Abstract
I claim that the “balance of nature” metaphoris shorthand for a paradigmatic view of natureas a beneficent force. I trace the historicalorigins of this concept and demonstrate that itoperates today in the discipline of populationecology. Although it might be suspected thatthis metaphor is a pre-theoretic description ofthe more precisely defined notion ofequilibrium, I demonstrate that “balance ofnature” has constricted the meaning ofmathematical equilibrium in population ecology.As well as influencing the meaning ofequilibrium, the metaphor has also loaded themathematical term with values.Environmentalists and critics use thisconflation of meaning and value to theiradvantage. This interplay between the “balanceof nature” and equilibrium fits aninteractionist interpretation of the role ofmetaphor in science. However, it seems theinteraction is asymmetric, and the “balance ofnature” metaphor has had a larger influence onmathematical equilibrium than vice versa. Thisdisproportionate influence suggests that themetaphor was and continues to be a constitutivepart of ecological theories.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Allee, W.C.,Emerson, A.E.,Park, O.,Park, T. andSchmidt, K.P.: 1949, Principles of Animal Ecology, W. B. Saunders Company, Philadelphia and London.
Andrewartha, H.G. andBirch, I.C.: 1954, The Distribution and Abundance of Animals, University of Chicago Press, Chicago.
Begon, M.,Harper, J.L. andTownsend, C.R.: 1986, Ecology: Individuals, Populations, and Communities, Sinauer Associates, Inc., Sunderland, MA.
Black, M.: 1962, Models and Metaphors: Studies in Language and Philosophy, Cornell University Press, Ithaca, NY.
Botkin, D.B.: 1990, Discordant Harmonies: A New Ecology for the Twenty-First Century, Oxford University Press, New York.
Boyd, R.: 1993, ‘Metaphor and Theory Change: What is “Metaphor” a Metaphor for?’ in A. Ortony (ed.), Metaphor and Thought, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp. 381-532.
Bradie, M.: 1999, ‘Science and Metaphor’, Biology and Philosophy 14, 159-166.
Cicero: 1938, De Natura Deorum, Rackham, H., translator. Harvard University Press, Cambridge.
Deutsch, K.: 1951, ‘Mechanism, Organism and Society', Philosophy of Science 18, 232-253.
Egerton, F.N.: 1973, ‘Changing Concepts of Balance of Nature', Quarterly Review of Biology 48, 322-350.
Elton, C.S.: 1930, Animal Ecology and Evolution, Oxford University Press, New York.
Forbes, S.A.: 1887, ‘The Lake as a Microcosm', Bulletin of the Peoria Scientific Association, pp. 7-87. Reprinted in Bulletin of the Illinois State Natural History Survey 15, 537-550.
Gasca, A.M.: 1996, ‘Mathematical Theories Versus Biological Facts: A Debate on Mathematical Population Dynamics in the 1930 s', Historical Studies in the Physical and Biological Sciences 26, 347-403.
Gentner, D. andJeziorski, M.: 1993, ‘The Shift from Metaphor to Analogy in Western Science', in A. Ortony (ed.), Metaphor and Thought. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp. 447-480.
Hastings, A.,Hom, C.L.,Ellner, S.,Turchin, P. andGodfray, H.C.J.: 1993, ‘Chaos in Ecology: Is Mother Nature a Strange Attractor?’ Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics 34, 1-35.
Howard, L.O. andFisk, W.F.: 1911, The Importation into the United States of the Parasites of the Gypsy-Moth and the Brown-Tail Moth. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Bureau of Entomology Bulletin 91.
Kingsland, S.E.: 1985, Modelling Nature: Episodes in the History of Population Ecology, The University of Chicago Press, Chicago.
Klamer, A. andLeonard, T.: 1994, ‘So What& an Economic Metaphor?’ in P. Mirowski (ed.), Natural Images in Economic Thought, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
Krebs, C.J.: 1994, Ecology: The Experimental Analysis of Distribution and Abundance, HarperCollins Publishers, New York.
Kuhn, T.: 1979, ‘Metaphor in Science', in A. Octong (ed.), Metaphor and Thought, Cambridge University Press, pp. 409-419.
Lakoff, G. andJohnson, M.: 1980, Metaphors We Live by, University of Chicago Press, Chicago.
Leopold, A.: 1943, ‘Deer Irruptions', Wisconsin Conservation Department Publication 321, 3-11.
Lewontin, R.C.: 1963, ‘Models, Mathematics and Metaphors', Synthese 15, 222-244.
Lotka, A.J.: 1925, Elements of Physical Biology, Williams and Wilkins Company, Baltimore.
McCann, K.,Hastings, A. andHuxel, G.R.: 1998, ‘Weak Trophic Interactions and the Balance of Nature', Nature 395, 794-798.
Nicholson, A.J.: 1933, ‘The Balance of Animal Populations', Journal of Animal Ecology 2, 132-178.
Nicholson, A.J. andBailey, V.A.: 1935, ‘The Balance of Animal Populations, Part I', Proceedings of the Zoological Society, London 3, 551-598.
Packard, A.S.J.: 1874, ‘Nature& Means of Limiting the Numbers of Insects', American Naturalist 8, 270-282.
Pimm, S.L.: 1991, The Balance of Nature? Ecological Issues in the Conservation of Species and Communities, The University of Chicago Press, Chicago.
Russett, C.E.: 1966, The Concept of Equilibrium in American Social Thought, Yale University press, New Haven and London.
Scudo, F.M.: 1971, ‘Vito Volterra and Theoretical Ecolog y', Theoretical Population Biology 2, 1-23.
Smith, H.S.: 1935, ‘The Role of Biotic Factors in the Determination of Population Densities', Journal of economic entomology 28, 873-898.
Spencer, H.: 1882, First Principles, D. Appleton and Company, New York.
Volterra, V.: 1926, ‘Fluctuations in the Abundance of a Species Considered Mathematically’, Nature 118, 558-560.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Cuddington, K. The “Balance of Nature” Metaphor and Equilibrium in Population Ecology. Biology & Philosophy 16, 463–479 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1011910014900
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1011910014900