William A. Reiners, Jeffrey A. Lockwood

Philosophical Foundations for the Practices of Ecology

• Broschiertes Buch

Produktbeschreibung

Ecologists use a remarkable range of methods and techniques to understand complex, inherently variable, and functionally diverse entities and processes across a staggering range of spatial, temporal and interactive scales. These multiple perspectives make ecology very different to the exemplar of science often presented by philosophers. In Philosophical Foundations for the Practices of Ecology, designed for graduate students and researchers, ecology is put into a new philosophical framework that engages with this inherent pluralism while still placing constraints on the ways that we can investigate and understand nature. The authors begin by exploring the sources of variety in the practice of ecology and how these have led to the current conceptual confusion. They argue that the solution is to adopt the approach of constrained perspectivism and go on to explore the ontological, metaphysical, and epistemological aspects of this position and how it can be used in ecological research and teaching. Ecology is intuitively appealing, sociopolitically important and intellectually difficult. This book explains why ecology is so challenging. It describes the kind of philosophy that is required to incorporate the multiple lenses through which we seek to know nature.

Produktdetails

• Verlag: Cambridge University Press
• Seitenzahl: 228
• Erscheinungstermin: 11. Dezember 2009
• Englisch
• Abmessung: 229mm x 152mm x 12mm
• Gewicht: 380g
• ISBN-13: 9780521133036
• ISBN-10: 0521133033
• Artikelnr.: 26572579

Autorenporträt

Bill Reiners has practised ecology for 45 years. His practice has primarily been focused at the ecosystem level, more specifically with biogeochemical phenomena, but he has also been interested in vegetation patterns across landscapes and the nature of disturbance and recovery in vegetation and ecosystems. His teaching and research have taken him to many terrestrial habitats ranging from tropical and temperate rain forests, temperate deciduous and coniferous forests and sagebrush steppe. He has been recognized as an ISI Highly Cited researcher, been recognized with a number of campus-wide awards at the University of Wyoming, and as a distinguished alumnus of Rutgers University.

Inhaltsangabe

Preface and acknowledgements; 1. Introduction; 2. Conceptual confusion in ecology and its causes; 3. Causes of ecology's conceptual confusion; 4. Finding ourselves in philosophical terms; 5. Ecological pragmatism and constrained perspectivism - an introduction; 6. Ecological pragmatism and constrained perspectivism - ontology; 7. Ecological pragmatism and constrained perspectivism - metaphysics; 8. Ecological pragmatism and constrained perspectivism - epistemology; 9. Ecological pragmatism and constrained perspectivism - a summary; 10. The practice of constrained perspectivism in ecology; 11. What constrained perspectivism offers to the teaching of ecology; 12. The heroic handy man and the future of ecology; Glossary of philosophical terms; Index.

Rezensionen

'... a valuable introductory account of philosophy. The authors' arguments show clarity and are illustrated with simple examples. There is also a useful glossary of philosophical terms. I am sure many biology students will welcome this text as a guide through unfamiliar territory.' The Biologist