Die Forstliche Vegetationskunde wissenschaftstheoretisch hinterfragt

Forest Geobotany analysed from the Perspective of the Philosophy of Science

Weihenstephan

2005

2 Abb., 12 Lit. Ang.

Artikel aus einer ZeitschriftUnselbständiges Werk

15369

200129130

The paper discusses different ways to describe the relationship between site-conditions and vegetation. The methods 'Causation' and 'Hempel-Oppenheim-Scheme' do not seem to be sufficient, since the actual plant-cover in an area is not only determined by natural laws but is also result of a historical process and of coincidence. Moreover, plants play an active role in site-vegetation relationships. Central European plant sociology distinguishes vegetation units. Deviations found in the field can be classified as atypical and are not necessarily contradictory to the classification unit. Therefore, the validity of a classification at least partly depends on the conventions between vegetation scientists. This fact, together with the danger of hypothesis-guided perception, can compromise the reality-conformity of plant sociology. The study presents and discusses the continuity-paradigm of Central European plant sociology and the discontinuity-paradigm of Anglo-American plant ecology. Both paradigms use different methods and approaches inhibiting internal falsification. The discontinuity-approach is based on the conviction that vegetation units establish organism-like forms of organisation. Considerations in the paper contradict this statement. Nevertheless, the classification of vegetation-units is important for practical application.