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NanoEthics
Published in: NanoEthics 2/2014

01-08-2014 | Original Paper

The Ethics of De-Extinction

Author: Shlomo Cohen

Published in: NanoEthics | Issue 2/2014

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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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Footnotes
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I provide a fuller account of this topic in “Respect for Persons, Life, and Nature” [unpublished].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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Metadata
Title
The Ethics of De-Extinction
Author
Shlomo Cohen
Publication date
01-08-2014
Publisher
Springer Netherlands
Published in
NanoEthics / Issue 2/2014
Print ISSN: 1871-4757
Electronic ISSN: 1871-4765
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11569-014-0201-2

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