• The search for microbial Martian life and American Buddhist ethics

    Author(s):
    Daniel Capper (see profile)
    Date:
    2019
    Item Type:
    Article
    Tag(s):
    Environmental humanities
    Permanent URL:
    http://dx.doi.org/10.17613/056t-7r32
    Abstract:
    Multiple searches hunt for extraterrestrial life, yet the ethics of such searches in terms of fossil and possible extant life on Mars have not been sufficiently delineated. In response, in this essay I propose a tripartite ethic for searches for microbial Martian life that consists of default nonharm toward potential living beings, default nonharm to the habitats of potential living beings, but also responsible, restrained scientific harvesting of some microbes in limited transgression of these default nonharm modes. Although this multifaceted ethic remains secular and hence adaptable to space research settings, it arises from both a qualitative analysis of authoritative Buddhist scriptural ethics as well as the quantified ethnographic survey voices of contemporary American Buddhists. The resulting tripartite ethic, while developed for Mars, contains ramifications for the study of microbes on Earth and further retains application to other research locations in our solar system.
    Metadata:
    xml
    Published as:
    Journal article     Show details
    Pub. DOI:
    http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S1473550419000296
    Publisher:
    Cambridge University Press (CUP)
    Pub. Date:
    2019-11-14
    Journal:
    International Journal of Astrobiology
    Page Range:
    1 - 9
    ISSN:
    1473-5504,1475-3006
    Status:
    Published
    Last Updated:
    4 years ago
    License:
    All Rights Reserved
    Share this:

    Downloads

    Item Name: pdf search-for-microbial-martian-life-proof.pdf
      Download View in browser
    Activity: Downloads: 358

    Back to Deposits