what birds and people share

[John Grehan]

At 02:19 PM 11/13/99 -0500, you wrote:
>John, the thing about the robins and tits is very interesting, but I
>object to the implications of homology between conservation philosophy and
>Nazi propaganda, whether I agree with the particular conservtion practice
>or not.  Birds are not ethnic groups of people, and people are obviously
>not a collection of diverse species that happen to be the about the same
>size or color.
>
>Les Kaufman

I accept that others will object to the connection between conservation
philosophy and Nazism. However, there has been published research making
the case for just such a connection both historically and philosophically.

The common thread between the brids and groups of people is the issue of
identity and difference. Both the conservation program in question (the New
Zealand Department of Conservation) and the Nazi philosophers share
the principle of genetic purity, and the danger of muddying the gene
pool of the group considered unique, pure and different. Much of the
species concepts based on definition of essence (such as biological
species concept, mate recognition concept, phylogenetic species concept)
appear to share much with Nazi philosophy in the recognition of purity of
identity and difference. It was the ideology of purity and difference that
provided the justification presented by the NZ department of conservation,
not the application of any scientific principle concerning the evolution
of organisms.

John Grehan