A Critique for Ecology

Features

• Cover Type: Paperback with 384 pages
• Published by: Cambridge University Press July 26, 1991
• Written in: English
• ISBN 10 Number: 0521395887
• ISBN 13 Number: 978-0521395885
• Book Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.9 inches
• Weighs: 1.2 pounds

Product Review
"an engaging (and occasionally enraging) book that we should all read, while reflecting on how it pertains to our particular subdisciplines. Not everyone will agree with Peters' analysis, nor his proposed solutions. No matter; the self-evaluation he inspires can only improve our science." Naomi Cappuccino, Ecology

Product Description
This book offers a critique of contemporary ecology, which could be applied to any discipline. Author Peters contends that science is a device to offer information about nature through predictions, but that a substantial part of ecology cannot be science because it provides no concrete information and much of the rest of ecology provides data of such poor quality that it can only be called soft science. Although instances of these deficiencies have often been identified, the pervasiveness of the problem has not been fully acknowledged, nor have the similarities among different problem areas been appreciated. If ecology and environmental science are to grow to meet the requirements of the present decade and next millennium, scientists in these fields will need much more acute critical abilities than they have yet demonstrated. Professor Peters argues specifically that a return to simple questions of fact, to observations, and to questions of general relevance to science and society can make ecology a useful, practical, and informative science, which is desperately needed to meet the problems of our age. This thought-provoking and perhaps controversial book will be of particular interest to ecologists, but all scientists, from undergraduates to senior academics and professionals, can benefit from reading it.

Reader Reviews
This book takes on some of the fundamental assumptions (and misperceptions) that are commonly presented in Ecology and Environmental Studies. Writing in a clear and forthright manner Peters lays out philosophical underpinnings of many of the "sacred cows" that all too often get tossed out to eager students by reluctant, unwilling professors who have been drafted into teaching "General Ecology" when they would much rather be doing their research. These cows then wander off and become fixed features of High School texts & wind up before legislators as accepted wisdom, rather than the tentative (and often ill-formed) hypotheses that they are. Peters is to be commended by both the strength and range of his arguments. This should be "must reading" for graduate students and advanced undergraduates.