When Logic Fails Ecology

Ecology plays an important role in society, informing policy and management decisions across a variety of issues. As such, regularities in processes would indicate higher levels of predictive outcomes and would reduce the amount of research required for specific issues that policy makers need addres...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published inThe Quarterly review of biology Vol. 83; no. 1; pp. 57 - 64
Main Author Lockwood, Dale R.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published United States The University of Chicago Press 01.03.2008
University of Chicago, acting through its Press
Subjects
Agroecology
Applied ecology
Biology
Conservation biology
Ecology
Ecology - methods
Ecophilosophy
Human ecology
Humans
Legal objections
Logic
Philosophy
Population ecology
Population growth
Restoration ecology
Science
Science and Philosophy Symposium
Social Sciences
Theory
Online AccessGet full text

Cover

More Information
Summary:Ecology plays an important role in society, informing policy and management decisions across a variety of issues. As such, regularities in processes would indicate higher levels of predictive outcomes and would reduce the amount of research required for specific issues that policy makers need addressed. Scientific laws are considered the pinnacle of success and usefulness in addressing regularities or universal truths. Ecology studies complex interactions of individuals with unique behaviors, making the identification of laws problematic. Two equations, Malthusian growth and the logistic equation, continue to receive attention and are frequently cited as exemplar laws in ecology. However, an understanding of scientific laws shows that neither are good candidates for law status. In this paper, I will discuss why ecology is not well structured for scientific laws, as they are currently understood. Finally, I will consider alternative proposals for the role of laws in ecology and alternate forms of laws that may be applicable.
Bibliography:ObjectType-Article-2
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
ObjectType-Feature-1
content type line 23
ObjectType-Article-1
ObjectType-Feature-2
ISSN:0033-5770
1539-7718
DOI:10.1086/529563