The reality of ecological assemblages: A palaeo-ecological puzzle [Book Review]

Biology and Philosophy 16 (4):437-461 (2001)
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Abstract

Ecological communities, I argue, are objective units of nature if theyhave structure that regulates their membership. Evidence of suchstructure in contemporary ecology is scant, but the palaeoecologicalphenomenon of co-ordinated stasis is a prima facie example ofinternal regulation. I argue that no individualist attempts to explainaway the appearance of internal regulation succeeds. But no internalistmodel is fully satisfactory, either, in explaining the contrast betweenpre and post Pleistocene ecology.

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Kim Sterelny
Australian National University

Citations of this work

Indexically Structured Ecological Communities.Christopher Hunter Lean - 2018 - Philosophy of Science 85 (3):501-522.
Theoretical ecology as etiological from the start.Justin Donhauser - 2016 - Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part C: Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences 60:67-76.
Methodological Individualism in Ecology.James Justus - 2014 - Philosophy of Science 81 (5):770-784.

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