The Concept Of Ecology

As Aldo Leopold once suggested, the greatest invention of the 20th century might be the concept of ecology. It reminds us of the illusory nature of the concept of the autonomous, unitary, individual being. We are all — ourselves as persons, the human animal, all species, in all likelihood, the universe — a constant product of relational and transactional processes.

STEPHEN R. KELLERT, a social ecologist at Yale and E.O. Wilson's collaborator, is recognized as the world's foremost authority on human relationships to animals. The New York Times has featured his work in various articles and his work has been recognized by a number of awards including the Distinguished Individual Achievement Award of the Society for Conservation Biology. Kellert is coeditor with E.O. Wilson of The Biophilia Hypothesis and author of Kinship to Mastery, The Value of Life.