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16Complexity, Diversity, and StabilityIn Sahorta Sarkar & Anya Plutynski (eds.), Companion to the Philosophy of Biology, Blackwell. 2008.This chapter contains section titled: Introduction Emergence of the Stability‐Diversity—Complexity Debate Mathematization of Ecological Stability The End of the Consensus Contextualization and Classification of Ecological Stability Measures of Ecological Diversity and Complexity Evaluating Stability‐Diversity—Complexity Relationships Acknowledgments References Further Reading.
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31The algorithmic turn in conservation biology: Characterizing progress in ethically-driven sciencesStudies in History and Philosophy of Science Part A 88 (C): 181-192. 2021.As a discipline distinct from ecology, conservation biology emerged in the 1980s as a rigorous science focused on protecting biodiversity. Two algorithmic breakthroughs in information processing made this possible: place-prioritization algorithms and geographical information systems. They provided defensible, data-driven methods for designing reserves to conserve biodiversity that obviated the need for largely intuitive and highly problematic appeals to ecological theory at the time. But the sci…Read more
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74Mathematical Explanation and the Biological Optimality FallacyPhilosophy of Science 84 (5): 916-930. 2017.Pure mathematics can play an indispensable role explaining empirical phenomena if recent accounts of insect evolution are correct. In particular, the prime life cycles of cicadas and the geometric structure of honeycombs are taken to undergird an inference to the best explanation about mathematical entities. Neither example supports this inference or the mathematical realism it is intended to establish. Both incorrectly assume that facts about mathematical optimality drove selection for the resp…Read more
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41The ‘niche’ in niche-based theorizing: much ado about nothingBiology and Philosophy 37 (2): 1-21. 2022.The niche is allegedly the conceptual bedrock underpinning the most prominent, and some would say most important, theorizing in ecology. We argue this point of view is more aspirational than veridical. Rather than critically dissect existing definitions of the concept, the supposedly significant work it is thought to have done in ecology is our evaluative target. There is no denying the impressive mathematical sophistication and theoretical ingenuity of the ecological modeling that invokes ‘nich…Read more
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44The algorithmic turn in conservation biology: Characterizing progress in ethically-driven sciencesStudies in History and Philosophy of Science Part A 88 (C): 181-192. 2021.As a discipline distinct from ecology, conservation biology emerged in the 1980s as a rigorous science focused on protecting biodiversity. Two algorithmic breakthroughs in information processing made this possible: place-prioritization algorithms and geographical information systems. They provided defensible, data-driven methods for designing reserves to conserve biodiversity that obviated the need for largely intuitive and highly problematic appeals to ecological theory at the time. But the sci…Read more
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30The Philosophy of Ecology: An IntroductionCambridge University Press. 2021.Ecology is indispensable to understanding the biological world and addressing the environmental problems humanity faces. Its philosophy has never been more important. In this book, James Justus introduces readers to the philosophically rich issues ecology poses. Besides its crucial role in biological science generally, climate change, biodiversity loss, and other looming environmental challenges make ecology's role in understanding such threats and identifying solutions to them all the more crit…Read more
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36Ecological Theory and the Superfluous NichePhilosophical Topics 47 (1): 105-123. 2019.Perhaps no concept has been thought more important to ecological theorizing than the niche. Without it, technically sophisticated and well-regarded accounts of character displacement, ecological equivalence, limiting similarity, and others would seemingly never have been developed. The niche is also widely considered the centerpiece of the best candidate for a distinctively ecological law, the competitive exclusion principle. But the incongruous array and imprecise character of proposed definiti…Read more
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60The Cambridge Companion to CarnapBulletin of Symbolic Logic 15 (4): 428-431. 2009.Rudolf Carnap is increasingly regarded as one of the most important philosophers of the twentieth century. He was one of the leading figures of the logical empiricist movement associated with the Vienna Circle and a central figure in the analytic tradition more generally. He made major contributions to philosophy of science and philosophy of logic, and, perhaps most importantly, to our understanding of the nature of philosophy as a discipline. In this volume a team of contributors explores the m…Read more
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28The Cambridge companion to Carnap, edited by Michael Friedman and Richard Creath, Cambridge University Press, 2007, xvii + 371 pp (review)Bulletin of Symbolic Logic 15 (4): 428-431. 2009.
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2Cognitive significanceIn Sahotra Sarkar & Jessica Pfeifer (eds.), The Philosophy of Science: An Encyclopedia, Routledge. pp. 1--131. 2005.
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40A case study in concept determination: Ecological diversityIn Kevin deLaplante, Bryson Brown & Kent A. Peacock (eds.), Philosophy of Ecology, North-holland. pp. 11--147. 2011.
