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Abstract
As technology and space exploration advance, philosophy needs to move with them, ideally addressing problems before they occur. This dissertation consists of three papers, each investigating an area of value theory situated within the context of outer space and explored from environmental philosophy. The first paper is concerned with the ethics of terraforming, interrogating whether unlived celestial bodies have moral status. In the first paper I argue that places like Mars and its systems have moral status grounded in two jointly necessary and sufficient conditions, namely, that such places lack of an external governing teleology and are irreplaceable. In satisfying conditions for moral status, it is therefore pro tanto wrong to terraform Mars – sufficiently strong reasons need to be provided for such a project, and it is not clear that such reasons exist. The second paper is concerned with planetary protection, especially wilderness protection. In the second paper I argue that on a modified account of Mark Woods’s wilderness ethic, Mars and its systems manifest the value-adding properties of being natural, wild, and free. In establishing that Mars is wilderness, I then consider and expand on a proposal for planetary parks, proposing new areas for protection, criteria for boundaries, and design regulations for managing human presence on Mars in a way that attends to wilderness values. The third paper is concerned with the creation of permanent human settlements on other worlds. In the third paper I argue that before settling other worlds, humanity must first address current social, political, and economic problems on Earth to ensure that we do not export such problems to new worlds. Exporting particular social modes to other planets will also serve to further empower, entrench, and exacerbate current problematic systems of hierarchy and domination. I argue that for a livable future wherein humans, animals, and the environment flourish we ought to embrace utopian solarpunk imaginings; however, it is unclear whether such future peoples would want to settle other planets.