Philosophy of Biology
- Jay Odenbaugh, P. Griffiths
- Philosophy
- 15 January 2010
General Preface (D. Gabbay, P. Thagard and J. Woods) Contents Preface (Mohan Matthen and Christopher Stephens) List of Contributors I. Biography Darwin (Michael Ruse) Sir Ronald Aylmer Fisher (Robert…
Managed Relocation: Integrating the Scientific, Regulatory, and Ethical Challenges
- M. Schwartz, J. Hellmann, Sandra B. Zellmer
- Environmental Science
- 1 August 2012
Managed relocation is defined as the movement of species, populations, or genotypes to places outside the areas of their historical distributions to maintain biological diversity or ecosystem…
Idealized, Inaccurate but Successful: A Pragmatic Approach to Evaluating Models in Theoretical Ecology
- Jay Odenbaugh
- Biology
- 1 March 2005
It is argued that model building is successful even when models are predictively inaccurate for at least three reasons: models allow scientists to explore the possible behaviors of ecological systems; models give scientists simplified means by which they can investigate more complex systems by determining how the more complex system deviates from the simpler model.
Buyer beware: robustness analyses in economics and biology
- Jay Odenbaugh, A. Alexandrova
- Economics
- 10 June 2011
It is argued that the power of robustness analysis has been greatly exaggerated and is best regarded as a method of discovery rather than confirmation.
On the Very Idea of an Ecosystem
- Jay Odenbaugh
- Philosophy
- 2010
In this chapter, I consider several different issues. First, I examine how token ecosystems are individuated by ecologists. Second, I examine whether ecosystems, or more specifically their…
True Lies: Realism, Robustness, and Models
- Jay Odenbaugh
- PhilosophyPhilosophia Scientiæ
- 1 December 2011
It is argued that unless idealizations are eliminated from an idealized theory and robustness analysis need not do that, scientists are not justified in believing that the theory is true.
Seeing the Forest and the Trees: Realism about Communities and Ecosystems
- Jay Odenbaugh
- Environmental SciencePhilosophia Scientiæ
- 1 December 2007
This essay evaluates two of the most serious challenges to the existence of communities—gradient and paleoecological analysis respectively—arguing that, properly understood, neither threatens theexistence of communities construed interactively.
Complex Systems, Trade‐Offs, and Theoretical Population Biology: Richard Levin's “Strategy of Model Building in Population Biology” Revisited
- Jay Odenbaugh
- PhilosophyPhilosophia Scientiæ
- 1 December 2003
Ecologist Richard Levins argues population biologists must trade‐off the generality, realism, and precision of their models since biological systems are complex and our limitations are severe. Steven…
The strategy of “The strategy of model building in population biology”
- Jay Odenbaugh
- Biology
- 15 February 2007
This essay argues that Richard Levins’ classic “The Strategy of Model Building in Population Biology” was a statement and defense of theoretical population biology growing out of collaborations between Robert MacArthur, Richard Lewontin, E. O. Wilson, and others and that the essay served as a response to the rise of systems ecology.
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