Value Beyond Earth
Description
With chapters by expert scientists, philosophers, and theologians, this book explores various arguments and perspectives in exo-axiology (the consideration of value beyond Earth).
It explores the following questions: Is our concern for value merely earth-bound and terrestrial, simply a projection of our lonely species onto a vast and valueless universe; or are there reasons to think that value is so basic to the universe that we can also expect to find it beyond Earth in myriad extraterrestrial forms and expressions? What are the implications of this debate for interdisciplinary discussions of cosmology and evolution, contact and communication, and philosophy and religion? What indeed is the relationship between axiology, space exploration, and the search for life, intelligence, and meaning in the universe?
Value Beyond Earth is essential reading for all scholars, researchers, and advanced students in metaethics, the philosophy of religion, and the philosophy of science.
More details
Person
Andrew M. Davis, Ph.D. is an American process philosopher and theologian. He leads research and program direction for the Center for Process Studies.
Content
Chapter 1. Introduction: Answering the Call for Exo-Axiology: A Thematic and Conceptual Framing.- PART I: THE REACH OF VALUE.- Chapter 2. Does the Universe Have Value?.- Chapter 3. On the Scientific Value of Mars: A Feminist Philosophy of Science Perspective.- Chapter 4. Do ETI Have Values? If So, What Are They?.- Chapter 5. Possibility Spaces and Values: The Deep Structure of the Cosmos.- Chapter 6. Cosmic Evolution as a Worldview?.- PART II: THE NATURE OF VALUE.- Chapter 7. Cosmoaxiology: On Value, Cosmocentrism, and Life in the Universe.- Chapter 8. Out of This World: A Hartshornean Exo-Axiology.- Chapter 9. On the Intrinsic Value of Off-Earth Life.- Chapter 10. Intrinsic Value Everywhere.- Chapter 11. The Community of Possible Moral Relations.- Chapter 12. Systemic Value and Its Relational Status in the Natural Cosmic World.- Chapter 13. Extraterrestrial Metaphysics in Process Perspective: Implications of our Anthropocosmic Nature.- PART III: THE FUTURE OF VALUE.- Chapter 14. Ethical Foundations for Artificial and Extraterrestrial Intelligence.- Chapter 15. The Future of Theology: Exotheology - UAP, Government, and Extraterrestrial Intelligence.- Chapter 16. Possible Reframing of the Meaning of Objective: Extraterrestrial Life through a Subjective Story.- Chapter 17. Wildling the Cosmos: A Decolonial and Process Approach to Space Exploration.- Chapter 18. Natural Goodness and Alien Morality.