Campbell, Douglas2022-08-102022-08-102017Campbell DI (2017). On the Authenticity of De-extinct Organisms, and the Genesis Argument. Animal Studies Journal. 6(1). 61-79.1948-352X2201-3008https://hdl.handle.net/10092/104132Are the methods of synthetic biology capable of recreating authentic living members of an extinct species? An analogy with the restoration of destroyed natural landscapes suggests not. e restored version of a natural landscape will typically lack much of the aesthetic value of the original landscape because of the di erent historical processes that created it – processes that involved human intentions and actions, rather than natural forces acting over millennia. By the same token, it would appear that synthetically recreated versions of extinct natural organisms will also be less aesthetically valuable than the originals; that they will be, in some strong sense, ‘inauthentic’, because of their peculiar history and mode of origin. I call this the ‘genesis argument’ against de-extinction. In this article I critically evaluate the genesis argument. I highlight an important disanalogy between living organisms and natural landscapes: viz., it is of the essence of the former, but not of the la er, to regularly reproduce and die. e process of iterated natural reproduction that sustains the continued existence of a species through time obviously does not undermine the authenticity of the species. I argue that the authenticity of a species will likewise be le intact by the kind of arti cial copying of genes and traits that a de-extinction project entails. I conclude on this basis that the genesis argument is unsound.enAll rights reserved unless otherwise statedDe-ExtinctionExtinctionSpeciesAuthenticityJournal Article2022-07-04Fields of Research::50 - Philosophy and religious studies::5003 - Philosophy::500317 - Philosophy of science (excl. history and philosophy of specific fields)Fields of Research::50 - Philosophy and religious studies::5003 - Philosophy::500304 - Environmental philosophyFields of Research::31 - Biological sciences::3104 - Evolutionary biology::310412 - Speciation and extinctionFields of Research::31 - Biological sciences::3104 - Evolutionary biology::310405 - Evolutionary ecologyFields of Research::50 - Philosophy and religious studies::5001 - Applied ethics::500103 - Ethical use of new technologyFields of Research::50 - Philosophy and religious studies::5003 - Philosophy::500309 - MetaphysicsFields of Research::31 - Biological sciences::3104 - Evolutionary biology::310401 - Animal systematics and taxonomy