A SCIENCE FOR SURVIVAL - VALUES AND CONSERVATION BIOLOGY

Practice of conservation biology that does not actively and continuous ly question the values that shape it is self-defeating: Conservation b iology is inescapably normative. Advocacy for the preservation of biod iversity is part of the scientific practice of conservation biology. I f the editorial policy of or the publications in Conservation Biology direct the discipline toward an ''objective, value-free'' approach, th en they do not educate and transform society but rather narrow the foc us to the ''object of knowledge'' (be this species, gene pools, landsc apes, or ecosystems). To pretend that the acquisition of ''positive kn owledge'' alone will avert mass extinctions is misguided. Conservation biologists should reflect on the constitutive values (especially cont extual, but also methodological and bias) underlying their research pr ograms and policy recommendations. Such reflection is itself and inher ent element of scientific objectivity and takes into account the socia l nature of scientific knowledge. Without openly acknowledging such a perspective, conservation biology could become merely a subdiscipline of biology, intellectually and functionally sterile and incapable of a verting an anthropogenic mass extinction.