Original scientific paper
The Context of Social Ecology
Ivan Cifrić
; Faculty of Philosophy, Zagreb
Abstract
In the article the author points out the trend of increased interest in ecological and socio-ecological problems in science, society and generally in public. The interest ranges from the simplest »fashion« to the concern for destiny of mankind.
An increased interest in ecological problems gives new possibilities of the development of social ecology as a discipline. Its foundation is shown in the relation of three systems: technical .social and natural. The three approaches can be seen in their relative independence and inter-relation: technologism, anthropocentrism, and naturalism, as well as three hypotheses: the hypothesis of technological surplus, social maximum and of the ecological deficiency. The most important for social ecology is the hypothesis of social-ecological optimum.
The author also displays his ideas of social ecology. Some consider it a discipline, others a decline, and the rest a problem. It is regarded as a synthetic science and as an integrative science. It may as well be considered an artificial (»hybrid«) discipline.
Social ecology as a discipline can be drawn out of a crisis of any valid discipline, and socio-ecological field of research is seen through the tendency of making problems global. Under the pressure of ecological crisis, social ecology tends towards transformation from science to a movement based on science.
Keywords
Hrčak ID:
155663
URI
Publication date:
30.6.1988.
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