Towards a systemic research methodology in agriculture: Rethinking the role of values in science

Agriculture and Human Values

Volumn 19, Issue 1, 2002, Pages 3-23

  Alrøe, Hugo Fjelsted ^a   Kristensen, Erik Steen ^a  

^a Aarhus University   (Denmark)

Author keywords

Agricultural systems research; Context; Holistic; Objectivity; Organic farming; Philosophy of science; Reductionistic; Reflexive; Research methodology; Values

Indexed keywords

EID: 4243575765     PISSN: 0889048X     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1023/A:1015040009300     Document Type: Article

References (82)

1. Alrøe, H. F. (2000). "Science as systems learning. Some reflections on the cognitive and communicational aspects of science." Cybernetics and Human Knowing 7(4): 57-78.
2. Alrøe, H. F. and E. S. Kristensen (2001). "Towards a systemic ethic. In search of an ethical basis for sustainability and precaution." Environmental Ethics (forthcoming).
3. Alrøe, H. F., M. Vaarst, and E. S. Kristensen (2001). "Does organic farming face distinctive livestock welfare issues? - a conceptual analysis." Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics 14(3): 275-299.
4. Alrøe, H. F., and E. S. Kristensen (2000). "Research, values and ethics in organic agriculture - examples from sustainability, precaution, nature quality, and animal welfare." In P. Robinson (ed.), Two Systems - One World, EurSafe 2000 Congress on Agricultural and Food Ethics. Copenhagen: Centre for Bioethics and Risk Assessment, The Royal Veterinary and Agricultural University.
5. Andersen, P. B., C. Emmeche, N. O. Finnemann, and P. V. Christiansen, eds. (2000). Downward Causation. Minds, Bodies and Matter. Århus: Aarhus University Press.
6. Ayala, F. J. (1974). "Introduction." In F. J. Ayala and T. Dobzhansky (eds.), Studies in the Philosophy of Biology (pp. vii-xvi). London: Macmillan.
7. Bateson, G. (1972). Steps to an Ecology of Mind. New York: Ballentine Books.
8. Bawden, R. J. (1992). "Systems approaches to agricultural development: The Hawkesbury experience." Agricultural Systems 40: 153-176.
9. Bohr, N. (1949). "Discussion with Einstein on epistemological problems in atomic physics." In P. A. Schilpp (ed.), Albert Einstein: Philosopher-Scientist (pp. 200-241). Evanton, Illinois: The Library of Living Philosophers.
10. Bohr, N. (1985). "Kundskabens enhed." In Naturbeskrivelse og menneskelig erkendelse. Udvalgte artikler og foredrag fra årene 1927-1962 (pp. 19-39). Rhodos, Copenhagen
11. [Danish version originally 1957. English version in The Unity of Knowledge, New York: Doubleday & Co., 1955].
12. Bossel, H. (1999). Indicators for Sustainable Development: Theory, Method, Applications. A Report to the Balaton Group, International Institute for Sustainable Development, Winipeg, Manitoba, Canada.
13. Brier, S. (1998). "The cybersemiotic explanation of the emergence of cognition. The explanation of cognition, signification, and communication in a non-Cartesian cognitive biology." Evolution and Cognition 4(1): 90-102.
14. Callicott, J. B., L. B. Crowder, and K. Mumford (1999). "Current normative concepts in conservation." Conservation Biology 13(1): 22-35.
15. Checkland, P. B. (1981). Systems Thinking, Systems Practice. Chichester, UK/New York: John Wiley & Sons.
16. Dewey, J. (1948). Reconstruction in Philosophy, 2nd ed. Boston: Beacon Press.
17. Dewey, J. (1991). Logic: The Theory of Inquiry. Southern Illinois University Press, Carbondale, Illinois [original edition 1938].
18. Douglass, G. K. (1984). "The meanings of agricultural sustainability," in G. K. Douglass (ed.), Agricultural Sustainability in a Changing World Order (pp. 3-29). Boulder, Colorado: Westview Press.
19. Emmeche, C., S. Køppe, and F. Stjernfelt (1997). "Explaining emergence: Towards an ontology of levels." Journal for General Philosophy of Science 28: 83-119.
20. Emmeche, C., S. Køppe, and F. Stjernfelt (2000). "Levels, emergence, and three versions of downward causation," in Downward Causation. Minds, Bodies and Matter (pp. 13-34). Århus: Aarhus University Press.
21. Foerster, H.v. (1984). Observing Systems, 2nd ed. Seaside, California: Intersystems Publications.
22. Fraser, D. (1999). "Animal ethics and animal welfare science: bridging the two cultures." Applied Animal Behaviour Science 65: 171-189.
23. Freeman, E. and H. Skolimowski (1974). "The search for objectivity in Peirce and Popper." In P. A. Schilpp (ed.), The Philosophy of Karl R. Popper (pp. 464-519). La Salle, Illinois: The Open Court Publ. Co.
24. Gibbons, M., C. Limoges, H. Nowotny, S. Schwartzman, P. Scott, and M. Trow. (1994). The New Production of Knowledge. The Dynamics of Science and Research in Contemporary Societies. London: SAGE Publications.
