Mariani Simone
Centre d'Estudis Avançats de Blanes (CSIC), C/ACC cala st. Francesc 14. 17300, Blanes, Girona, Spain.
Hist Philos Life Sci. 2008;30(2):159-78.
In this paper I will deal with the explanatory process used in natural history and ecology. I argue that the development of knowledge in natural history and descriptive ecology is the result of a bottom-up process, which is mainly empirical and progresses continuously from entity perception to theory construction. I consider the role of observation in the development of abstract images of entities, patterns, and processes through concepts and theories from a "simple" cognitive point of view and without regard for computational aspects. I analyze whether natural history provides "real" scientific explanation or just mere observation of facts. I later discuss the role of principles and laws in the explanation of observed regularities and accidents and the importance of prediction. I use the study of the larvae of sponges to describe the process because they represent a good example of past and current scientific method. My main argument is pragmatic being that the only relevant matters of the explanatory process are the perspective from which we observe the facts, the categorization methods we are using, and an acknowledgement of their scientific rigor. We need to advance in our epistemology in order to capture all the different meanings that the word "science" has acquired rather than sticking to one dominated by currently accepted methodologies.
在本文中，我将探讨自然史和生态学中所使用的解释过程。我认为，自然史和描述性生态学中的知识发展是一个自下而上的过程的结果，这个过程主要是经验性的，并且从实体感知到理论构建不断推进。我从一个“简单”的认知角度，且不考虑计算方面，来思考观察在通过概念和理论形成实体、模式及过程的抽象图像过程中的作用。我分析自然史是提供了“真正的”科学解释，还是仅仅是对事实的观察。随后，我讨论原理和定律在解释观察到的规律和偶然事件中的作用以及预测的重要性。我用对海绵幼虫的研究来描述这个过程，因为它们代表了过去和当前科学方法的一个很好的例子。我的主要观点是实用主义的，即解释过程中唯一相关的问题是我们观察事实的视角、我们所使用的分类方法以及对其科学严谨性的认可。我们需要在认识论上取得进展，以便理解“科学”一词所获得的所有不同含义，而不是局限于由当前被接受的方法所主导的那种理解。
