Astrobiology and Astrophilosophy: Subsuming or Bifurcating Disciplines?
Initially, astrobiology subsumed into philosophy. However, philosophy has increasingly subsumed into astrobiology concurrent with it steadily becoming an observational and experimental activity that mainly focuses on the link between life and the cosmos, rather than on extra-terrestrial life per s...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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International Society of Philosophy and Cosmology
2019-10-01
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| Series: | Философия и космология |
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| Online Access: | http://ispcjournal.org/journals/2019-23/PhC_23_Hegner.pdf |
| Summary: | Initially, astrobiology subsumed into philosophy. However, philosophy has increasingly subsumed
into astrobiology concurrent with it steadily becoming an observational and experimental activity that
mainly focuses on the link between life and the cosmos, rather than on extra-terrestrial life per se.
However, the steadily increasing probability of locating such extra-terrestrial life and the questions
this will lead to might require a refinement of astrobiology, with a bifurcation into astrobiology and
astrophilosophy. There are many reasons for the emergence and necessity of astrobiology. One barely
realized reason for its emergence, I will argue, is the dawning realization that biology, until now, has
been under a geocentric limitation, which has unavoidably pervaded the perception of life. Additionally,
as astrobiology can be said to be a long last movement away from this limitation, astrophilosophy
represents a movement away from that limitation because philosophy has, strictly speaking, been
restrained by the frames for one species, Homo sapiens. Thus, philosophy has, strictly speaking, been
anthropomorphic. Thus, when philosophy, like astrobiology, incorporates the Copernican principle,
assuming that terrestrial life, and the thinking of Homo sapiens, is not privileged in the universe,
astrophilosophy emerges. Astrobiology and astrophilosophy are not competitors but are rather two
distinct but complementary activities that address questions with their own well-defined methods and
rigor while still informing each other in an inter-dependent manner. Astrophilosophy concerns questions
that are philosophical in nature but are procured by an astrobiological perspective. By including
scenarios procured by astrobiology, a number of questions regarding value, rights, communication and
intelligence that could arise in the interaction between Homo sapiens and extra-terrestrial life can be
addressed |
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| ISSN: | 2307-3705 2518-1866 |