Chapter 6. What is the meaning of biodiversity?
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Pierluigi Barrotta
Abstract
The preservation of biodiversity is one of the greatest concerns of our age. However, a satisfactory operational definition of biodiversity is still lacking, and it is likely that it won’t be achieved in the near future. In their practice of measurement scientists adopt a pluralistic and multi-dimensional metric – an approach which is widely accepted, but not theoretically justified. The goal of this paper is to account for such pluralistic approach. Our solution is pragmatist: we hold that the pragmatic maxim highlights the fact-value entanglement intrinsic to the concept of biodiversity. On this basis, we argue that the axiological dimension is essential to the meaning of the concept since its extension cannot be fixed independently of it.
Abstract
The preservation of biodiversity is one of the greatest concerns of our age. However, a satisfactory operational definition of biodiversity is still lacking, and it is likely that it won’t be achieved in the near future. In their practice of measurement scientists adopt a pluralistic and multi-dimensional metric – an approach which is widely accepted, but not theoretically justified. The goal of this paper is to account for such pluralistic approach. Our solution is pragmatist: we hold that the pragmatic maxim highlights the fact-value entanglement intrinsic to the concept of biodiversity. On this basis, we argue that the axiological dimension is essential to the meaning of the concept since its extension cannot be fixed independently of it.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Introduction. Crossing borderlines 1
- Chapter 1. Controversies in public and private on-line communication 5
- Chapter 2. The Paks Pact 29
- Chapter 3. Particularist understanding of CSR marketing visual arguments 53
- Chapter 4. Cognitive science and the controversy of anthropogenic climate change 75
- Chapter 5. ELEna 95
- Chapter 6. What is the meaning of biodiversity? 115
- Chapter 7. Human evolution 133
- Chapter 8. A historical controversy about politeness and public argument 155
- Chapter 9. Husserl’s phenomenology of inner time-consciousness and enactivism 177
- Chapter 10. Controversial images 199
- Chapter 11. The role and the impact of interdisciplinarity on the relational models of intervention in the doctor-patient communication 217
- Chapter 12. The pointer finger and the pilgrim shell 235
- Chapter 13. Science and democracy 255
- About the contributors 269
- Index 277
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Introduction. Crossing borderlines 1
- Chapter 1. Controversies in public and private on-line communication 5
- Chapter 2. The Paks Pact 29
- Chapter 3. Particularist understanding of CSR marketing visual arguments 53
- Chapter 4. Cognitive science and the controversy of anthropogenic climate change 75
- Chapter 5. ELEna 95
- Chapter 6. What is the meaning of biodiversity? 115
- Chapter 7. Human evolution 133
- Chapter 8. A historical controversy about politeness and public argument 155
- Chapter 9. Husserl’s phenomenology of inner time-consciousness and enactivism 177
- Chapter 10. Controversial images 199
- Chapter 11. The role and the impact of interdisciplinarity on the relational models of intervention in the doctor-patient communication 217
- Chapter 12. The pointer finger and the pilgrim shell 235
- Chapter 13. Science and democracy 255
- About the contributors 269
- Index 277
