Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-dsjbd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-26T11:04:44.270Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Philosophy and data in astrobiology

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 July 2017

Lucas John Mix
Lucas John Mix*
Affiliation:
Harvard Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology (AND), Center of Theological Inquiry, 50 Stockton St., Princeton, NJ 08540, USA
*
e-mail: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Creating a unified model of life in the universe – history, extent and future – requires both scientific and humanities research. One way that humanities can contribute is by investigating the relationship between philosophical commitments and data. Making those commitments transparent allows scientists to use the data more fully. Insights in four areas – history, ethics, religion and probability – demonstrate the value of careful, astrobiology-specific humanities research for improving how we talk and think about astrobiology as a whole. First, astrobiology has a long and influential history. Second, astrobiology does not decentre humanity, either physically or ethically. Third, astrobiology is broadly compatible with major world religions. Finally, claims about the probability of life arising or existing elsewhere rest heavily on philosophical priors. In all four cases, identifying philosophical commitments clarifies the ways in which data can tell us about life.

Keywords

astrobiologycosmologyethicsepistemologyhistorylifeteaching
Type
Review Article
Information
International Journal of Astrobiology , Volume 17 , Issue 2 , April 2018 , pp. 189 - 200
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2017 

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.)

References

Barbour, I.G. (2000). When Science Meets Religion. Harper, San Francisco.Google Scholar
Berger, P.L. (1967). The Sacred Canopy. Doubleday, New York.Google Scholar
Bertka, C.M. (2009). Exploring the Origin, Extent, and Future of Life. Cambridge University Press, New York.Google Scholar
Brooke, J. (1998). Science 282, 1985–1986.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brown, W.P. (2010). The Seven Pillars of Creation. Oxford University Press, New York.Google Scholar
Brownlee, D. & Ward, P. (2003). Rare Earth. Springer-Verlag, Berlin.Google Scholar
Burke, J.B. (1906). The Origin of Life. Chapman and Hall, London.Google Scholar
Campos, L.A. (2015). Radium and the Secret of Life. University of Chicago Press, Chicago.Google Scholar
Center for Space and Habitability (2016). Online Bibliography Extraterrestrial Life Debate. http://www.lifebeyondourplanet.unibe.ch/publications/online_bibliography/index_eng.html.Google Scholar
Chela-Flores, J. (2001). The New Science of Astrobiology. Kluwer Academic Publishers, Boston.Google Scholar
Chesterton, G.K. (1908). Orthodoxy. John Lane, London.Google Scholar
Cleland, C.E. & Wilson, E.M. (2013). Lessons from Earth. In Encountering Life in the Universe, eds. Impey, C., Spitz, A.H. & Stoeger, W.R., pp. 17–55. University of Arizona Press, Tucson, Arizona.Google Scholar
Conway Morris, S. (2003). Life's Solution. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Cranford, J. (2011). From Dying Stars to the Birth of Life: The New Science of Astrobiology and the Search for Life in the Universe. Nottingham University Press, Nottingham.Google Scholar
Crowe, M.J. (2008). The Extraterrestrial Life Debate, Antiquity to 1915. University of Notre Dame Press, Notre Dame, Indiana.Google Scholar
Crysdale, C.S.W. (2009). God, evolution, and astrobiology. In Exploring the Origin, Extent, and Future of Life, ed. Bertka, C.M., pp. 220–241. Cambridge University Press, New York.Google Scholar
Davies, P. (1995). Are We Alone? Harper Collins, San Francisco.Google Scholar
Davies, P. (2010). The Eerie Silence. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, New York.Google Scholar
Des Marais, D.J. et al. (2003). The NASA astrobiology roadmap. Astrobiology 3, 219–235.Google Scholar
Des Marais, D.J. et al. (2008). The NASA astrobiology roadmap. Astrobiology 8, 715–730.Google Scholar
Dick, S.J. (1996). The Biological Universe. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Dick, S.J. (2001). Life on Other Worlds. Cambridge University Press, New York.Google Scholar
