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Philosophy of Ecology

  • 1st Edition, Volume 11 - April 28, 2011
  • Latest edition
  • Editors: Bryson Brown, Dov M. Gabbay, Paul Thagard, Kevin de Laplante, John Woods, Kent Peacock
  • Language: English

The most pressing problems facing humanity today — over-population, energy shortages, climate change, soil erosion, species extinctions, the risk of epidemic disease, the threat of… Read more

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Description

The most pressing problems facing humanity today — over-population, energy shortages, climate change, soil erosion, species extinctions, the risk of epidemic disease, the threat of warfare that could destroy all the hard-won gains of civilization, and even the recent fibrillations of the stock market — are all ecological or have a large ecological component. in this volume philosophers turn their attention to understanding the science of ecology and its huge implications for the human project. To get the application of ecology to policy or other practical concerns right, humanity needs a clear and disinterested philosophical understanding of ecology which can help identify the practical lessons of science. Conversely, the urgent practical demands humanity faces today cannot help but direct scientific and philosophical investigation toward the basis of those ecological challenges that threaten human survival. This book will help to fuel the timely renaissance of interest in philosophy of ecology that is now occurring in the philosophical profession.

Key features

  • Provides a bridge between philosophy and current scientific findings
  • Covers theory and applications
  • Encourages multi-disciplinary dialogue

Readership

Scholars, graduate students and policymakers with an interest in ecology

Table of contents

Introduction
Philosophy of Ecology Today by Bryson Brown and Kevin deLaplante
Part 1. Philosophical Issues in the History and Science of Ecology
Origins and Development of Ecology by Arnold van der Valk
The Legend of Order and Chaos: Communities and Early Community Ecology by Christopher Eliot
Philosophical Themes in the Work of Robert MacArthur by Jay Odenbaugh
Embodied Realism and Invasive Species by Brendon M. H. Larson
A Case Study in Concept Determination: Ecological Diversity by James Justus
The Biodiversity-Ecosystem Function Debate in Ecology by Kevin deLaplante and Valentin Picasso
A Dynamical Approach to Ecosystem Identity by John Collier and Graeme S. Cumming
Symbiosis in Ecology and Evolution by Kent A. Peacock
Ecology as Historical Science by Bryson Brown
Part 2. Philosophical Issues and Conservation Science
Environmental Ethics and Decision Theory: Fellow Travellers or Bitter Enemies? by Mark Colyvan and Katie Steele
Postmodern Ecological Restoration: Choosing Appropriate Temporal and Spatial Scales by
J. Baird Callicott
Habitat Reconstruction: Moving Beyond Historical Fidelity by Sahotra Sarkar
Modeling Sustainability in Economics and Ecology by Bryan G. Norton
Diversity and the Good by Gregory M. Mikkelson

Review quotes

"…whereas much prior philosophizing about ecology has been either environmental fluff or the academic rationalization of predetermined and platitudinous endpoints (e.g., wanton destruction of nature is unethical), there appears now to be the real possibility of a philosophy of ecology."(reprinted from The Quarterly Review of Biology, June 2012)—BookInspections.com, May 26, 2013

"The present volume brings together in one place the recent works of many thinkers, including those such as Jay Odenbaugh and Gregory Mikkelson, professional philosophers who have made understanding and interpreting ecology their primary focus (and not just ecology in general, but specific problems in ecological theory). Thus, whereas much prior philosophizing about ecology has been either environmental fluff or the academic rationalization of predetermined and platitudinous endpoints (e.g., wanton destruction of nature is unethical), there appears now to be the real possibility of a philosophy of ecology…. [T]the essays by Christopher Eliot (The Legend of Order and Chaos: Communities and Early Community Ecology), James Justus (A Case Study in Concept Determination: Ecological Diversity), and Sahotra Sarkar (Habitat Reconstruction: Moving Beyond Historical Fidelity) are landmarks in the clarification of the philosophical problems that are throughout ecology."—

The Quarterly Review of Biology, June 2012, page 141-2

Product details

  • Edition: 1
  • Latest edition
  • Volume: 11
  • Published: April 14, 2015
  • Language: English

About the editors

DG

Dov M. Gabbay

Dov M. Gabbay is Augustus De Morgan Professor Emeritus of Logic at the Group of Logic, Language and Computation, Department of Computer Science, King's College London. He has authored over four hundred and fifty research papers and over thirty research monographs. He is editor of several international Journals, and many reference works and Handbooks of Logic.
Affiliations and expertise
Augustus De Morgan Professor Emeritus of Logic at the Group of Logic, Language and Computation, Department of Computer Science, King's College London.

PT

Paul Thagard

Affiliations and expertise
University of Waterloo, Canada

JW

John Woods

Affiliations and expertise
University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada

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