Article ID: CBB088304027

The algorithmic turn in conservation biology: Characterizing progress in ethically-driven sciences (2021)

unapi

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.

...More
Citation URI
https://data.isiscb.org/isis/citation/CBB088304027/

Similar Citations

Article Sarkar, Sahotra; (2014)
Environmental Philosophy: From Theory to Practice Original Research Article (/isis/citation/CBB001420088/)

Article Fridolin Gross; Nina Kranke; Robert Meunier; (2019)
Pluralization Through Epistemic Competition: Scientific Change in Times of Data-Intensive Biology (/isis/citation/CBB374064986/)

Chapter Ana Duarte Rodrigues; (2021)
Jardins como espaços de ciência, séculos XVI‑XVII (/isis/citation/CBB002422897/)

Article Grantham, Todd A.; (2000)
Evolutionary Epistemology, Social Epistemology, and the Demic Structure of Science (/isis/citation/CBB000110861/)

Article Anya Plutynski; (2019)
Speciation Post Synthesis: 1960–2000 (/isis/citation/CBB489906012/)

Article McAllister, James W.; (2003)
Algorithmic Randomness in Empirical Data (/isis/citation/CBB000340895/)

Book Pietro Daniel Omodeo; Volkhard Wels; (2019)
Natural Knowledge and Aristotelianism at Early Modern Protestant Universities (/isis/citation/CBB325233371/)

Book Gilles Dowek; (2015)
Computation, Proof, Machine: Mathematics Enters a New Age (/isis/citation/CBB051353110/)

Article Marcin Krasnodębski; (2022)
Lost Green Chemistries: History of Forgotten Environmental Trajectories (/isis/citation/CBB872447698/)

Article Vanpaemel, Geert; (2013)
Versnippering of diversiteit? De Belgische wetenschapsgeschiedenis na de Tweede Wereldoorlog (/isis/citation/CBB001321082/)

Article Goodwin, William; (2013)
Sustaining a Controversy: The Non-classical Ion Debate (/isis/citation/CBB001320750/)

Book Alexander Blum; (2016)
Shifting Paradigms: Thomas S. Kuhn and the History of Science (/isis/citation/CBB226022591/)

Book Schmitt, Michael; (2013)
From Taxonomy to Phylogenetics: Life and Work of Willi Hennig (/isis/citation/CBB001321148/)

Article Elliott, Kevin C.; (2012)
Epistemic and Methodological Iteration in Scientific Research (/isis/citation/CBB001221695/)

Article Faye, Cathy; (2012)
American Social Psychology: Examining the Contours of the 1970s Crisis (/isis/citation/CBB001221634/)

Authors & Contributors
Kranke, Nina
Rodrigues, Ana Duarte
Dowek, Gilles
Xiaochang Li
Leal, Claudia
Elliott, Kevin C.
Concepts
Methodology of science; scientific method
Development of science; change in science
Philosophy of science
Epistemology
Discipline formation
Biology
Time Periods
20th century, late
21st century
Early modern
20th century, early
20th century
17th century
Places
United States
Colombia
South America
South Africa
Germany
Europe
Comments

Be the first to comment!

{{ comment.created_by.username }} on {{ comment.created_on | date:'medium' }}

Log in or register to comment