The Extraterrestrial Environment – an Axiological Perspective

Lucian MOCREI REBREAN

doi:10.18662/lumproc.rsacvp2017.49

Lucian MOCREI REBREAN PhD Student, “Stefan cel Mare” University from Suceava

DOI: https://doi.org/10.18662/lumproc.rsacvp2017.49

Keywords: natural value, meta-ethics, intrinsic value, naturalistic fallacy, extraterrestrial environment

Abstract

Through human exploration the extraterrestrial space becomes more and more the subject of an anthropological debate. The purpose of this article is to connect axiological thinking with the ethics of human activities related to space exploration. In this context, when debating upon the ability of natural objects to possess value, the distinction between the source of value and the object of value or the “locus” of value is essential. If we deliberate strictly in favour of the valorising subject, the exterior nature is always in danger of losing its intrinsic value. Only to the extent that natural objects are values in themselves, regardless if any human subject is valorising them, the so-called naturalistic fallacy in locating value, the confusion between its source and object can be prevented from the start. These difficulties can be surmounted by stating that all value, human and nonhuman is ontologically located within the natural world. The existence of a plurality of irreducible values makes it possible for judgements of value to be justified independently of the appeal to human preferences. The concept of intrinsic value can be directly attributed to entities belonging to extraterrestrial nature only provided we accept that intrinsic values can be both concrete and plural. Seen through the prism of an objectivist meta-ethics, extraterrestrial space can be described as a new environment where values subsist without any reference to human valorisation/experimentation, awaiting their exploration and discovery.

References

[1] Callicott JB, Frodeman CR. Encyclopedia of Environmental Ethics and Philosophy. Detroit: Macmillan Reference USA; 2009. XV p.
[2] Conway DW. Introduction. In: Mooney E. editor. Wilderness and the Heart: Henry Bugbee's Philosophy of Place, Presence, and Memory. Athens and London: University of Georgia Press; 1999. 6 p.
[3] Curry P. Ecological Ethics: An Introduction. Cambridge: Polity Press; 2011. 45 p.
[4] Jakosky B. The Search for Life on Other Planets. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press; 1998. p. 165
[5] Svoboda T. Duties Regarding Nature: A Kantian Environmental Ethic London and New York: Routledge; 2015. 12 p.
[6] Sylvan R, Bennett D. The Greening of Ethics: from Human Chauvinism to Deep-Green Theory. Cambridge: The Whitehorse Press; 1994. 167 p.
[7] Schwartz JS. On the Methodology of Space Ethics. In: Schwartz JS, Miligan T, editors. The Ethics of Space Exploration. New York: Springer; 2016. 102 p.
[8] Gregory R. Identifying Environmental Values. In: Dale VH, English MR editors. Tools to Aid Environmental Decision Making. New York: Springer; 1999. 41-42 pp.
[9] Hay PR. Main Currents in Western Environmental Thought. Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana University Press; 2002. 59 p.
[10] [10] Hay PR. Main Currents in Western Environmental Thought. Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana University Press; 2002. 55 p.
[11] Rolston III H. Environmental Ethics: Duties to and Values in the Natural World. Philadelphia: Temple University Press; 1988, 116 p.
[12] Rolston III H. Value in Nature and the Nature of Value. In: Attfield R, Belsey A, editors. Philosophy and the Natural Environment. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press; 1994. 13-14 pp.
[13] Rolston III H. Value in Nature and the Nature of Value. In: Attfield R, Belsey A, editors. Philosophy and the Natural Environment. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press; 1994. 33 p.
[14] Ferre F. Being and Value: Toward a Constructive Postmodern Metaphysics. New York: State University of New York Press; 1996. 303 p.
[15] Hargrove EC. Weak Anthropocentric Intrinsic Value. In: Light A, Rolston III H, editors. Environmental Ethics, An Anthology, Malden MA: Blackwell Publishers; 2003. 175-176 pp.
[16] Attfield R. The Ethics of Environmental Concern. Oxford: Basil Blackwell; 1983. 155 p.
[17] Beckerman W, Pasek J. Justice, Posterity and the Environment. Oxford: Oxford University Press; 2001.129 p.
[18] O’Neill J. Ecology. Policy and Politics. London and New York: Routledge; 1993. 11 p.
[19] Attfield R. The Ethics of Environmental Concern. Oxford: Basil Blackwell; 1983. 143 p.
[20] Attfield R. The Ethics of Environmental Concern. Oxford: Basil Blackwell; 1983. 151-52 pp.
[21] Ronow-Rasmussen T, Zimmerman MJ. Introduction. In: Ronow-Rasmussen T, Zimmerman MJ editors. Recent Work on Intrinsic Value Dordrecht: Springer; 2005. . xxvi p.
[22] Moore GE. Philosophycal Papers. London: Allen and Unwin; 1959. 95 p.
[23] O’Neill J. The Varieties of Intrinsic Value. The Monist. 1992; 75 (2): 119 – 120.
[24] Vilkka L. The Intrinsic Value of Nature, Amsterdam Atlanta: Rodopi; 1997.
13 p.
[25] Rolston III H. Environmental Ethics: Duties to and Values in the Natural World. Philadelphia: Temple University Press; 1988. 114 p.
[26] Rolston III H. Environmental Ethics: Duties to and Values in the Natural World. Philadelphia: Temple University Press; 1988. 134 p.
[27] Dewey J.Experience and Nature. New York: Dover Publications;1958. 239 p.
[28] Rolston III H. Environmental Ethics: Duties to and Values in the Natural World. Philadelphia: Temple University Press; 1988. 135 p.
[29] Rolston III H. Environmental Ethics: Duties to and Values in the Natural World. Philadelphia: Temple University Press; 1988. 143 p.