The Algorithmic Turn in Conservation Biology: Characterizing Progress in Ethically-Driven Sciences

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

7-2-2021

Publication Title

Studies in History and Philosophy of Science: Part A

Volume

88

First page number:

181

Last page number:

192

Abstract

As a discipline distinct from ecology, conservation biology emerged in the 1980s as a rigorous science focused on protecting biodiversity. Two algorithmic breakthroughs in information processing made this possible: place-prioritization algorithms and geographical information systems. They provided defensible, data-driven methods for designing reserves to conserve biodiversity that obviated the need for largely intuitive and highly problematic appeals to ecological theory at the time. But the scientific basis of these achievements and whether they constitute genuine scientific progress has been criticized. We counter by pointing out important inaccuracies about the science and rejecting the apparent theory-first focus. More broadly, the case study reveals significant limitations of the predominant epistemic-semantic conceptions of scientific progress and the considerable merits of pragmatic, practically-oriented accounts.

Keywords

Scientific progress; Values in science; Conservation biology; Biodiversity; Ecology; Endangered species act; Island biogeography; Nature reserve; Place-prioritization algorithm; SLOSS

Disciplines

Philosophy of Science

Language

English

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