Holism vs. reductionism: Do ecosystem ecology and landscape ecology clarify the debate?

The holism-reductionism debate, one of the classic subjects of study in the philosophy of science, is currently at the heart of epistemological concer ns in ecology. Yet the division between holism and reductionism does not al ways stand out clearly in this field. In particular, almost all work in eco system ecology and landscape ecology presents itself as holistic and emerge ntist. Nonetheless, the operational approaches used rely on conventional re ductionist methodology. From an emergentist epistemological perspective, a set of general 'transact ional' principles inspired by the work of J. Dewey and J.K. Feibleman are p roposed in an effort to develop a coherent ontological and methodological s emantics.