Dick, S.J. (2009). A historical perspective on the extent and search for life. In Exploring the Origin, Extent, and Future of Life, ed. Bertka, C.M., pp. 167–185. Cambridge University Press, New York.Google Scholar
du Bois-Reymond, E. (1883). Nature 27, 557–58.Google Scholar
Dunér, D. (2016). Zygon 51, 450–479.Google Scholar
Foucault, M. (1994). The Order of Things. Vintage Random House, New York.Google Scholar
Freud, S. (1920). A General Introduction to Psychoanalysis. Trans. Hall, G.S. Boni and Liveright, New York.Google Scholar
Gleiser, M. (2015). New Atlantis 47, 76–86.Google Scholar
Gould, S.J. (1990). Wonderful Life. W.W. Norton & Co., New York.Google Scholar
Gould, S.J. (1994). Sci. Am. 271, 84–91.Google Scholar
Gould, S.J. (2011). Full House. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts.Google Scholar
Grinspoon, D. (2003). Lonely Planets. Harper Collins, New York.Google Scholar
Gustafson, J.M. (1981). Ethics from a Theocentric Perspective. University of Chicago Press, Chicago.Google Scholar
Hanson, R. (2014). The great filter. TEDxLimassol, available online at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aspMV6ERqpo.Google Scholar
Hansson, S.O. (2015). Science and Pseudo-Science. In The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Spring 2015 edn, ed. Zalta, E.N. Available online at http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/spr2015/entries/pseudo-science/.Google Scholar
Hewlett, M.J. (2013). Beyond Horatio's philosophy: biological evolution and the ‘plurality of worlds’ concept. In Encountering Life in the Universe, eds. Impey, C., Spitz, A.H. & Stoeger, W.R., pp. 80–93. University of Arizona Press, Tucson, Arizona.Google Scholar
Hoyle, F. (1981). Nature 294, 104–105.Google Scholar
Huxley, T.H. (1869). Fortnightly Rev. 5, 129–145.Google Scholar
Huxley, T.H. (1874). Nature 10, 362–366.Google Scholar
Impey, C., Spitz, A.H. & Stoeger, W.R. (eds) (2013). Encountering Life in the Universe. University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona.Google Scholar
Jakosky, B.M. (2006). Science, Society, and the Search for Life in the Universe. University of Arizona Press, Tucson, Arizona.Google Scholar
Kauffman, S. (1995). At Home in the Universe. Oxford University Press, New York.Google Scholar
Kelsey, D.H. (2009). Eccentric Existence. Westminster John Knox Press, Louisville, Kentucky.Google Scholar
Lewis, C.S. (1955). The World's Last Night and Other Essays. Harcourt, New York, NY, pp. 83–92.Google Scholar
Lewis, C.S. (1964). The Discarded Image. Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Lewontin, R.C. (1997). New York Review of Books, January 9, 1997, available online at http://www.nybooks.com/articles/1997/01/09/billions-and-billions-of-demons/.Google Scholar
Library of Congress (2016). Baruch S. Blumberg NASA/Library of Congress chair in astrobiology: about. Accessed 9 May 2016. https://www.loc.gov/loc/kluge/fellowships/NASA-astrobiology.html.Google Scholar
Lovejoy, A.O. (1936). The Great Chain of Being. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts.Google Scholar
Lupisella, M. (2009). The search for extraterrestrial life. In Exploring the Origin, Extent, and Future of Life, ed. Bertka, C.M., pp. 186–204. Cambridge University Press, New York.Google Scholar
Mayr, E. (1982). The Growth of Biological Thought. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts.Google Scholar
McKay, C.P. (2009). Planetary ecosynthesis on Mars. In Exploring the Origin, Extent, and Future of Life, ed. Bertka, C.M., pp. 245–260. Cambridge University Press, New York.Google Scholar
McKay, C.P. (2013). Astrobiology and society: the long view. In Encountering Life in the Universe, eds. Impey, C., Spitz, A.H. & Stoeger, W.R., pp. 158–166. University of Arizona Press, Tucson, Arizona.Google Scholar
Mereschowsky, C. (1910). Theorie der zwei Plasmaarten als Grundlage der Synmbiogenesis, einer neuen Lehre von der Entstehung der Organismen. Biol. Centralblatt, XXX, 278–303, 321–347, 353–367.Google Scholar
Midgley, M. (1983). Heart and Mind. Meuthen Publishing, London.Google Scholar
Minchin, E.A. (1916). The evolution of the cell. Report of the Eighty-Fifth Meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, John Murray, London.Google Scholar
Mix, L.J. (2009). Life in Space. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts.Google Scholar
Mix, L.J. (2014). Philos. Theory Biol. 6, 1–16.Google Scholar
Mix, L.J. (2016). Zygon 51, 520–535.Google Scholar
Mix, L.J. & Masel, J. (2014). Evolution 68, 2441–2451.Google Scholar
