Abstract
Advances in biotechnology mean that it may soon be possible to recreate previously extinct species. This has led to an emerging debate within bioethics about whether we ought to reintroduce extinct species into our ecosystems. In this paper, we discuss the role that biodiversity could play in this debate. Many believe that biodiversity is a good that should be protected. We argue that if biodiversity is a good, then this suggests it should also be promoted, including by reintroducing previously extinct species. We begin by outlining different ways in which biodiversity could be conceptualized, and then analyze various accounts of its value. We suggest no approach justifies an asymmetry between “protecting” biodiversity by conserving species alive today, and “creating” biodiversity by introducing previously extinct species. This suggests that if we have reasons stemming from biodiversity to protect species from extinction, we will have similar reasons to reintroduce previously extinct species. We close by asking whether arguments from biodiversity speak in favor of introducing some novel species into the ecosystem.
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Notes
It is also possible to produce numerous hybrid combinations of the above types of diversity. For example, we might understand biodiversity as requiring a certain amount of unit diversity, combined with a certain amount of feature biodiversity. We do not consider hybrid accounts here, because we do not believe they will affect the core ethical analysis we undertake in Parts 3 and 4.
Understood as species richness.
A phylogenetic tree is a diagram that depicts the lines of evolutionary descent of different species from a common ancestor.
For a more extensive account, see (Maier, 2012).
We thank an anonymous reviewer for this point.
This view is implied by (Parens, 1995).
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Gyngell, C., Savulescu, J. Promoting Biodiversity. Philos. Technol. 30, 413–426 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13347-016-0234-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13347-016-0234-2