ECOLOGY AND HUMAN-DOMINATED ECOSYSTEMS: A PHILOSOPHICAL STUDY

生态学和人类主导的生态系统：一项哲学研究

• 批准号: 0522075
• 负责人: Mark Sagoff
• 金额: $ 6万
• 依托单位: University of Maryland, College Park
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2006
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2006-01-01 至 2006-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0522075&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: ECOLOGY; HUMAN; DOMINATED; ECOSYSTEMS; PHILOSOPHICAL

The research proposed here considers as a philosophical question whether and how ecological science may apply to human-dominated ecosystems. The project will analyze different answers ecologists may give to the question whether the objects of ecological theory ("ecosystems," "communities," "lakes," "forests," etc.) consist paradigmatically in relatively "pristine" sites or whether they include as well any interacting assemblage of living things in its physical environment. If the former, ecologists may regard humanity as external to ecosystem structure and as likely to disturb it. If the latter, ecologists may study human-dominated ecosystems as unexceptional objects of research, including human activity in the normal functioning of ecosystems. Many ecologists recognize that most or all places they may study include the consequences of human influence and activity rather than simply or primarily the results of nature's spontaneous course. The proposed research examines the conceptual and normative consequences associated with various choices ecologists may make insofar as they move the focus of their research from relatively "pristine" to human-influenced or dominated ecosystems. Many ecologists have sought to identify general models or principles (such as rules that correlate with ecosystem structure, function or assembly) that would constitute a core theory and distinguish ecology from other often more inductive or historical biological and environmental sciences. These rules, principles, and models, however, traditionally were thought to apply to "natural" communities or ecosystems. If ecologists study the same human-dominated sites as other environmental sciences (including agronomy, veterinary science, plant breeding, silviculture, aquaculture, etc.), it may no longer be as clear how ecology differs from them. The proposed research will analyze various options open to ecologists in determining how the knowledge and insights they seek in studying human-dominated ecosystems may differ from or add to the knowledge or understanding associated with environmental sciences used to create or manage those systems. The proposed research will contribute to an emerging literature on the philosophy of ecology. This literature, described in the proposal, provides a solid foundation, and a useful foil, for the conceptual and normative analysis proposed here. The intellectual merit of the proposed research will depend, of course, on the care and clarity that characterize the normative and conceptual analyses it undertakes. Indicators of likely success may be found in the track record of the PI in: publishing analytical books and articles in related areas of environmental ethics, law, and policy; drawing on the advice of ecologists, environmental policy makers, and philosophical students of ecology; and, commenting on the literature in the field. Public policies for, and courses taught about, the conservation of nature often rely on ecological concepts such as biodiversity, ecosystem stability, resilience, productivity, integrity, and so on. These concepts were developed in the context of an ecological science directed primarily toward relatively "pristine" or "natural" ecosystems. The proposed research will examine the normative consequences for concepts of conservation that may follow insofar as ecological science includes rather than excludes human influence and activity in the sites it studies. To examine this transformation in ecology is to address pressing and vexing issues in conservation science.

这里提出的研究将生态科学是否以及如何应用于人类主导的生态系统作为一个哲学问题。该项目将分析生态学家可能给出的不同答案，即生态理论的对象(“生态系统”、“群落”、“湖泊”、“森林”等)它们通常位于相对“原始”的地点，或者它们是否也包括其物理环境中任何相互作用的生物集合。如果是前者，生态学家可能会认为人类是生态系统结构的外部因素，并有可能干扰生态系统结构。如果是后者，生态学家可能会将人类主导的生态系统作为非特殊研究对象进行研究，包括人类在生态系统正常运作中的活动。许多生态学家认识到，他们可能研究的大部分或所有地方都包括人类影响和活动的结果，而不是简单或主要是自然自发过程的结果。这项拟议的研究考察了生态学家可能做出的各种选择带来的概念性和规范性后果，因为他们将研究重点从相对“原始”的生态系统转移到人类影响或主导的生态系统。许多生态学家试图确定构成核心理论的一般模型或原则(如与生态系统结构、功能或组合相关的规则)，并将生态学与其他往往更具诱导性或历史性的生物和环境科学区分开来。然而，这些规则、原则和模式传统上被认为适用于“自然”社区或生态系统。如果生态学家像研究其他环境科学(包括农学、兽医学、植物育种、森林养殖学、水产养殖学等)一样研究人类占主导地位的地点，那么生态学与它们之间的区别可能不再那么明显。这项拟议的研究将分析生态学家在确定他们在研究人类主导的生态系统时寻求的知识和见解如何与用于创建或管理这些系统的环境科学相关的知识或理解有所不同或增加的各种选择。这项拟议的研究将有助于形成关于生态哲学的新兴文献。提案中描述的这些文献为这里提出的概念性和规范性分析提供了坚实的基础和有用的陪衬。当然，拟议研究的学术价值将取决于它所进行的规范性和概念性分析的细致性和清晰性。可能取得成功的指标可以从以下方面的记录中找到：出版环境伦理、法律和政策相关领域的分析书籍和文章；借鉴生态学家、环境政策制定者和生态学哲学专业学生的建议；以及对该领域的文献进行评论。保护自然的公共政策和课程往往依赖于生态概念，如生物多样性、生态系统稳定性、复原力、生产力、完整性等。这些概念是在生态科学的背景下发展起来的，主要针对相对“原始”或“自然”的生态系统。拟议的研究将审查生态科学包括而不是排除人类在其研究的地点的影响和活动时，保护概念可能产生的规范性后果。从生态学的角度审视这一转变，就是为了解决保护科学中紧迫而棘手的问题。