Garson Justin
Department of Philosophy, Hunter College of the City University of New York, 695 Park Ave., New York, NY 10065, United States.
Stud Hist Philos Biol Biomed Sci. 2014 Mar;45:97-100. doi: 10.1016/j.shpsc.2013.10.003. Epub 2013 Nov 7.
The following considers the role of historical fidelity in habitat reconstruction efforts. To what extent should habitat reconstruction be guided by the goal of recreating some past state of a damaged ecosystem? I consider Sarkar's "replacement argument," which holds that, in most habitat reconstruction efforts, there is little justification for appealing to historical fidelity. I argue that Sarkar does not provide adequate grounds for deprecating historical fidelity relative to other natural values such as biodiversity or wild nature.