the dissemination of lies."

* * * * *

We will not be more fearful from reading "The Waning of Humaneness", for the strength of humans to bring beauty and selfless meaning to the world remains in our hands.In Lorenz's words, "A closed system is a non-living system." ... Read more

Customer Reviews (16)

5 stars for significance, charm; 4 stars for accuracy
Konrad Lorenz was one of THE three European founders of ethology (the study of the natural behavior of animals in their environments). Nikolas Tinbergen, Von Frisch, and Lorenz were co-awarded the Nobel Prize in 1973 for their preceding bodies of work which created this new scientific discipline.

This was extremely significant to the course of American psychology which, until that time, had grown increasingly dominated by learning theory and the laboratory method. American psychology, influenced by the achievements of physics and medicine,etc., preferred studying behavior under controlled, laboratory conditions as the means for getting nearer "ultimate truth", which, at that time, was thought to almost always involve learning at its core--in accord with the principles and theories of famous American learning theorists such as Thorndike, Watson, Skinner, Hull, et al. Comparative psychology was the American branch that studied similarities and differences between animal species but controlled problems in a laboratory setting were greatly preferred. Observations of behavior, while valuable for designing later lab experiments, were considered less rigorous.

So the truths Lorenz, Tinbergen, Von Frisch and their other European naturalist colleagues reported was as significant as the child's observation of the Emperor's new clothes. The truth of a significant lack was revealed. The laboratory method could not examine or reveal all important aspects of animal behavior; the lab method obscured or eliminated those behaviors occurring in natural settings.

Lorenz and Tinbergen discovered, explored, and brought imprinting to the attention of the scientific behavioral world. Imprinting is the lasting (often irreversible) effects of early experience (occuring within a critical period of development) on the later behavior of animals. This contrasted with the view of normal learning theories which found the strength of a response was mainly a function of the number of practice trials. (Von Frisch's work was in understanding the "language" of bees.)

Lorenz's "King Solomon's Ring" was a significant contribution that enabled lay people to understand the importance of such observations and prepared (sometimes excited) beginning students in the behavioral sciences to take psychology in new directions. Within a few years, learning theory no longer formed the spinal column and much of the skeletal structure of American psychology.

I was a psychology graduate student during these years and the laboratory instructor for my university's professor of comparative psychology. It was an exciting time, seeing the old "truths" and axioms become overthrown and helping to search for new ones.

The "Ring" is still a delightful and interesting read and inclines the reader to look with different eyes at the behavior of our animal friends. Possibly because I've kept current on research on dogs, I think it's weakest chapter is "The Covenant", Ch. 10, which is on dogs. Here Lorenz decides that most domestic dogs descended from the jackal while a few also descended from the wolf. Having advanced that thesis, he then describes in detail the dichotomy of personality and behavior to which these two antecedents lead and which can be commonly found in all their descendents.

WRONG!

For the last 40 years, we've become increasingly certain that almost all domestic dogs descended from wolves. Lorenz speculates an incorrect premise and then proceeds to elaborate (with charm and erroneous fact and observations skewed by his belief) on this in great detail. It's interesting and illuminating to see how wrong Lorenz can be in some areas and yet was so right (or right enough) in others.

So read the "Ring" to understand its and its author's deserved place in the history of behavioral sciences. Read it to increase your observational powers of your animal friends. But please do not read it as divine, ordained truth. Many thousands of scientists have since built on the foundations that Lorenz, Tinbergen, & Von Frisch built along with the contributions of Watson, Pavlov, Skinner, Hull, and others. (Serpell's "The Domestic Dog" provides a good source on more recent information about dogs. You can click on "read my other reviews" to get my evaluation of Serpell's book.)

Vanishing Migrations, and a Never-Changing Life Book
I read Lorenz's book when I was a boy and have never forgotten it, except now that reading it again I see that any number of the animal facts I would spout to people, giving Lorenz as my reference, are severe distortions of his positions.I would tell people, for example, that lambs and sheep are totally different species, and in citing Lorenz I now realize he said nothing of the sort.One of the great things about KING SOLOMON'S RING is how many species it treats.We also had to read an earlier book by Lorenz, in which he discussed only dogs and how to train them.Did you know that Konrad Lorenz was the first scientist to discover that in every pacxk of dogs (even in any pair of two dogs) one dog will be the so-called "alpha male," even when they are technically female?Lorenz was a scientist, a trained observer, but he also had a big heart and this spills out into his books.

They are each of them veritable fountains of good writing and common sense, though sometimes he goes overboard in his enthusiasm.

Some of the animals hje observed in his heyday are acting differently nowadays!I wonder if that is part of natural selection, or if they are being changed due to the ozone layer brteaking up and global warming.Even the patterns of birds' migrations are no longer the same, and they seem to be no longer travelling the immense distances we once thought they did (from Tierra del Fuego to the Maritimes, for example).

In other ways, although dated, KSR remains one of Konrad Lorenz's great accomplishments. I remember meeting him around the time the United Nations honored him for his work with animals.He was a humble man with a witty grin, and the flourish of one who should have been an actor in the movies.

A peep into the animal/insect/fish/bird's brain
This book is true to Lorenz' style - humorous, intelligent, large hearted and adventurous. Besides being entertained, I came away with humility borne of the knowledge that human beings aren't truly supreme. Even the littlest fish exhibits interesting thought processes and overriding maternal extincts. One just has to look hard enough!

A beautiful book for all who love nature
Confession - I'd never heard of Konrad Lorenz (even though he won the Nobel Prize in 1973), and I don't usually read books by Naturalists.

I was driving between business meetings during the day, when I happened to tune in to BBC Radio 4 (same as National Public Radio in the USA), and by accident caught a book reading of Chapter 10 regarding Dogs. Then on another day I caught Chapter 11 on Birds. Captivated, I actually pulled over so that I could hear the whole chapter & find out what the book was and who the Author was.

Then I ordered the book as a treat to myself for Christmas.

Fantastic!With some abridging 'on the fly', this book could even be read to/by a younger audience say down to 8 years old, who would enjoy, laugh & cry at some of the stories contained herein.

I wish my science teacher had read this to me when I was 8, rather than do some silly experiments with boring pond life (Chapter 2 would have taught me more about Pond Life)!

if you are convinced of the evolution of the species
The last two pages of the book explain why the human species does not have time to evolve a method of conflict resolution.The wolf survives mortal combat by "turning the other cheek", a behavior developed over many, many years.Humans enter combat with weapons that are not a part of their anatomy so the evolution of one on one response is not available.A learned method of conflict resolution is necessary. ... Read more