25. Gieryn, T. F. (1983). "Boundary-work and the demarcation of science from non-science: Strains and interests in professional ideologies of scientists." American Sociological Review 48: 781-795.
26. Gremmen, B. and H. v. d. Belt (2000). "The precautionary principle and pesticides." Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics 12: 197-205.
27. Habermas, J. (1972). Knowledge and Human Interests. London: Heinemann.
28. Hacking, I. (1999). The Social Construction of What? Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press.
29. Hansen, B., H. F. Alrøe, and E. S. Kristensen (2001). "Assessing the environmental impact of organic farming, with particular regard to Denmark." Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment 83: 11-26.
30. Headland, T. N., K. L. Pike, and M. Harris (eds.) (1990). Ernies and Etics: The Insider/Outsider Debate. Newbury Park, California: Sage Publications.
31. Hoffmeyer, J. (1997). "Biosemiotics: Towards a New Synthesis in Biology." European Journal for Semiotic Studies 9(2): 355-376.
32. Jonas, H. (1984). The Imperative of Responsibility. In Search of an Ethics for the Technological Age. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
33. Jones, E. E. and R. E. Nisbett (1972). "The actor and the observer: Divergent perceptions of the causes of behavior." In E. E. Jones, D. E. Kanouse, H. H. Kelley, R. E. Nisbett, S. Valins and B. Weiner (eds.), Attribution: Perceiving the Causes of Behavior (pp. 79-94). Morristown, New Jersey: General Learning Press.
34. Køppe, S. (1990). Virkelighedens niveauer. De nye videnskaber og deres historie [Levels of reality. The new sciences and their history]. Copenhagen: Gyldendal.
35. Knorr Cetina, K. (1999). Epistemic Cultures. How the Sciences Make Knowledge. Cambridge Massachusetts: Harvard University Press.
36. Krell, R. (ed.) (1997). Biological Farming Research in Europe. REU Technical Series no. 54, FAO.
37. Kristensen, E. S. and N. Halberg (1997). "A systems approach for assessing sustainability in livestock farms." In J. T. Sørensen (ed.), Livestock Farming Systems. More than Food Production. Proceedings of the 4th International Symposium on Livestock Farming Systems. EAAP Publication No. 89 (pp. 16-30). Wageningen, The Netherlands: Wageningen Press.
38. Kuhn, T. S. (1996). The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, 3rd ed. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.
39. Latour, B. (1983). "Give me a laboratory and I will raise the world." In K. Knorr-Cetina and M. Mulkay (eds.), Science Observed (pp. 141-170). London: SAGE Publications.
40. Latour, B., and S. Woolgar (1979). Laboratory Life: The Social Construction of Scientific Facts. Beverly Hills: Sage.
41. Lockeretz, W. (2000). "Organic farming research, today and tomorrow." In T. Alföldi, W. Lockeretz, and U. Niggli (eds.), IFOAM 2000 - The World Grows Organic, Proceedings of the 13th International IFOAM Scientific Conference (pp. 718-720). Zurich: Hochschulverlag.
42. Lockeretz, W. and M. D. Anderson (1993). Agricultural Research Alternatives. Lincoln, Nebraska: University of Nebraska Press.
43. Longino, H. E. (1990). Science as Social Knowledge. Values and Objectivity in Scientific Inquiry. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press.
44. Luhmann, N. (1989). Ecological Communication. Cambridge, UK: Polity Press.
45. Luhmann, N. (1995). Social Systems. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press.
46. Maturana, H. R. and F. J. Varela (1980). Autopoiesis and Cognition. Dordrecht, The Netherlands: D. Reidel Publishing Company.
47. Maturana, H. R. and F. J. Varela (1987). Kundskabens trœ. Den menneskelige erkendelses biologiske rødder. Århus: ASK
48. [English version, 1992, The Tree of Knowledge - the Biological Roots of Human Understanding. Boston: Shambala].
49. Middendorf, G. and L. Busch (1997). "Inquiry for the public good: Democratic participation in agricultural research." Agriculture and Human Values 14: 45-57.
50. O'Riordan, T. and J. Cameron (eds.) (1994). Interpreting the Precautionary Principle. London: Earthscan.
51. OECD (1999). Environmental Indicators for Agriculture. Volume 1: Concepts and Framework. OECD.
52. Olesen, J. E. (1999). "Perspectives for research on cropping systems." In J. E. Olesen, R. Eltun, M. J. Gooding, E. S. Jensen, and U. Köpke (eds.), Designing and Testing Crop Rotations for Organic Farming. Proceedings from an International Workshop (pp. 11-21). DARCOF Report no. 1. Foulum: Danish Research Center for Organic Farming.
53. Patzel, N., H. Sticher, and D. L. Karlen. (2000). "Soil fertility - phenomenon and concept." Journal of Plant Nutrition and Soil Science 163: 129-142.
