Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-2plfb Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-30T15:20:20.088Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Functions and Functioning in Aldo Leopold’s Land Ethic and in Ecology

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2022

Roberta L. Millstein
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

I examine the use of the term function in Aldo Leopold’s land ethic, invoked as (1) the healthy functioning of the land community, which is dependent on (2) the maintenance of the characteristic functions of populations that are parts of the land community. The latter can be understood as referring to interactions between species that are the products of coevolution (such as parasite-host, predator-prey) and, thus, in terms of the “selected effect” account of function. The performance of these functions under certain conditions maintain what Leopold took to be the healthy functioning of a land community.

Type
Research Article
Information
Philosophy of Science , Volume 87 , Issue 5: PSA 2018 - Proceedings of the 2018 biennial meeting of the Philosophy of Science Association. Part II Symposia Papers , December 2020 , pp. 1107 - 1118
Copyright
Copyright © The Philosophy of Science Association

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

†

Thanks to Antoine Dussault, Justin Garson, Andrew Inkpen, Chris Lean, Maureen O’Malley, and the Griesemer/Millstein Lab for helpful comments at various stages of this project.

References

Caro, Tim, Izzo, Amanda, Reiner, Robert C. Jr., Walker, Hannah, and Stankowich, Theodore. 2014. “The Function of Zebra Stripes.” Nature Communications 5:1–10.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cummins, Robert. 1975. “Functional Analysis.” Journal of Philosophy 72:741–64.10.2307/2024640CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Darimont, C., Reimchen, T., and Paquet, P.. 2003. “Foraging Behaviour by Gray Wolves on Salmon Streams in Coastal British Columbia.” Canadian Journal of Zoology 81:349–53.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Darwin, Charles. 1859. On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life. 1st ed. London: Murray.Google Scholar
Dussault, Antoine C. 2018. “Functional Ecology’s Non-selectionist Understanding of Function.” Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences 70:1–9.10.1016/j.shpsc.2018.05.001CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dussault, Antoine C., and Bouchard, Frédéric. 2017. Synthese 194:1115–45.10.1007/s11229-016-1065-5CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Godfrey-Smith, Peter. 1994. “A Modern History Theory of Functions.” Noûs 28:344–62.10.2307/2216063CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gould, Stephen Jay, and Vrba, Elisabeth S.. 1982. “Exaptation—a Missing Term in the Science of Form.” Paleobiology 8:4–15.10.1017/S0094837300004310CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Inkpen, S. Andrew, Douglas, Gavin M., Brunet, T. D. P., Leuschen, Karl, Doolittle, W. Ford, and Langille, Morgan G. I.. 2017. “The Coupling of Taxonomy and Function in Microbiomes.” Biology and Philosophy 32:1225–43.10.1007/s10539-017-9602-2CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jax, Kurt. 2005. “Function and ‘Functioning’ in Ecology: What Does It Mean?” Oikos 111:641–48.10.1111/j.1600-0706.2005.13851.xCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jax, Kurt. 2010. Ecosystem Functioning. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.10.1017/CBO9780511781216CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leopold, Aldo. 1949. A Sand County Almanac and Sketches Here and There. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Maclaurin, James, and Sterelny, Kim. 2008. What Is Biodiversity? Chicago: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McShane, Katie. 2004. “Ecosystem Health.” Environmental Ethics 26:227–45.10.5840/enviroethics200426314CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Millikan, Ruth G. 1989. “In Defense of Proper Functions.” Philosophy of Science 56:288–302.10.1086/289488CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mills, Susan K., and Beatty, John H.. 1979. “The Propensity Interpretation of Fitness.” Philosophy of Science 46:263–86.10.1086/288865CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Millstein, Roberta L. 2018a. “Is Aldo Leopold’s ‘Land Community’ an Individual?” In Individuation, Process, and Scientific Practices, ed. Bueno, O., Chen, R., and Fagan, M., 279–302. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Millstein, Roberta L.. 2018b. “Understanding Leopold’s Concept of ‘Interdependence’ for Environmental Ethics and Conservation Biology.” Philosophy of Science 85:1127–39.10.1086/699721CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mossio, M., Saborido, C., and Moreno, A.. 2009. “An Organizational Account of Biological Functions.” British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 60:813–41.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Neander, Karen. 1991. “The Teleological Notion of ‘Function.’” Australasian Journal of Philosophy 69:454–68.10.1080/00048409112344881CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nunes-Neto, Nei, Moreno, Alvaro, and El-Hani, Charbel N.. 2014. “Function in Ecology: An Organizational Approach.” Biology and Philosophy 29:123–41.10.1007/s10539-013-9398-7CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Saul-Gershenz, L., Millar, J., McElfresh, J., and Williams, N.. 2018. “Deceptive Signals and Behaviors of a Cleptoparasitic Beetle Show Local Adaptation to Different Host Bee Species.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 115:9756–60.10.1073/pnas.1718682115CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Thompson, John N. 1994. The Coevolutionary Process. Chicago: Cambridge University Press.10.7208/chicago/9780226797670.001.0001CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thompson, John N.. 2005. The Geographic Mosaic of Coevolution. Chicago: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wright, Larry. 1973. “Functions.” Philosophical Review 82:139–68.10.2307/2183766CrossRefGoogle Scholar