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This paper attempts to examine the question as to whether there is such a thing as existential spirituality. Emmy van Deurzen has postulated that there is: in addition to the well-established categories of the Umwelt, the Mitwelt and the Eigenwelt she has urged that we should also consider the Uberwelt -- the spiritual world. However, she has said very little about this realm and the present paper attempts to put some flesh on the bones. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The connection between existentialism and multiplicity of the self seems impossible at first, but on closer examination it turns out to be not only possible but actually important, as witness such names as Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Cooper and Spinelli. The latest theory of such an approach is Dialogical Self Theory (Hubert Hermans). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Establishing the relationship between craniodental morphology and dietary ecology in extant species permits inferences to be made about the ecology and biology of fossil species and the habitats they inhabited. Previous work linking diet and craniodental morphology has historically relied upon categorical classifications of diet and has not considered the phylogenetic signal (i.e., non-independence) of morphology due to shared evolutionary history. Here we use phylogenetic comparative methods to analyze the relationship between diet and eight craniodental indices for 40 species of African Bovidae using both categorical and continuous (stable carbon isotopes of enamel, δC) classifications of diet. In addition, we examine three modes of evolution that best explain interspecific variation in each of these indices, including: Brownian Motion (BM), Early Burst (EB), and Ornstein-Uhlenbeck (OU). Our results show that the hypsodonty index (HI), the length of the masseteric fossa relative to facial depth (MAS-F), and the length of the diastema relative to the total toothrow length (DIAS-TR) are the best predictors of diet among African bovids. These indices are best explained by either a BM or OU mode of evolution. Our findings have important implications for understanding the evolution of craniodental traits and reconstructing the diet of fossil mammals, especially bovids. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ecological research often assumes that species are adapted to their current climatic environments. However, climate fluctuations over geologic timescales have influenced species dispersal and extinction, which in turnmay affect community structure. Modern community structure is likely to be the product of both palaeoclimate and modern climate, with the relative degrees of influence of past and present climates unknown. Here, we assessed the influence of climate at different time periods on the phylogenetic and functional trait structure of 203 African mammal communities. We found that the climate of the mid-Holocene (approx. 6000 years ago) and Last Glacial Maximum (approx. 22 000 years ago) were frequently better predictors of community structure thanmodern climate formammals overall, carnivorans and ungulates. Primate communities were more strongly influenced by modern climate than palaeoclimate. Overall, community structure of African mammals appears to be related to the ecological flexibility of the groups considered here and the regions of continental Africa that they occupy. Our results indicate that the future redistribution, expansion and contraction of particular biomes due to human activity, such as climate and land-use change, will differentially affect mammal groups that vary in their sensitivity to environmental change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]