Hostname: page-component-89b8bd64d-ktprf Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2026-05-05T15:29:50.298Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Does extraterrestrial life have intrinsic value? An exploration in responsibility ethics

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 February 2018

Ted Peters
Ted Peters*
Affiliation:
Francisco J. Ayala Center for Theology and the Natural Sciences at the Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley, CA, USA
*
Author for correspondence: Ted Peters, E-mail: TedsTimelyTake.com and tedfpeters@gmail.com
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

If space explorers discover a biosphere supporting life on an off-Earth body, should they treat that life as possessing intrinsic value? This is an ethical quandary leading to a further question: how do we ground a universal moral norm to which the astroethicist can appeal? This article closely analyses various forms of responsibility ethics and finds them weak because they commit the naturalistic fallacy – that is, they ask nature to define the good. The good, however, is self-defining and not derivable from nature. Even so, a revised responsibility ethic could ground its universal norms on the fact that life and only life can experience and appreciate the good. Conclusion: living creatures possess intrinsic value both on Earth and elsewhere in the Universe.

Keywords

AstroethicsChristopher McKayEmmanuel LevinasHans JonasKnud Løgstrupnaturalistic fallacyquandary ethicsresponsibility ethicsthe good

Information

Type
Research Article
Information
International Journal of Astrobiology , Volume 18 , Issue 4 , August 2019 , pp. 304 - 310
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2018 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Andersen, S (2007) In the eyes of a Lutheran philosopher: how Løgstrup treated moral thinkers. In Andersen, S and van Kooten Niekerk, K (eds). Concern for the Other: Perspectives on the Ethics of K.E. Løgstrup. Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press, pp. 1–8.Google Scholar
Arnhart, L (2005) Evolutionary ethics. In Mitcham, C (ed.). Encyclopedia of Science, Technology, and Ethics, vol. 4. New York: Macmillan, Thomson Gale, 2, 715–720.Google Scholar
Arnould, J (2005) The emergence of the ethics of space: the case of the French space agency. Futures 37, 245–254.Google Scholar
Arnould, J (2011) Icarus’ Second Chance: The Basis and Perspectives of Space Ethics. Heidelberg: Springer.Google Scholar
Cho, F (2007) An Asian religious perspective on exploring the origin, extent and future of life. In Bertka, C, Roth, N and Shindell, M (eds). Workshop Report: Philosophical, Ethical, and Theological Implications of Astrobiology. Washington, DC: AAAS, pp. 208–218.Google Scholar
Chon-Torres, O (2017) Astrobioethics. International Journal of Astrobiology 16(2), 1–6. doi: 10.1017/S1473550417000064.Google Scholar
Cleland, CE and Wilson, EM (2013) Lessons from earth: toward and ethics of astrobiology. In Impey, C, Spitz, AH and Stoeger, W (eds). Encountering Life in the Universe. Tucson: University of Arizona Press, pp. 17–55.Google Scholar
Cockell, CS (2016) The ethical status of microbial life on earth and Elsewhere: in defense of intrinsic value. In Schwartz, JSJ and Milligan, T (eds). The Ethics of Space Exploration. Heidelberg: Springer, pp. 167–180.Google Scholar
Conley, CA (2014) Life guard: an interview with Catharine Conley. Scientific American 311(4), 30.Google Scholar
Conley, CA and Rummel, JD (2010) Planetary protection for human exploration of Mars. Acta Astronautica 66, 5–6 (March-April 2010) 792–797; http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0094576509004317 (accessed 3 October 2016).Google Scholar
COSPAR Workshop on Ethical Considerations for Protection in Space Exploration, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, 8–10, 2010.Google Scholar
Fink, H (2007) The conception of ethics and the Ethical in K.E. Løgstrup's the ethical demand. In Andersen, S and van Kooten Niekerk, K (eds). Concern for the Other: Perspectives on the Ethics of K.E. Løgstrup. Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press, 9–28.Google Scholar
Hefner, P (1993) The Human Factor. Minneapolis: Fortress Press.Google Scholar
Heidegger, M (1962) Being and Time, tr. John Macquarrie and Edward Robinson. New York: Harper.Google Scholar
Hester, J (2017) The hermeneutics of bunk. Astronomy 45, 7 (July) 14.Google Scholar
Höffe, O (2010) Can Virtue Make us Happy? Tr. McGauhey, Douglas R. and Bunch, Aaron. Evanston IL: Northwestern University Press.Google Scholar
Johnson, EA (2014). Ask the Beasts: Darwin and the God of Love. London: Bloomsbury.Google Scholar
Jonas, H (1984) The Imperative of Responsibility: In Search of an Ethics for the Technological Age. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Jonas, H (1966, 2001) The Phenomenon of Life: Toward A Philosophical Biology. Evanston IL: Northwestern University Press.Google Scholar
Kauffman, SA (2008) Reinventing the Sacred: A New View of Science, Reason, and Religion. New York: Basic Books.Google Scholar