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131Qualitative Scientific Modeling and Loop AnalysisPhilosophy of Science 72 (5): 1272-1286. 2005.Loop analysis is a method of qualitative modeling anticipated by Sewall Wright and systematically developed by Richard Levins. In Levins’ (1966) distinctions between modeling strategies, loop analysis sacrifices precision for generality and realism. Besides criticizing the clarity of these distinctions, Orzack and Sober (1993) argued qualitative modeling is conceptually and methodologically problematic. Loop analysis of the stability of ecological communities shows this criticism is unjustified.…Read more
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245Carnap on concept determination: methodology for philosophy of science (review)European Journal for Philosophy of Science 2 (2): 161-179. 2012.Abstract Recent criticisms of intuition from experimental philosophy and elsewhere have helped undermine the authority of traditional conceptual analysis. As the product of more empirically informed philosophical methodology, this result is compelling and philosophically salutary. But the negative critiques rarely suggest a positive alternative. In particular, a normative account of concept determination—how concepts should be characterized—is strikingly absent from such work. Carnap's underap…Read more
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22The principle of complementarity in the design of reserve networks to conserve biodiversity: a preliminary historyJournal of Biosciences 27 421-435. 2001.Explicit, quantitative procedures for identifying biodiversity priority areas are replacing the often ad hoc procedures used in the past to design networks of reserves to conserve biodiversity. This change facilitates more informed choices by policy makers, and thereby makes possible greater satisfaction of conservation goals with increased efficiency. A key feature of these procedures is the use of the principle of complementarity, which ensures that areas chosen for inclusion in a reserve netw…Read more
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96Loop analysis and qualitative modeling: Limitations and merits (review)Biology and Philosophy 21 (5): 647-666. 2006.Richard Levins has advocated the scientific merits of qualitative modeling throughout his career. He believed an excessive and uncritical focus on emulating the models used by physicists and maximizing quantitative precision was hindering biological theorizing in particular. Greater emphasis on qualitative properties of modeled systems would help counteract this tendency, and Levins subsequently developed one method of qualitative modeling, loop analysis, to study a wide variety of biological ph…Read more
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27Bryan G. Norton: Searching for Sustainability: Interdisciplinary Essays in the Philosophy of Conservation Biology (review)Philosophy of Science 71 (2): 232-235. 2004.
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REVIEWS-M. Friedman and R. Creath (editors), The Cambridge companion to CarnapBulletin of Symbolic Logic 15 (4). 2009.
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134Ecological and lyapunov stabilityPhilosophy of Science 75 (4): 421-436. 2008.Ecologists have proposed several incompatible definitions of ecological stability. Emulating physicists, mathematical ecologists commonly define it as Lyapunov stability. This formalizes the problematic concept by integrating it into a well‐developed mathematical theory. The formalization also seems to capture the intuition that ecological stability depends on how ecological systems respond to perturbation. Despite these advantages, this definition is flawed. Although Lyapunov stability adequate…Read more
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1385X - Phi and Carnapian ExplicationErkenntnis 80 (2): 381-402. 2015.The rise of experimental philosophy has placed metaphilosophical questions, particularly those concerning concepts, at the center of philosophical attention. X-phi offers empirically rigorous methods for identifying conceptual content, but what exactly it contributes towards evaluating conceptual content remains unclear. We show how x-phi complements Rudolf Carnap’s underappreciated methodology for concept determination, explication. This clarifies and extends x-phi’s positive philosophical impo…Read more
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49Methodological Individualism in EcologyPhilosophy of Science 81 (5): 770-784. 2014.Methodological individualism has a long, successful, and controversial track record in the social sciences. Its record in ecology is much shorter but proving as successful and controversial with so-called individual-based models. Distinctions and debates about methodological individualism in social sciences clarify the commitments of this general, individualistic approach to modeling ecological phenomena and show that there is a lot recommending it. In particular, a representational priority on …Read more
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9Book ReviewBryan G. Norton, Searching for Sustainability: Interdisciplinary Essays in the Philosophy of Conservation Biology. New York: Cambridge University Press , viii + 554 pp., $30.00 (review)Philosophy of Science 71 (2): 232-235. 2004.
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82Evidentiary inference in evolutionary biology: Review of Elliott Sober’s Evidence and evolution: the logic behind the science. Cambridge University Press, New YorkBiology and Philosophy 26 (3): 419-437. 2011.
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37Philosophical Issues in EcologyIn K. Kampourakis (ed.), Philosophy of Biology: A Companion for Educators, Springer. 2013.
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146Carnap's Forgotten Criterion of Empirical SignificanceMind 123 (490): 415-436. 2014.The waning popularity of logical empiricism and the supposed discovery of insurmountable technical difficulties led most philosophers to abandon the project to formulate a formal criterion of empirical significance. Such a criterion would delineate claims that observation can confirm or disconfirm from those it cannot. Although early criteria were clearly inadequate, criticisms made of later, more sophisticated criteria were often indefensible or easily answered. Most importantly, Carnap’s last …Read more
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74The Elusive Basis of Inferential RobustnessPhilosophy of Science 79 (5): 795-807. 2012.Robustness concepts are often invoked to manage two obstacles confronting models of ecological systems: complexity and uncertainty. The intuitive idea is that any result derived from many idealized but credible models is thereby made more reliable or is better confirmed. An appropriate basis for this inference has proven elusive. Here, several representations of robustness analysis are vetted, paying particular attention to complex models of ecosystems and the global climate. The claim that robu…Read more
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21ebec and Queensland, we applied four methods to assess the extent to which environmental surrogates can represent biodiversity components: (1) surrogacy graphs; (2) marginal representation plots; (3) Hamming distance function; and (4) Syrjala statistical test for spatial congruence. For Qu´ebec we used 719 faunal and floral species as biodiversity components, and for Queensland we used 2348 plant species. We used four climatic parameter types (annual mean temperature, minimum temperature during …Read more
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565The natural environment is valuable but not infinitely valuableConservation Letters 3 224-228. 2010.It has been argued in the conservation literature that giving conservation absolute priority over competing interests would best protect the environment. Attributing infinite value to the environment or claiming it is ‘priceless’ are two ways of ensuring this priority (e.g. Hargrove 1989; Bulte and van Kooten 2000; Ackerman and Heinzerling 2002; McCauley 2006; Halsing and Moore 2008). But such proposals would paralyse conservation efforts. We describe the serious problems with these proposals an…Read more
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