Abstract
This paper examines the conceptual, philosophical, and ethical implications of space exploration to sustainability. Sustainability discourse is often operating within a Spaceship Earth metaphor, seeing Earth as a closed system in which limitless growth is impossible as the resources are limited. However, in the long-term future the resources and ecological space available to humanity will not be limited only to our planet. The object of this paper is to assess the conceptual and ethical implications for key concepts in the sustainability discourse: substitutability (are Earth resources and ecological space substitutable with extraterrestrial resources and space?), future generations (are the interests of future generations Earthbound?), and limits of growth (can and ought we to pursue limitless growth outside Earth?). The study contributes to establishing a new conceptual and ethical framework for re-assessing the goals of sustainability in terms of the coming Space Age and our common space future. Research methods in this study include the standard philosophical methods, including conceptual analysis, and thought experiments, leaning on the conceptual framework of environmental ethics, sustainability ethics, and space ethics. The paper concludes that the old Spaceship Earth metaphor is steadily turning obsolete as humankind is about to take its first decisive steps towards being a truly multiplanetary species. Rather, we inhabit a Space Station Earth from which we set forward to explore, exploit, and inhabit our Solar System.
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
Economic, Social, and Cultural Context
KEYWORDS
Future, Space, Space Exploration, Sustainability, Ethics