Morrison, D. & Schmidt, G.K. (1999). NASA Astrobiology Roadmap. Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, California.Google Scholar
Nagel, T. (2012). Mind and Cosmos. Oxford University Press, New York.Google Scholar
O'Meara, T.F. (2012). Vast Universe. Liturgical Press, Collegeville, Minnesota.Google Scholar
Osler, M.J. (2004). Divine Will and the Mechanical Philosophy. Cambridge University Press, New York.Google Scholar
Peters, T. (2011). Phil. Trans. Roy. Soc. Lond. A 369, 644–655.Google Scholar
Peters, T. (2013). Would the discovery of ETI provoke a religious crisis? In Astrobiology, History, and Society, ed. Vakoch, D.A., pp. 341–355. Springer-Verlag, Berlin.Google Scholar
Peters, T. (2016). Zygon 51, 480–496.Google Scholar
Pilcher, C. interview by Völter, M. (2009). Astrobiology at the NASA Astrobiology Institute Omega Tau Podcast 018. Available online at http://omegataupodcast.net/2009/09/18-astrobiology-at-the-nasa-astrobiology-institute/ Google Scholar
Plantinga, A. (2011). Where the Conflict Really Lies. Oxford University Press, New York.Google Scholar
Richardson, H.S. (2013). Moral Reasoning. In The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Winter 2014 edn, ed. Zalta, E.N. Available online at http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2014/entries/reasoning-moral/.Google Scholar
Robinson, M. (2015). The Givenness of Things. Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, New York.Google Scholar
Rubenstein, M.J. (2014). Worlds Without End. Columbia University Press, New York.Google Scholar
Rummel, J.D., Race, M.S., Horneck, G. & the Princeton Workshop Participants (2012). Astrobiology 12, 1017–1022.Google Scholar
Ruse, M. (2009). Monad to Man. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts.Google Scholar
Sagan, C. (1995). The Demon-Haunted World. Random House, New York.Google Scholar
Sagan, C. (2000). Carl Sagan's Cosmic Connection. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Sagan, L. (1967). On the origin of mitsoing cells. J. Theoretical Biol. 14, 225–274.Google Scholar
Scharf, C. (2014). The Copernicus Complex. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, New York.Google Scholar
Scharf, C. & Cronin, L. (2016). Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 113, 8127–8132.Google Scholar
Schrödinger, E. (1992). What is Life? Cambridge University Press, New York.Google Scholar
Scruton, R. (2001). Kant: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford University Press, New York.Google Scholar
Sober, E. (2008). Evidence and Evolution. Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Spiegel, D.S. & Turner, E.L. (2012). Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci., USA 109, 395–400.Google Scholar
Stoeger, W.R. (2013). Astrobiology and beyond. In Encountering Life in the Universe, eds. Impey, C., Spitz, A.H. & Stoeger, W.R., pp. 56–79. University of Arizona Press, Tucson, Arizona.Google Scholar
Strong, A.H. (1907). Systematic Theology, vol. 2. American Baptist Publication Society, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.Google Scholar
Sullivan, W.T. III (2013). Principles for exploring a solar system that may contain extraterrestrial microbial life. In Encountering Life in the Universe, eds. Impey, C., Spitz, A.H. & Stoeger, W.R., pp. 167–177. University of Arizona Press, Tucson, Arizona.Google Scholar
Sullivan, W.T. & Carney, D. (2007). History of astrobiological ideas. In Planets and Life, eds. Sullivan, W.T. & Baross, J.A., pp. 9–45. Cambridge University Press, New York.Google Scholar
Tyson, N.D. (2015). Expanding our perspective. Star Talk Radio Show 6 : 48. Available online at https://soundcloud.com/startalk/expanding-our-perspectives-with-susan-sarandon.Google Scholar
Vakoch, D.A. (2013). Astrobiology, History, and Society. Springer-Verlag, Berlin.Google Scholar
Vakoch, D.A. & Dowd, M.F. (2015). The Drake Equation. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Walker, T. Jr. & Wickramasinghe, C. (2015). The Big Bang and God. Palgrave Macmillan, New York.Google Scholar
Ward, P. & Brownlee, D. (2004). Life and Death of Planet Earth. Henry Holt, New York.Google Scholar
Weintraub, D.A. (2014). Religions and Extraterrestrial Life. Springer, New York.Google Scholar
White, L. Jr. (1967). Science 155, 1203–1207.Google Scholar
Wilkinson, D. (2013). Science, Religion, and the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence. Oxford University Press, Oxford.Google Scholar