Epistemology of Ecology Project

This research project initially arose as an effort from philosophy and methodology of science to supervise the quality of the scientific knowledge
(1) we use as a starting point to develop our research program and
(2) we generate.

The epistemological project's objective was to integrate and synthesize the ecological knowledge of the relationships among plants, seeds and granivorous animals at three spatial scales:
(1) the central region of the Monte desert in Argentina,
(2) southern South American deserts, and
(3) the arid regions of North and South America (and other continents).

We try to articulate empirical knowledge in solid theoretical and conceptual frameworks. A basic objective of the process of synthesis is the search for general statements (which characterize science), in spite of being aware that existential statements (i.e., not universal) can sometimes describe in a more accurate way the contingent reality we are analyzing.

The search for general statements in the studies centered in the Monte desert consists in skeptically revising previous knowledge and testing our own hypotheses more than once, by means of different techniques and using both observations and experiments. "Evidential consilience" and crosschecking serve us as tools to corroborate the degree of robustness of our affirmations. On integrating results for southern South America, we analyze conceptual assumptions and assumptions of the techniques employed by our team and other researchers in an attempt to evaluate the possibility of carrying out comparisons among them and to conciliate joint studies with objectives and techniques previously agreed upon. Some results obtained at this scale (e.g., the homogeneously important role of birds as granivores in Argentinean and Chilean deserts) support some expectations on the feasibility of generalizing at such spatial scale. The same approach can be transported to other places (in other continents) where the analysis of implicit assumptions in the investigations can be the key to find certain generalizations, regardless of how modest these may be.

The synthesis of ecological knowledge can be approached with very different philosophical and epistemological bases. The way in which the method of enquiry and fixation of beliefs (the method of science) is employed is not universal. It has subtle, yet powerful differences. Some examples: knowledge is justified in a different way depending on the reasoning employed, either inductive or deductive. Moreover, empiricists and realists confer data and theory a substantially different role in the conformation of knowledge. Therefore, the integration of knowledge is not a mere scientific task, but a decision that researchers make after an extensive philosophical and epistemological reflection. When this reflection is absent, scientists notwithstanding make philosophical decisions, those that are implicit in the way they conduct their research. Different philosophical approaches can also lead to dissimilar types of knowledge.

Our attempt to synthesize ecological knowledge of granivory studies is based on an explicit philosophical framework: the one provided by realism and by materialistic and emergentistic systemism. Our research program includes the task of elaborating and applying this philosophical framework to our ecological research lines which promotes the reflection about many other topics of biophilosophy or philosophy of science. This has encouraged the expansion of the original epistemological objectives to the following ones:

The epistemological evaluation of the Theory of Evolution by Natural Selection from the context given by the results of our field and laboratory ecological projects (Marone et al. 2002).

The comparative study of the philosophical and epistemological bases of classical ecology and macroecology.

The analysis of the use of guilds and indicator species as tools for techno-ecology (Milesi et al. 2002).

The evaluation of the role of theories (already established, under development) in the teaching of ecology and the need for considering them as "malleable human knowledge" (González del Solar y Marone 2001).

The reflection on the scientific thinking and the contribution of basic science to culture and society (Marone 1994)

The evaluation of Argentinian ecologists' activity and the analysis of the historical development of ecology in Argentina (Ribichich y Lopez de Casenave 1998)

The evaluation of similarities and differences between science (applied and basic), technology and the professional activity.

The study of the ontological and gnoseological obstacles in the development of "universal laws" in ecology.

The study of the transformations of the ecological knowledge while being transformed into environmental technology, of the difficulties involved in this process, and of the consequences both for the ecological science and the environmental technologies.