Northern White Rhinos: A Case Study of (Almost) Every Philosophical/Ethical Issue in Conservation Today
Date
Tue October 24th 2023, 4:00 - 5:30pm
Event Sponsor
McCoy Family Center for Ethics in Society
Stanford Humanities Center
Stanford Humanities Center
Location
Humanities Center
424 Santa Teresa Street, Stanford, CA 94305
Board Room
424 Santa Teresa Street, Stanford, CA 94305
Board Room
The Facing the Anthropocene: Interdisciplinary Approaches workshop presents:
Northern White Rhinos: A Case Study of (Almost) Every Philosophical/Ethical Issue in Conservation Today
Abstract: Two females, Nadine and Fatu, are the sole surviving Northern White Rhinos (NWR). The subspecies is functionally extinct. Hope for NWR now lies in emerging reproductive and genetic technologies. What are the rationales for existing and conceivable recovery projects? This question raises almost every philosophical/ethical issue facing conservation science today. Facing the challenges presented by the Anthropocene, NWR recovery is hard to justify via many traditional paths (e.g., historical fidelity, ecosystem health, biodiversity). That does not mean, however, that there are no reasons for saving the NWR. I’ll sketch two that have more to do with building an Ark for the future than with making the NWR a passenger on the Ark.
Bio: Craig Callender is the Tata Chancellor's Professor of Philosophy and a Founding Faculty and Co-Director of the Institute for Practical Ethics. From 1996-2000, he worked in the Department of Philosophy, Logic & Scientific Method at the London School of Economics. From 2019-2022, he sat on the Freedom and Responsibility in Science Committee of the International Science Council, Paris. His main area of research and teaching is philosophy of science, ranging from the nature of time to various applied social and ethical issues. His book What Makes Time Special? (Oxford University Press, 2017) won the 2018 Lakatos Award and the 2022 Suppes Prize.
This Workshop is sponsored by the Stanford Humanities Center and made possible by support from an anonymous donor, former Fellows, the Mellon Foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the McCoy Family Center for Ethics in Society.
Event Link