INTRODUCTION: UNDEAD DOGMAS OF EMPIRICISM

The philosophy of biology has matured quite a bit over the last two decades. Back in 1988, Ruse noted a conspicuous dearth of work on ecology. But by 1999, Sterelny and Griffiths devoted an entire chapter to it in their introduction to the philosophy of biology. There is still plenty of room, and reason, for more philosophical attention to a science so vital for understanding and addressing environmental concerns. But at least several people now make philosophy of ecology their academic specialty.

In the following I shall very briefly survey recent developments in both ecology and the philosophy thereof. One important aspect of the developments within ecology is an expansion to larger spatiotemporal scales of investigation. This wider focus has often, though not always, resulted in a shift in perspective, from viewing ecological entities as closed systems to treating them as open systems. I will take a closer look at three examples of scale expansion and tease out some of their implications for environmental policy, on one hand, and still-common reductionist philosophies of science, on the other. Finally, I will consider the philosophical implications of the search for mechanisms, when the open nature of the systems under study is acknowledged.