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ABSTRACT: In 1964 Paul Sears asked whether the findings of ecology might act to subvert social and political orders. But ecology might also serve to challenge deeply-held scientific assumptions. To explore how ecology tends to change scientific perspectives, the fundamental assumptions that characterized the 19th Century Newtonian worldview are enumerated as a reference: Nature was assumed to be(1) causally closed, (2) deterministic, (3) universal, (4) reversible, and (5) atomistic. Contemporary ecology, and especially network analysis and the theory of increasing ascendency, are more consonant with an entirely different set of guiding postulates. The emerging ecological worldview differs significantly from the Newtonian metaphysic on all five points: Ecology reveals that nature can be (1) ontically open, (2) contingent, (3) "granular" in space and time, (4) historical, and (5) organic, respectively. Keywords: Aristotelian causalities; ascendency; autocatalysis; indeterminacy; information theory; organicism; propensity; Stochasticism; Telos. ECOLOGIA, A CIÊNCIA SUBVERSIVA? Resumo: Em 1964, Paul Sears indagou se as descobertas da ecologia poderiam agir de modo a subverter as ordens política e social. Mas a ecologia poderia também servir para desafiar pressuposições científicas profundamente arraigadas. Para explorar como a ecologia tende a alterar as perspectivas científicas, as pressuposições fundamentais que caracterizaram a visão de mundo newtoniana do século 19 são enumeradas como referenciais: a Natureza era tomada como sendo (1) causalmente fechada,(2) determinística,(3) universal, (4)reversível e (5) atomística. A ecologia contemporânea, e especialmente a análise de redes e a teoria da ascendência crescente são mais consonantes com um conjunto inteiramente distinto de postulados orientadores. A visão de mundo ecológica emergente difere significativamente da metafísica newtoniana em todos os cinco pontos: a ecologia revela que a natureza pode ser (1) onticamente aberta, (2) contingente, (3) "granular" no ...

AbstractA significant characteristic of post‐Newtonian science is its exclusion of all but material and mechanical causalities. There is reason to question whether such minimalism is sufficient to describe living processes. Paradoxically, a strict material/mechanical stance may engender unnecessary anthropomorphism. By admitting autopoiesis as an example of formal cause at work in living system, a more sufficient and natural description of biological phenomena results. Furthermore, recent advances in the analysis of networks provide a quantitative framework for identifying the effects of formal causes at the system level.

This volume provides a current synthesis of theoretical and empirical food web research. Whether they are binary systems or weighted networks, food webs are of particular interest to ecologists in providing a macroscopic view of ecosystems. They describe interactions between species and their environment, and subsequent advances in the understanding of their structure, function, and dynamics are of vital importance to ecosystem management and conservation.Aquatic Food Webs provides a synthesis of the current issues in food web theory and its applications, covering issues of structure, function, scaling, complexity, and stability in the contexts of conservation, fisheries, and climate. Although the focus of this volume is upon aquatic food webs (where many ofthe recent advances have been made), any ecologist with an interest in food web theory and its applications will find the issues addressed in this book of value and use.

This Element develops an innovative combinatorial model of technological change and tests it with 2,000 years of data from global GDP data and US patents, thus generating the observed historical pattern of technological change. This Element models the Industrial Revolution as a combinatorial explosion.