Laws, models and analogies in ecology

生态学中的定律、模型和类比

• 批准号: DP170104924
• 负责人: Prof Mark Colyvan
• 金额: $ 17.3万
• 依托单位: The University of Sydney
• 依托单位国家: 澳大利亚
• 项目类别: Discovery Projects
• 财政年份: 2017
• 资助国家: 澳大利亚
• 起止时间: 2017-06-30 至 2020-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://dataportal.arc.gov.au/RGS/Web/Grants/DP170104924
• 关键词: Laws; models; analogies; ecology

This project aims to explore whether there are laws in ecology and, if so, what role they play in ecological theory. If there were no ecological laws, ecologists would merely supply suites of models which would be assessed for their empirical adequacy but not for their ability to capture truths. If ecology does have laws, what are these laws and why do the best candidates for ecological laws not have exceptions? This project could influence understanding of ecological theory from a philosophical and an ecological perspective. This may have implications for the methodology of ecology and ecological modelling.

本项目旨在探索生态学中是否存在规律，如果存在，它们在生态学理论中扮演什么角色。如果没有生态学定律，生态学家将仅仅提供一套模型，这些模型将被评估其经验的充分性，而不是他们捕捉真理的能力。如果生态学确实有定律，那么这些定律是什么？为什么最适合生态学定律的候选者没有例外？该项目可能会影响从哲学和生态学角度对生态理论的理解。这可能对生态学和生态建模方法产生影响。