Jay Odenbaugh
Biographic Data
| ID | 987623 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Jay Odenbaugh |
| GIVEN NAMES | Jay |
| FAMILY NAME | Odenbaugh |
| SIGNATURE | ODENBAUGH J |
| AFFILIATIONS | Lewis & Clark College |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-6536-8031 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 12 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 45 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 12 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2001 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2024 |
| H-INDEX | 4 |
Threading the Needle: Species Eliminativism Meets Biological Conservation
Models, models, models: A deflationary view
Rethinking Wilderness
Nothing in ethics makes sense except in the light of evolution? Natural goodness, normativity, and naturalism
Environmental philosophy 2.0: Ethics and conservation biology for the 21st century
This American Life
Given the complexity of John Nolt's overall argument (Nolt, 2011), I summarise it at the outset. First, focusing on the mean emissions of the United States, ignoring the ‘porousness’ of nations, an...
True Lies: Realism, Robustness, and Models
In this essay, I argue that uneliminated idealizations pose a serious problem for scientific realism. I consider one method for “de-idealizing” models—robustness analysis. However, I argue that unless idealizations are eliminated from an idealized theory and robustness analysis need not do that, scientists are not justified in believing that the theory is true. I consider one example of modeling from the biological sciences that exemplifies the p…
Philosophical Issues in Ecology: Recent Trends and Future Directions
Colyvan, M., S. Linquist, W. Grey, P. Griffiths, J. Odenbaugh, and H. P. Possingham. 2009. Philosophical issues in ecology: recent trends and future directions. Ecology and Society 14(2): 22. https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-03020-140222
Seeing the Forest and the Trees: Realism about Communities and Ecosystems
In this essay I first provide an analysis of various community concepts. Second, I evaluate two of the most serious challenges to the existence of communities—gradient and paleoecological analysis respectively—arguing that, properly understood, neither threatens the existence of communities construed interactively. Finally, I apply the same interactive approach to ecosystem ecology, arguing that ecosystems may exist robustly as well
Message in the Bottle: The Constraints of Experimentation on Model Building
Some ecologists have argued that theoretical model building in population and community ecology has gone evidentially unconstrained. In the essay, I argue that “bottle experiments” offer ecological model building evidential constraints and illustrate this by considering work on chaotic models tested by the dynamics of flour beetles. Critics reply that these experiments are importantly unlike nonmanipulated natural systems and thus do not constitu…
Complex Systems, Trade-Offs, and Theoretical Population Biology: Richard Levin's “Strategy of Model Building in Population Biology” Revisited
Ecologist Richard Levins argues population biologists must trade-off the generality, realism, and precision of their models since biological systems are complex and our limitations are severe. Steven Orzack and Elliott Sober argue that there are cases where these model properties cannot be varied independently of one another. If this is correct, then Levins's thesis that there is a necessary trade-off between generality, precision, and realism in…
Ecological Stability, Model Building, and Environmental Policy: A Reply to Some of the Pessimism
Recently, there has been a rise in pessimism concerning what theoretical ecology can offer conservation biologists in the formation of reasonable environmental policies. In this paper, I look at one of the pessimistic arguments offered by Kristin Shrader-Frechette and E. D. McCoy (1993, 1994)—the argument from conceptual imprecision. I suggest that their argument rests on an inadequate account of the concepts of ecological stability and that ther…
Complex Systems, Trade-Offs, and Theoretical Population Biology: Richard Levin's “Strategy of Model Building in Population Biology” Revisited
Ecologist Richard Levins argues population biologists must trade-off the generality, realism, and precision of their models since biological systems are complex and our limitations are severe. Steven Orzack and Elliott Sober argue that there are cases where these model properties cannot be varied independently of one another. If this is correct, then Levins's thesis that there is a necessary trade-off between generality, precision, and realism in…
Seeing the Forest and the Trees: Realism about Communities and Ecosystems
In this essay I first provide an analysis of various community concepts. Second, I evaluate two of the most serious challenges to the existence of communities—gradient and paleoecological analysis respectively—arguing that, properly understood, neither threatens the existence of communities construed interactively. Finally, I apply the same interactive approach to ecosystem ecology, arguing that ecosystems may exist robustly as well
True Lies: Realism, Robustness, and Models
