Description
Book SynopsisDefending Illusions examines the science, philosophy, and law of ecosystem management. Allan Fitzsimmons clearly illustrates how efforts to make federal protection of ecosystems the centerpiece of national environmental policy rest on weak science and a worldview that places concern for the well-being of nature ahead of the well-being of people.
Trade ReviewThis book should be required reading for all ecologists as an example of how they have failed to send any coherent message to politicians, economists, and the general public relative to ecosystem concept. -- R. L. Smith * CHOICE *
Fitzsimmons argues persuasively that nature in this sense, above the level of the organism, possesses neither organizing principles nor emergent qualities that biologists can study. Fitzsimmons makes a compelling case that this emperor has no clothes; that the popular notion of ecosystem management merely encloses a puzzle within an enigma within a mystery. This well-argued and meticulously footnoted critique makes the case against ecosystem management without proposing a different science as a basis for policy. Fitzsimmons persuasively reveals the intellectual dishonesty that uses fictions about nature to lend scientific credibility to what are essentially cultural, religious, or moral norms. -- Mark Sagoff, Institute of Philosophy and Public Policy, University of Maryland * Journal Of The National Academy Of Sciences *
The author examines the science, philosophy, and law of ecosystems management. Defending Illusions is an eye-opener about the basis for many commonly held views regarding ecosystems. It is thoroughly footnoted . . . even for those with a different viewpoint, it is a book worth reading on this topic. * Natural Resources and Environment *
Table of ContentsChapter 1 Introduction: Government and the New Relationship with Nature Chapter 2 Everyone Knows What an Ecosystem Is...Or Do They? Chapter 3 Mapping Ecosystems Chapter 4 Visions of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem Chapter 5 Claims of Environmental Calamity Chapter 6 Nature Worship and the New Paradigm Chapter 7 Science, Ecosystems, and the Emperor's New Clothes Chapter 8 The Law and Ecosystem Protection Chapter 9 Ecosystem Protection Proposals Chapter 10 Human Consequences of the New Paradigm Chapter 11 Improving Environmental Stewardship Chapter 12 Conclusion: Knowledge and Responsibility
