Why and How to Use Process Philosophy in Everyday Ecology and Biology?

Area of Science:

• Biology
• Ecology
• Philosophy

Background:

• Contemporary biology and ecology increasingly view life and evolution as dynamic processes, aligning with process philosophy (PP).
• Despite conceptual overlaps, PP principles are underutilized in ecological and biological research and practice.

Purpose of the Study:

• To address the gap in applying process philosophy (PP) as an ontological framework in ecology and biology.
• To demonstrate a practical method for integrating PP into ecological and biological modeling.

Main Methods:

• Development of qualitative, discrete-event ecosystem models using a process network representation.
• Comparison of PP-based models with traditional materialist-based models commonly used in ecology.

Main Results:

• The study illustrates how PP can be concretely applied in ecology and biology by directly modeling processes.
• PP-based modeling may yield different conclusions than traditional approaches, even with identical system components.

Conclusions:

• Implementing PP in ecology and biology requires prioritizing the analysis of processes over enduring objects.
• Process philosophy offers novel insights into fundamental debates within biology and ecology, such as the pattern/process dichotomy.