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Extinct and Alive: Towards A Broader Account of Loss

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Abstract

Extinction is usually associated with the death of the last remaining individual of a species, taxon, or population of organisms. Here I ask the question of whether extinction might also be applied to cases where individuals of the relevant category remain alive. Global impacts in the Anthropocene suggest extinction may be broader than typically thought. Technologies available in the emerging ‘synthetic age’ alter taxa in ways that may appropriately be characterized as extinction. The core of the more traditional account of extinction remains valuable. Losing the last few individuals of a taxon matters. But emerging types of loss may demand a broader understanding of extinction. This broader understanding could capture more of what humans are doing to the biosphere.

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Notes

  1. Sperm and eggs from the last few living Ceratotherium simun cottoni are stored in freezers at the San Diego Zoo in the hopes they might be used to recreate the species at a later date (Ryder et al. 2020). The possibility of de-extincting northern white rhinos through implanting genetic material into surrogate southern white rhino mothers generates interesting questions about whether animals can be ‘de-extincted’ (IUCN 2016). These questions surrounding de-extinction are not my concern in this essay.

  2. Email correspondence 12/14/20.

  3. In some parts of the world, eggshell thickness is not expected to return to normal until 2034 (Falk et al., 2018).

  4. This was the US Fish and Wildlife Service estimate in 2006. Peregrines are common enough today that detailed counts have been discontinued.

  5. The Texas panthers bred with Florida panthers naturally in the wild rather than being artificially inseminated in lab facilities like the peregrines.

  6. Personal communication, 3rd November 2020.

  7. The discussion of using synthetic biology to help black-footed ferrets is at a very early stage. Gene drives have yet to be deployed in any context. Considerable opposition to their use exists.

  8. The European Union, for example, is in the process of forming a policy over the use of gene drives in conservation.

  9. Personal communication 10/23/20.

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  1. Department of Philosophy, University of Montana, 32 Campus Drive, Missoula, MT, 59812, USA

    Christopher J. Preston

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Preston, C.J. Extinct and Alive: Towards A Broader Account of Loss. Philosophia 50, 2221–2234 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11406-021-00426-3

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