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The Ethics of De-Extinction

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Abstract

“de-extinction” refers to the process of resurrecting extinct species by genetic methods. This science-fiction-sounding idea is in fact already in early processes of scientific implementation. Although this recent “revival of the dead” raises deep ethical questions, the ethics of de-extinction has barely received philosophical treatment. Rather than seeking a verdict for or against de-extinction, this paper attempts an overview and some novel analyses of the main ethical considerations. Five dimensions of the ethics of de-extinction are explored: (a) the possible contribution of de-extinction to promoting ecological values, (b) the deontological argument that we owe de-extinction to species we rendered extinct, (c) the question of “playing God” through de-extinction, (d) the utilitarian perspective, and (e) the role of aesthetic considerations in the ethics of de-extinction. A general feature arising from the paper’s discussion is that, due to de-extinction’s special character, it repeatedly tests the limits of our ethical notions.

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Notes

  1. Much of the agenda for the philosophical exploration of de-extinction was laid out succinctly by Sherkow and Greely [3]. While concluding work on this paper, Sandler [4] has appeared online; so did Cottrell et al. [5]; see also Gamborg [6].

  2. Donlan et al. [26]. (Theoretically, such ethical responsibility could mandate de-extinction even when it has no ecological value.)

  3. “If we’re talking about species we drove extinct, then I think we have an obligation to try to do this,” says Professor Michael Archer, head of the Lazarus Project team; see Zimmer [27].

  4. Rescher ([32]: 80). Ronald Sandler argues for a similar view; see Sandler ([4]: 2).

  5. Cf. Peter Singer’s title: “Is the Sanctity of Life Ethic Terminally Ill?”

  6. I provide a fuller account of this topic in “Respect for Persons, Life, and Nature” [unpublished].

  7. It is by now obvious that “species rights” is totally different from “animal rights.”

  8. This argument in particular suggests the more general point that the moral case for de-extinction, explained here as an argument from justice, can be re-conceptualized in terms of virtue ethics. I thank a reviewer for this journal for pointing out this possibility. This of course lends further support to the case for de-extinction by showing the breadth of its possible justifications.

  9. The advancement of knowledge may be seen as an objective value, beyond preference satisfaction.

  10. On cloning and de-extinction see Gamborg [6].

  11. See Meno, St. 77, Symposium, St. 201ff.

  12. See Rachel Barney’s exquisite review: [48].

  13. Greater Hippias, St. 296, trans. Benjamin Jowett.

  14. In the Philebus (St. 65) we are even given a formula of sorts, where the good is a function of three elements: beauty, proportion and truth.

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I wish to thank Uri Eytan, whose interest in de-extinction prompted me to embark on the research that led to this paper.

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  1. Department of Philosophy, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva, 84105, Israel

    Shlomo Cohen

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Cohen, S. The Ethics of De-Extinction. Nanoethics 8, 165–178 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11569-014-0201-2

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