Progress drive from progress pride

摘要

In response to my article (Aarssen 1997) on the progress of ecology, Weiner (1999) maintains that I said "we should stop worrying about whether or not we are making progress". This is not true. I wouldn't have had research grants over the past 15 years if I did not have a compelling and visible hunger for further progress in ecology. I did, however, say that we should stop worrying about whether or not ecology is a purely empirical science and just accept that, in practice, it is not. According to Weiner (1995, 1999), progress in ecology can only be measured in terms defined by the rules of empirical science and that our chronic scarcity of testable theories indicates a serious and embarrassing lack of progress in ecology. My point (Aarssen 1997) was that ecology has a more significant record of progress than Weiner (1995) gives it credit for, based on a wider range of acceptable criteria, including (but not limited to) those involving empirical science.