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BEYOND THE MATERIAL AND THE MECHANICAL: OCCAM'S RAZOR IS A DOUBLE‐EDGED BLADE
Author(s) -
Ulanowicz Robert E.
Publication year - 1995
Publication title -
zygon®
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.222
H-Index - 23
eISSN - 1467-9744
pISSN - 0591-2385
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-9744.1995.tb00068.x
Subject(s) - occam's razor , occam , causality (physics) , blade (archaeology) , narrative , epistemology , field (mathematics) , natural (archaeology) , idealization , ecology , computer science , philosophy , history , mathematics , linguistics , classical mechanics , physics , biology , archaeology , pure mathematics , quantum mechanics , programming language
. To confine scientific narrative to only material and mechanical causes is to ensure incomplete and at times contrived descriptions of phenomena. In the life sciences, and particularly in the field of ecology, causality takes on qualitatively distinct forms at different hierarchical levels. The notion of formal cause provides for entirely natural and quantitative explanations of ecosystem behavior.