In this essay, I argue that uneliminated idealizations pose a serious problem for scientific realism. I consider one method for “de-idealizing” models—robustness analysis. However, I argue that unless idealizations are eliminated from an idealized theory and robustness analysis need not do that, scientists are not justified in believing that the theory is true. I consider one example of modeling from the biological sciences that exemplifies the p…
Message in the Bottle: The Constraints of Experimentation on Model Building
Some ecologists have argued that theoretical model building in population and community ecology has gone evidentially unconstrained. In the essay, I argue that “bottle experiments” offer ecological model building evidential constraints and illustrate this by considering work on chaotic models tested by the dynamics of flour beetles. Critics reply that these experiments are importantly unlike nonmanipulated natural systems and thus do not constitu…
Models, models, models: A deflationary view
Nothing in ethics makes sense except in the light of evolution? Natural goodness, normativity, and naturalism
Philosophical Issues in Ecology: Recent Trends and Future Directions
Colyvan, M., S. Linquist, W. Grey, P. Griffiths, J. Odenbaugh, and H. P. Possingham. 2009. Philosophical issues in ecology: recent trends and future directions. Ecology and Society 14(2): 22. https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-03020-140222
Ecological Stability, Model Building, and Environmental Policy: A Reply to Some of the Pessimism
Recently, there has been a rise in pessimism concerning what theoretical ecology can offer conservation biologists in the formation of reasonable environmental policies. In this paper, I look at one of the pessimistic arguments offered by Kristin Shrader-Frechette and E. D. McCoy (1993, 1994)—the argument from conceptual imprecision. I suggest that their argument rests on an inadequate account of the concepts of ecological stability and that ther…
Complex Systems, Trade-Offs, and Theoretical Population Biology: Richard Levin's “Strategy of Model Building in Population Biology” Revisited
Ecologist Richard Levins argues population biologists must trade-off the generality, realism, and precision of their models since biological systems are complex and our limitations are severe. Steven Orzack and Elliott Sober argue that there are cases where these model properties cannot be varied independently of one another. If this is correct, then Levins's thesis that there is a necessary trade-off between generality, precision, and realism in…
Message in the Bottle: The Constraints of Experimentation on Model Building
Some ecologists have argued that theoretical model building in population and community ecology has gone evidentially unconstrained. In the essay, I argue that “bottle experiments” offer ecological model building evidential constraints and illustrate this by considering work on chaotic models tested by the dynamics of flour beetles. Critics reply that these experiments are importantly unlike nonmanipulated natural systems and thus do not constitu…
Seeing the Forest and the Trees: Realism about Communities and Ecosystems
In this essay I first provide an analysis of various community concepts. Second, I evaluate two of the most serious challenges to the existence of communities—gradient and paleoecological analysis respectively—arguing that, properly understood, neither threatens the existence of communities construed interactively. Finally, I apply the same interactive approach to ecosystem ecology, arguing that ecosystems may exist robustly as well
Philosophical Issues in Ecology: Recent Trends and Future Directions
Colyvan, M., S. Linquist, W. Grey, P. Griffiths, J. Odenbaugh, and H. P. Possingham. 2009. Philosophical issues in ecology: recent trends and future directions. Ecology and Society 14(2): 22. https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-03020-140222
This American Life
Given the complexity of John Nolt's overall argument (Nolt, 2011), I summarise it at the outset. First, focusing on the mean emissions of the United States, ignoring the ‘porousness’ of nations, an...
True Lies: Realism, Robustness, and Models
In this essay, I argue that uneliminated idealizations pose a serious problem for scientific realism. I consider one method for “de-idealizing” models—robustness analysis. However, I argue that unless idealizations are eliminated from an idealized theory and robustness analysis need not do that, scientists are not justified in believing that the theory is true. I consider one example of modeling from the biological sciences that exemplifies the p…
Environmental philosophy 2.0: Ethics and conservation biology for the 21st century
Rethinking Wilderness
Nothing in ethics makes sense except in the light of evolution? Natural goodness, normativity, and naturalism
Models, models, models: A deflationary view
Threading the Needle: Species Eliminativism Meets Biological Conservation
Epistemology (10 works) · Philosophy (10 works) · Biology (7 works) · Ecology (7 works) · Environmental ethics (6 works) · Philosophy and History of Science (6 works) · Computer Science (5 works) · Ecology (5 works) · Sociology (5 works) · Ecosystem dynamics and resilience (3 works)