文章基本信息

标题：Philosophical Issues in Ecology: Recent Trends and Future Directions
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作者：Mark Colyvan ; Stefan Linquist ; William Grey 等
期刊名称：Ecology and Society
印刷版ISSN：1708-3087
电子版ISSN：1708-3087
出版年度：2009
卷号：14
期号：2
出版社：The Resilience Alliance
摘要：Philosophy of ecology has been slow to become established as an area of philosophicalinterest, but it is now receiving considerable attention. This area holds great promise for the advancementof both ecology and the philosophy of science. Insights from the philosophy of science can advance ecologyin a number of ways. For example, philosophy can assist with the development of improved models ofecological hypothesis testing and theory choice. Philosophy can also help ecologists understand the roleand limitations of mathematical models in ecology. On the other side, philosophy of science will be advancedby having ecological case studies as part of the stock of examples. Ecological case studies can shed lighton old philosophical topics as well as raise novel issues for the philosophy of science. For example,understanding theoretical terms such as "biodiversity" is important for scientific reasons, but such termsalso carry political importance. Formulating appropriate definitions for such terms is thus not a purelyscientific matter, and this may prompt a reevaluation of philosophical accounts of defining theoreticalterms. We consider some of the topics currently receiving attention in the philosophy of ecology and othertopics in need of attention. Our aim is to prompt further exchange between ecology and philosophy ofscience and to help set the agenda for future work in the philosophy of ecology. The topics covered include:the role of mathematical models, environmental problem formulation, biodiversity, and environmentalethics
关键词：biodiversity; community ecology; decision theory; environmental ethics; hypothesis testing;philosophy of ecology; population models