Federica Bocchi | Non-Epistemic Considerations and Performance Metrics in Biodiversity Conservation

Federica Bocchi examines one aspect of the legacy of the Value-Free Ideal in conservation science: the view that measurements and metrics in conservation are value-free epistemic tools detached from ideological, ethical, social, and, generally, non-epistemic considerations. Contrary to this view, I will argue that traditional measurement practices entrenched in conservation are, in fact, permeated with non-epistemic values. She challenges the received view by revealing three non-epistemic assumptions underlying traditional metrics: 1) a human-environment demarcation, 2) the desirability of a people-free landscape, and 3) the exclusion of cultural diversity from biodiversity. She also draws a connection between arguments for retaining traditional metrics to “scientific colonialism,” exemplified by a fortress conservation model. Dr. Bocchi concludes by advocating for abandoning the myth of the intrinsic value-freedom of measurement practices and embracing metrics aligned with societal and scientific goals. 

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About the Speaker

Dr. Bocchi is a philosopher of science. She is currently engaged as a postdoctoral researcher at the History and Philosophy of Science Unit at the University of Copenhagen. She earned a PhD in philosophy of science from Boston University and a master's degree from the Università di Parma. Her primary area of specialization is environmental philosophy, with a focus on epistemological and methodological issues in the theory and practice of measuring biodiversity, alongside the role of non-epistemic values embedded in conservation metrics.

 

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.