A critique for ecology / Robert Henry Peters.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Peters, Robert Henry.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Ecology.

Physical Description:

xiv, 366 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm

Place of Publication:

Cambridge [England] ; New York : Cambridge University Press, 1991.

Summary:

The motto of the Royal Society is 'nullius in verba' because, in science, words alone are empty. Scientists are interested in verbal statements only to the extent that they represent hypotheses to be tested and questioned, that is, to be criticized. Because science grows by first recognizing its faults through self-criticism, and then moving to correct those faults, existing conceptual constructs and theories must be criticized.

This book offers a critique of contemporary ecology. It accepts that science is a device to provide information about nature but argues that much of ecology cannot be science because ecology often provides no formation and, when it does, that information is of such poor quality that it can only be soft science. Although these deficiencies have often been identified, their pervasiveness has not been fully acknowledged, nor have the many similarities of problems in different areas been appreciated. If ecology and environmental science are to meet the needs of the present decade and next millenium, ecological researchers will need far more acute critical abilities than they have yet demonstrated.

Ecologists have minimized the importance of predictive power in assessing scientific quality. Instead, they offer logical rationalization, historical explanation and mechanistic understanding. Given this context, ecologists fall prey to a number of minor failings that complicate and confound any assessment of the science. Even when predictions are possible, they are often vague, inaccurate, qualitative, subjective and inconsequential. Modern ecology is too often only scholastic puzzle-solving.

Ecology can be effective. Informative and predictive ecology is already a reality in autecology, community ecology, limnology and ecotoxicology. Ecology can become a useful practical science, providing the tools we need to defend the earth and protect our own future, but first we must recognize present inadequacies. This book was written to promote such a development. It is suitable for advanced undergraduate and graduate courses in ecology and the environmental sciences. It should interest professionals in both areas, as well as geographers, landscape architects and all those who now try to extract useful information from contemporary ecology.

Contents:

1 Crisis in ecology 1

Ecologists against ecology 4

Sociological evidence against ecology 6

Evidence from the deepening environmental crisis 10

Academic ecology poses unanswerable questions 13

Summary

Scientific growth depends on scientific criticism 14

2 Criteria 17

By definition and example: logic, science and theory 18

Hypothetico-deductive science 21

Criteria for judging scientific theories 26

A hierarchy of scientific criteria 36

3 Tautology 38

Tautologies and deductive tools 38

The principle of evolution by natural selection 60

Two tools for two jobs 73

4 Operationalization of terms and concepts 74

Operationalization of concepts 76

Typologies and classifications 80

Conceptual variables

stability and diversity 92

Non-operational relationships 96

Atheoretical concepts 97

Concepts in ecology: the effects of poor examples 100

The costs of non-operational concepts for ecology 104

5 Explanatory science: reduction, cause and mechanism 105

Prediction and explanation: alternate goals for science 106

Reductionism: an unattainable goal 110

Causality 128

Instrumentalist research 136

The twin perils of mechanistic and causal explanations 146

6 Historical explanation and understanding 147

Scientific explanation and understanding 147

Historical explanations and ecology 154

Legitimate roles for historical understanding in ecology 170

Explanations in ecology 176

7 Weak predictions 178

Relevance 178

Accuracy 189

Imprecise and qualitative predictions 196

Generality and specificity 211

Economy 216

Appeal 218

Practicality and appeal 219

8 Checklist of problems 220

Extensions and hypotheses 250

The challenge of good science 254

9 Putting it together

competition 256

The prevalence of competition 257

Operationalization 259

Tautology 263

Historical explanation 266

Mechanisms of competition 268

The theoretical status of 'competition theory' 270

The muddles of ecology 273

10 Predictive ecology 274

Eight classes of model theories in predictive ecology 274

The attractions of predictive ecology 290

A scientific alternative for ecology 304.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (305-344) and indexes.

ISBN:

0521400171

0521395887

OCLC:

22709204