54. Peirce, C. S. (1868). "Some consequences of four incapacities." Journal of Speculative Philosophy 2: 140-157.
55. Reprinted in N. Houser and C. Kloesel (eds.), The Essential Peirce: Selected Philosophical Writings, Volume 1 (1867-1893), 1992, pp. 28-55. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
56. Peirce, C. S. (1871). "Fraser's The Works of George Berkeley." North American Review 113: 449-472.
57. Reprinted in N. Houser and C. Kloesel (eds.), The Essential Peirce: Selected Philosophical Writings, Volume 1 (1867-1893), 1992, pp. 83-105. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
58. Peirce, C. S. (1877). "The fixation of belief." Popular Science Monthly 12: 1-15.
59. Reprinted in N. Houser and C. Kloesel (eds.), The Essential Peirce: Selected Philosophical Writings, Volume 1 (1867-1893), 1992, pp. 109-123. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
60. Peirce, C. S. (1903). "An outline classification of the sciences." Collected Papers 1: 180-202.
61. Reprinted in Peirce Edition Project (ed.), The Essential Peirce: Selected Philosophical Writings, Volume 2 (1893-1913), 1998, pp. 258-262. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
62. Pickering, A. (1995). The Mangle of Practice: Time, Agency, and Science. Chicago: Chicago University Press.
63. Popper, K. R. (1957). The Poverty of Historicism. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.
64. Popper, K. R. (1998). Conjectures and Refutations. The Growth of Scientific Knowledge, 5th ed. London: Routledge [original edition 1963, Routledge & Kegan Paul].
65. Rollin, B. E. (1996). "Ideology, 'value-free science', and animal welfare." Acta Agriculturae Scandinavica, Section A, Animal Science Suppl. 27: 5-10.
66. Rouse, J. (1987). Knowledge and Power. Toward a Political Philosophy of Science. Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press.
67. Rowe, J. S. (1997). "From reductionism to holism in ecology and deep ecology." The Ecologist 27: 147-151.
68. Sandøe, P., M. Hagelsø, and L. L. Jeppesen (1996). "Concluding remarks and perspectives." Acta Agriculturae Scandinavica, Section A, Animal Science Suppl. 27: 109-115.
69. Sandøe, P., L. Munksgaard, N. P. Bådsgård, and K. H. Jensen. (1997). "How to manage the management factor - assessing animal welfare at the farm level." In J. T. Sørensen (ed.), Livestock Farming Systems. More than Food Production. Procceedings of the 4th International Symposium on Livestock Farming Systems. EAAP Publication No. 89 (pp. 221-230). Wageningen, The Netherlands: Wageningen Press.
70. Stern, P. C., T. Dietz, and G. A. Guagnano (1995). "The new ecological paradigm in social-psychological context." Environment and Behaviour 27(6): 723-743.
71. Stokes, D. (1997). Pasteur's Quadrant: Basic Science and Technological Innovation. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press.
72. Tannenbaum, J. (1991). "Ethics and animal welfare: The inextricable connection." Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association 198(8): 1360-1376.
73. Thompson, P. B. (1995). The Spirit of the Soil. Agriculture and Environmental Ethics. New York: Routledge.
74. Thompson, P. B. (1996). "Sustainability as a norm." Society for Philosophy & Technology 2(2): 75-93.
75. Thompson, P. B. (1997). "The varieties of sustainability in livestock farming." In J. T. Sørensen (ed.), Livestock Farming Systems. More than Food Production. Proceedings of the 4th International Symposium on Livestock Farming Systems. EAAP Publication No. 89 (pp. 5-15). Wageningen, The Netherlands: Wageningen Press.
76. Uexküll, J. v. (1982). "The theory of meaning." Semiotica 42(1): 25-82 (special issue).
77. Ulrich, W. (1990). "What is called 'Critical systems thinking'." In B. H. Banathy and B. A. Banathy (eds.), Toward a Just Society for Future Generations. Proceedings 34th ISSS Annual Meeting, Volume 1 (pp. 4-14). Pomona, California: ISSS, California State Polytechnic University.
78. Ulrich, W. (1994). Critical Heuristics of Social Planning. A New Approach to Practical Philosophy. Chichester: Wiley [original edition Paul Haupt, 1983].
79. Whitley, R. (2000). The Intellectual and Social Organization of the Sciences, 2nd ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
80. Windelband, W. (1998). "History and natural science." Theory & Psychology Journal 8: 5-22.
81. Woodward, L., D. Flemming, and H. Vogtman (1996). "Reflections on the past, outlook for the future." In T. V. Østergaard (ed.), Fundamentals of Organic Agriculture, Proceedings of the 11th IFOAM International Scientific Conference, August 11-15, 1996, Volume 1 (pp. 259-270). Copenhagen: IFOAM.
82. Zanoli, R. and R. Krell (eds.) (1999). Research Methodologies in Organic Farming. REU Technical Series no. 58. Rome: FAO.