The Ethics of Space Exploration [Hardcover]

This book aims to contribute significantly to the understanding of issues of value (including the ultimate value of space-related activities) which repeatedly emerge in interdisciplinary discussions on space and society. Although a recurring feature of discussions about space in the humanities, the treatment of value questions has tended to be patchy, of uneven quality and even, on occasion, idiosyncratic rather than drawing upon a close familiarity with state-of-the-art ethical theory. One of the volume's aims is to promote a more robust and theoretically informed approach to the ethical dimension of discussions on space and society. While the contributions are written in a manner which is accessible across disciplines, the book still withstands scrutiny by those whose work is primarily on ethics. At the same time it allows academics across a range of disciplines an insight into current approaches toward how the work of ethics gets done. The issues of value raised could be used to inform debates about regulation, space law and protocols for microbial discovery as well as longer-range policy debates about funding.

Forword,.- Volume Introduction,.- Section I .- Colonization,.- Section II  Normative Ethics,.- Section III  Humanism and Posthumanism,.- Section IV  Ethics and Law,.- Section V  The Debate on Microbial Value,.- Section VI  Planetary Protection,.- Glossary of Terms,.- Index.

 

 

This is a well-edited selection of essays covering a human side of space exploration that few of us may have spent much time considering. ... this volume is a worthwhile and enlightening read about a topic that could become very relevant in the next few decades. (Barry Kent, The Observatory, Vol. 137 (1260), October, 2017)

Tony Milligan is a lecturer in ethics with the Department of Philosophy at the University of HertfordlI