Skip to main content
Log in

Extinction

  • Published:
Biology and Philosophy Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

A significant proportion of conservationists' work is directed towards efforts to save disappearing species. This relies upon the belief that species extinction is undesirable. When justifications are offered for this belief, they very often rest upon the assumption that extinction brought about by humans is different in kind from other forms of extinction. This paper examines this assumption and reveals that there is indeed good reason to suppose current anthropogenic extinctions to be different in kind from extinctions brought about at other times or by other factors. Having considered – and rejected – quantity and rate of extinction as useful distinguishing factors, four alternative arguments are offered, each identifying a way in which anthropogenic extinction is significantly different from other forms of extinction, even mass extinction: (1) Humans are a different kind of natural cause from other causes of extinction; (2) Extinctions brought about by humans are uniquely persistent; (3) Anthropogenic extinctions are effectively random whereas past mass extinctions are rule-bound; (4) The impact of the current anthropogenic extinction event differs from the impact of other extinction events of the past, such that future recovery may not follow past patterns. Together, these four arguments suggest that the present-day extinction event brought about by humans may be unprecedented and that we cannot clearly extrapolate from past to present recovery from extinctions. Although insufficient as justification for the claim that present-day extinctions are undesirable, the arguments provide some ammunition for conservationists' conviction that species extinction – in which humans play an accelerating role – ought to be prevented.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Anon: 1995, 'In Brief', New Scientist 148, No.2004, p. 13.

  • Begon et al.: 1990, Ecology, Individuals, Populations and Communities, Blackwell Scientific Publications, Cambridge, Mass, p. 842.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bowler, P.J.: 1992, The Fontana History of the Environmental Sciences, Fontana Press, London, p. 426.

    Google Scholar 

  • Callicott, J.B.: 1995, 'The Value of Ecosystem Health', Environmental Values 4, 345–361.

    Google Scholar 

  • Campbell, N.A.: 1987, Biology (second edition), Benjamin/Cummings, California, pp. 500–501.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dawkins, R.: 1986, The Blind Watchmaker, Penguin, London.

    Google Scholar 

  • Diamond, J.: 1984, 'Historical Extinction: A Rosetta Stone for Understanding Prehistoric Extinctions', in P.S. Martin and R.G. Klein (eds.), Quaternary Extinctions: A prehistoric revolution, University of Arizona Press, Tuscon, Arizona, p. 838.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ehrlich, P. and Ehrlich, A.: 1981, Extinction, Random House, New York, pp. 7–10; 28.

    Google Scholar 

  • Elliot, R.: 1994, 'Extinction, Restoration, Naturalness', Environmental Ethics 16, 135–143.

    Google Scholar 

  • Evernden, N: 1985, The Natural Alien; humankind and environment, University of Toronto Press, Toronto.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gould, S.J.: 1977, Ever Since Darwin, Penguin, London, p. 42.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gould, S.J.: 1989, Wonderful Life, Penguin, London, pp. 305–307.

    Google Scholar 

  • Groombridge, B. (ed.): 1992, Global Biodiversity: Status of the Earth's Living Resources (A Report compiled by the World Conservation Monitoring Centre), Chapman and Hall, London, p. 203.

    Google Scholar 

  • HMSO: 1994, Biodiversity: the UK action plan, HMSO, London, p. 18.

    Google Scholar 

  • International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources: 1988, 1988 IUCN Red List Of Threatened Animals, IUCN, Cambridge, UK, p. iii.

    Google Scholar 

  • Norton, B.: 1986, 'On the inherent Danger of Undervaluing Species' and 'Epilogue', in B. Norton, The Preservation of Species; the value of biological diversity, Princeton University Press, New Jersey, pp. 113; 270.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ollason, J.G.: 1991, 'What Is This Stuff Called Fitness?', Biology and Philosophy 6, 81–92.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ponting, C.: 1992, A Green History of the World, Penguin, London, p. 193.

    Google Scholar 

  • Porritt J.: 1996, 'Jonathon Porritt', BBC Wildlife 14(1), 61.

    Google Scholar 

  • Price, E.O.: 1984, 'Behavioural Aspects of Animal Domestication', The Quarterly Review of Biology 59(1), 1–32.

    Google Scholar 

  • Primack, R.: 1993, Essentials of Conservation Biology, Sinaur Associates Inc., Sunderland, Mass., pp. 30; 75–88.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ruse, M.: 1982, Darwinism Defended: A Guide to the Evolution Controversies, Addison-Wesley, London.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shimony, A.: 1989, 'The Non-Existence Of The Principle Of Natural Selection', Biology and Philosophy 4.

  • Shrader-Frechette K.S. and McCoy, E.D.: 1994, 'Biodiversity, Biological Uncertainty, and Setting Conservation Priorities', Biology and Philosophy 9, 180–182.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sober, E.: 1984, The Nature of Selection: Evolutionary Theory in Philosophy, MIT Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tudge, C.: 1991, Last Animals at the Zoo; how mass extinction can be stopped, Hutchison Radius, London, p. 40.

    Google Scholar 

  • Vermeij, G.J.: 1986, 'The Biology of Human-Caused Extinction', in B. Norton (ed.), The Preservation of Species; The value of biological diversity, Princeton University Press, New Jersey, pp. 30; 42–44.

    Google Scholar 

  • Waters, C.K.: 1986, 'Natural Selection Without Survival Of The Fittest', Biology and Philosophy 1, 207–225.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wilcox, B.: 1988, 'Tropical Deforestation and Extinction', in International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources, IUCN Red List of Threatened Animals, IUCN, Cambridge, p. ix.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wilson, E.O.: 1992, The Diversity of Life, Penguin, London, pp. 67–68.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Aitken, G. Extinction. Biology & Philosophy 13, 393–411 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1006567916998

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1006567916998

Navigation