The forgetting of the organism, the forgetting of experience: Values in conservation biology

MARÍA CONSTANZA CASALDERREY ZAPATA; GABRIELA KLIER

Oslo

Conferencia; 16th biennal Conference of the International Society for the History, Philosophy, and Social Studies of Biology Conference; 2019

The ISHPSSB

In this presentation we will analyze the ethical dimension of ConservationBiology. Conservation Biology emerged in the 1980s, linked to a specific problem: the biodiversity crisis. The foundational manuscript of this area, written by Soulé in 1985 and entitled ?What is Conservation Biology??, proposes that this field of study is based on ethical principles. Soulé argues, from an ecocentric point of view, that biodiversity has intrinsic value. More specifically, we will see that this value is mostly attributed to species and ecosystems. However, in the last decades, other anthropocentric perspectives have become relevant. These perspectives consider biodiversity in terms of goods and services for humans. Although both positions are apparently opposed, they have something in common: nonhuman organisms are not considered as intrinsically valuable. This leads to some practices deviled by animal protectionists, such as the use of the ?sanitary rifle? in the management of some invasive species. In this research we will try to show that the ?forgetting of the organism?, characteristic of different biological subdisciplines and also present in Conservation Biology, has several implications. In particular, we´ll propose that in forgetting organisms, Conservation Biology also forgets the singularrelationships and experiences between people and biodiversity. In this way, the environmental issues concerning biodiversity are turned into ?abstract? issues, detached from the emotional and experiential dimensions. These issues are now suited for a committee of experts, who decide what is valuable from ?nowhere?.