ABSTRACT

This volume provides a rigorous philosophical investigation of the rationales, challenges, and promises of the coming Space Age.

Over the past decade, space exploration has made significant and accelerating progress, and its potential has attracted growing attention from science, states, businesses, innovators, as well as the media and society more generally. Yet philosophical theorizing concerning the premises, values, meanings, and impacts of space exploration is still in its infancy, and this potentially immense field of study is far from mainstream yet. This book advances outer space philosophy by integrating key scientific and societal debates sparked by recent developments in space research and activities with conceptual, existential, ethical, aesthetic, and political themes and concerns. It maps various regions of philosophical exploration, reflection, and speculation regarding humanity’s present and future emanations into outer space, to promote a broad, rich, and nuanced societal debate regarding this transformative enterprise, which is as stimulating as it can be disorienting.

This book will be a fascinating read for academics, researchers, and students interested in philosophy, space studies, science and technology studies, future studies, and sustainability.

chapter 1|22 pages

Outer Space and Humanity

History, Concepts, and Themes of a New Philosophical Frontier

chapter 2|18 pages

A Memorial with No Observers

Carl Sagan's Golden Record

chapter 3|15 pages

Earth and the Ontology of Planets

chapter 4|9 pages

Signs of Life

The Epistemology of Indirect Sensing

chapter 5|11 pages

Alien Ways of Knowing and Being

Speculations from the Lives of Earthly Non-Human Animals

chapter 7|13 pages

Conspiracy Theories about Space

Are They Epistemically Special?

chapter 8|11 pages

Sustainability and Humanity's Future in Space

A Conceptual Exploration

chapter 9|16 pages

“Improving” Outer Space

chapter 10|12 pages

Unearthing Global Justice

From Space to Inter-Planetary Ethics

chapter 11|10 pages

Space Adaptation

How Life Can Be Shaped by Space Travel

chapter 13|13 pages

Faking Biosphere

chapter 14|13 pages

In Space There Is No Status Quo

Space Communities as Social Experimentation Regarding Reproduction and Kinship