Ecology is considered to be a diffuse and heterogenous discipline. It is said to comprise inconsistent theories and ambiguous concepts. In searching for a valid approach, I decided to develop my ideas on this "ambiguity" (Uneindeutigkeit) in ecology - its hybrid representation of knowledge - on several analytical levels. The resulting study seeks to write a history of ecology, which comments itself by permanently highlighting different perspectives of its object, alternately guided by either a more philosophical, historical or linguistical interest. Concerning the inconsistency and diversity of concepts and methods, ecology stands neither isolated in the canon of disciplines - for linguistics, geography or sociology are also considered to be heterogenous disciplines - nor is it historically a special case or a temporary phenomenon. Rather, this kind of construction of the coincidence of unity and difference turns out to be a specific attribute of modern times. Ecology can be understood as a model of a science, which integrates such seemingly inconsistent positions. With this study a rational reconstruction of the history of ecology is pursued that suggests an answer to the outlined dilemma of undefinedness by the "triadisation" of the basic conceptual approach. Three basic concepts, "energy", "niche", "microcosm", have been elaborated and linked in an oscillating movement, which is driven by the so-called scientific progress. On the basic of this construction, ecology can be considered as a dynamic unity of three linked and permanently oscillating basic concepts. The results of an empirical linguistical analysis (Wort-/Bildfeld-Analyse) support the triadic approach also on the linguistic level. In addition to their function in the "Bildfelder", metaphors are also used as analytical instruments. In doing so, the ambiguity of the linguistic element "metaphor", caused by its logical construction, is used to analyse the "undefined third" in ecology. This procedure, following the theory of interactive metaphor, is developed and discussed on the basis of the metaphor "the lake is a microcosm". As could be shown, the metaphor comprises not only the project of the discipline respectively research programm, directing the view to "the whole". Beyond that the metaphor allows to develop exemplary the "method" of ecology, that is the construction of a unity in difference. Furthermore, special attention is given to the reconstruction of the origin of aquatic ecology as a science considering its various roots in natural history. With the "animation of the aquatic desert", the history of the discovery of the modern aquatic space, which is at same time "abstract" and "concrete" nature, is told. In this respect aquatic and terrestric ecology are very different, because in the latter the objects are almost exclusively constructed in "concrete" nature. The fact, that aquatic ecology cannot surmount this "viewed" nature is demonstrated once more in respect of the "microcosm lake". Here, the differences between aquatic spaces, i.e. between marine and limnic space, are discussed. Finally, the creation of the "new" lake at the end of 19th century is discussed by sketching the lake as "medium and gestalt", which gives rise to the lake as a kind of "wholeness", as well as an "organism" and above all as a "system". It turns out that the line between the "microcosm lake" and the functional "ecosystem lake" is remarkebly short in respect of its logical construction. The closing of the second part compiles some reflections on the instrumental interest of knowledge (instrumentelles Erkenntnisinteresse) in early ecology. These reflections are explained under the headings "national water system" and "model lake" by documenting the development of water research in Switzerland, the ecological "avant-garde" at the end of 19th century. Last but not least, it has to be mentioned that the presented "order of chapters" does not intend to dictate the "order of lecture". Those parts that are "written history" can be read independently from the epistemological and lingustical parts - and vice versa.     «

Ecology is considered to be a diffuse and heterogenous discipline. It is said to comprise inconsistent theories and ambiguous concepts. In searching for a valid approach, I decided to develop my ideas on this "ambiguity" (Uneindeutigkeit) in ecology - its hybrid representation of knowledge - on several analytical levels. The resulting study seeks to write a history of ecology, which comments itself by permanently highlighting different perspectives of its object, alternately guided by either a m...     »