Levinas, E (1998) Otherwise Than Being, or, Beyond Essence. Tr., Alphopnso Lingis. Pittsburgh: Duquesne University Press.Google Scholar
Løgstrup, KE (1997) The Ethical Demand. Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press.Google Scholar
Lupisella, M (2016) “Cosmological theories of value: relationalism and connectedness as foundations for cosmic creativity. In Schwartz JSJ and Milligan T (eds). The Ethics of Space Exploration. Heidelberg: Springer, pp. 75–92.Google Scholar
McKay, CP (2007) Planetary ecosynthesis on Mars: restoration ecology and environmental ethics. In Sullivan, WT III and Baross, JA (eds). Exploring the Origin of Astrobiology. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 245–260.Google Scholar
McKay, CP (2013) Astrobiology and science: the long view. In Impey, C, Spitz, AH and Stoeger, W (eds). Encountering Life in the Universe. Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 158–166.Google Scholar
Mitcham, C (2005) Responsibility: overview. In Mitcham, C (ed.). Encyclopedia of Science, Technology, and Ethics, vol. 4. New York: Macmillan/Thomson Gale, 3, 1609–1616.Google Scholar
Moore, GE (1903) Principia Ethica. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Morris, T (2013) Hans Jonas’ Ethic of Responsibility: From Ontology to Ecology. Albany, NY: SUNY.Google Scholar
Persson, E (2012) The moral status of extraterrestrial life. Astrobiology 12(10), 976–985.Google Scholar
Peters, T (2013) Astroethics: engaging extraterrestrial intelligent life-forms. In Impey, C, Spitz, AH and Stoeger, W (ed.). Encountering Life in the Universe. Tucson: University of Arizona Press, pp. 200–221.Google Scholar
Peters, T (2014) Intelligent aliens and astroethics. In Arnould, J (ed.). Space Exploration and ET: Who Goes There? Adelaide, Australia: ATF Press, pp. 1–20.Google Scholar
Peters, T (2016) Outer space and cyber space: meeting ETI in the cloud. International Journal of Astrobiology, doi: 10.1017/S1473550416000318 © Cambridge University Press 2016; http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayFulltext?type=1&fid=10445483&jid=IJA&volumeId=-1&issueId=-1&aid=10445478&fromPage=cupadmin&pdftype=6316268&repository=authInst.Google Scholar
Peters, T (2017) Universal humanity, religious particularity, and scientific reductionism. In Tibayrenc M, and Ayala, FJ (eds). On Human Nature: Biology, Psychology, Ethics, Politics, and Religion. Amsterdam: Elsevier, pp. 686–694.Google Scholar
Pope, SJ (2007) Human Evolution and Christian Ethics. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University.Google Scholar
Race, MS (2013) Space exploration and searches for extraterrestrial life: decision making and societal issues. In Impey, C, Spitz, AH and Stoeger, W (eds). Encountering Life in the Universe. Tucson: University of Arizona Press, pp. 141–156.Google Scholar
Race, MS and Randolph, RO (2002) The need for operating guidelines and a decision making framework applicable to the discovery of Non-intelligent extraterrestrial life. Advances in Space Research 30(6), 1583–9151. http://www.seti.org/pdfs/m_race_guidelines.pdf.Google Scholar
Race, MS and Randolph, RO (2007), Societal and ethical concerns. In Sullivan, WT III and Baross, JA (eds). Planets and Life: The Emerging Science of Astrobiology. Cambridge UK: Cambridge University Press, pp. 483–497.Google Scholar
Randolph, RO (2009) God's preferential option for life: a Christian perspective. In Bertka, CM (ed.). Exploring the Origin, Extent, and Future of Life: Philosophical, Ethical, and Theological Perspectives. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, pp. 281–302.Google Scholar
Randolph, RO and McKay, CP (2014) Protecting and expanding the richness and diversity of life, An ethic for astrobiology research and space exploration. International Journal of Astrobiology 13(1), 28–34.Google Scholar
Schwarz, JSJ and Milligan, T (2016) Introduction: the scope and content of space ethics. In Schwartz JSJ and Milligan T (eds). The Ethics of Space Exploration. Heidelberg: Springer, pp. 1–14.Google Scholar
Schweiker, W (2016) Humanity and the global future. Journal of the Society of Christian Ethics 36, 2 (Fall/Winter) 3–24.Google Scholar
Strom, RG (2015) We are not alone: extraterrestrial technological life in our galaxy. Astrobiology and Outreach 3, 5, http://www.esciencecentral.org/journals/we-are-not-alone-extraterrestrial-technological-life-in-our-galaxy-2332-2519-1000144.pdf (accessed 15 February 2016).Google Scholar
Tyson, ND (2017) Astrophysics for People in a Hurry. New York: W.W. Norton.Google Scholar
UN (1967). United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs, Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space, Including the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies. http://www.unoosa.org/oosa/SpaceLaw/outerspt.html (accessed 30 December 2008).Google Scholar
Wolf-Chase, G (2012) Astronomy: from star gazing to astrobiology. In Haag, JW, Peterson, GR and Spezio, ML (eds). The Routledge Companion to Religion and Science. London: Routledge, pp. 103–112.Google Scholar
Young, S (2006) Designer Evolution: A Transhumanist Manifesto. Amherst, NY: Prometheus Books.Google Scholar