Context A word we are of course very familiar with in language study and language learning. The notion that the earth itself is a living system. But it may be objected that the bulk of the earth is dead physical matter, mainly rock, with a thin layer of living stuff on the outside. Living systems consist of dead organic and inorganic matter as well as living tissue. Scale Scale is the point of view or perspective from which a phenomenon is studied.
Scale refers to extension in time and space.
Scale is closely related to other ecological concepts such as boundary, cycle, hierarchy and level, but is a more basic concept referring to the scope or extent of focus required. Once the scale is defined and boundaries set, different levels, hierarchies and cycles of activity maybe become visible and relevant. Shallow ecology Systems Theory, Cybernetics von Bertalanffy, Bateson, Wiener. A dirty word in traditional science. A teleological explanation is one which includes the notion of purpose.