Strong Fuzzy EHLFS

A General Conceptual Framework to Address Past Records of Environmental, Ecological and Cultural Change

Bibliographic Data

ID15801878
AuthorsValentí Rull (0000-0002-9961-105X, Geociencias Barcelona, corresponding author)
Year2018
Volume1
Issue2
Pages10-10
Publication date2018-07-31
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueQuaternary (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2571-550X • E-ISSN: 2571-550X
PublisherMultidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute (PUBLISHER • CH)
DOI10.3390/quat1020010
OpenAlexW2885490188
LanguageEN
Citations received5
References cited44

Although the interpretation of Quaternary records of interrelated environmental–ecological–human processes is necessarily complex, it is often addressed using too-simple deterministic approaches. This paper suggests a holistic framework called EHLFS (Environmental–Human–Landscape Feedbacks and Synergies) to tackle Quaternary complexity. The EHLFS scheme is a multiple-working-hypotheses framework, able to account for the particular nature of Quaternary research, and is used in combination with the strong inference method of hypothesis testing. The resulting system is called the strong fuzzy EHLFS approach. This approach is explained in some detail and compared with the more extended simplistic determinisms—namely the environmental determinism and the human determinism—as well as with dual determinisms or deterministic approaches based on two contrasting and apparently contradictory and excluding hypotheses or theories. The application of the strong EHLFS methodology is illustrated using the Late Holocene ecological and cultural history of Easter Island since its initial human settlement, a topic that has traditionally been addressed using simplistic and dual deterministic approaches. The strong fuzzy EHLFS approach seems to be a robust framework to address past complex issues where environment, humans and landscape interact, as well as an open system able to encompass new challenging evidence and thorough changes in fundamental research questions

Climate change · Conceptual framework · Determinism · Dual (grammatical number · Environmental change · Epistemology · Inference · Interpretation (philosophy · Computer Science · Geology and Paleoclimatology Research · Isotope Analysis in Ecology · Pacific and Southeast Asian Studies · Artificial Intelligence · Ecology