THE ETHICS OF ET

“The discovery of independent life beyond Earth would have deep philosophical implications for us, and our ideas of morality.”

By: Tim Mulgan

Published: Aeon, https://aeon.co/essays/how-the-discovery-of-extraterrestrial-life-would-change-morality

Level of Difficulty: ****

BEFORE YOU READ

·         Normative and Non-Normative Ethics https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVVF2t54Xlg

QUESTIONS

1.       What is the purpose of the first paragraph?

2.       Imagine the second sentence of the second paragraph went as follows: ‘This is hard to justify because…’. What phrase in the remainder of the paragraph would you use to complete the sentence?

3.       What conclusion would we draw as human beings if we discovered life was widespread throughout the galaxy? We would draw the conclusion that…

4.       Read the explanation of normative non-naturalism to the end. According to this explanation, it would make sense for moral absolutes to exist if…

5.       Assuming that life is ubiquitous, there remain two reasons why we don’t seem to know about it: either…………or……………..

6.       Read the examples of the various Wontian solutions. What is the common problem with them? They assume that…but this is not credible because it is hard to believe that…

7.       According to the text, the only way to justify the view that not all intelligent species are out to conquer the world is:

·         To assume that they have selected a different path

·         To assume that they are responding to natural normative facts

·         To assume that from a certain point onwards, rational thought prevails

·         To assume that widely accepted principles of good and bad exert a stronger pull factor

·         To assume that it is mandatory to discover universal motivations to manipulate them

8.       What is the major argument against the above view?

9.       Kantianism on its own cannot adequately explain the Ferni Paradox because:

·         Living beings follow intrinsically motivating values

·         There are countless motivating factors governing behavior

·         Objective values are part and parcel of the universe

·         Many varied life forms cherish the same universal values

10.   Why are Theism and Kantian non-naturalism mutually supporting?

11.   Read the paragraph beginning “Theism and Kantian non-naturalism are…” to the end. The conclusion we can draw from this paragraph is that…

12.   What traditional attitude to man may need to be reconsidered if life turns out to be ubiquitous?

13.   Theists feel a ubiquitous universe would not create a problem because of the belief that…

14.   Theists also argue that “we must be essential to God’s plan” because we are best qualified to…

15.   Read the last four paragraphs of the text. Which sentence in the paragraph beginning “The discovery…” would best qualify the last sentence?

16.   What does “it” refer to in the last sentence of the text?

WRITING TASK

Use all the information you have acquired to write about which view put forward in the text you agree with and why. Remember to justify your opinion and refute counter arguments

THE ETHICS OF ET, KEY AND TEACHERS’ NOTES

This is one of the hardest philosophy texts on this blog conceptually and as such should only be attempted with advanced students with an interest in the topic. Having said that, once you get in to it, it is riveting and should lead to some lively discussion.  

1.       Possible answer: To introduce the issues that are going to be discussed

2.       God or nature does nothing in vain, and therefore such a vast cosmos could not be home to only one small race of rational beings

3.       While the universe does have a purpose, human beings are irrelevant to that purpose

4.       Life were ubiquitous

5.       Promising species inevitably destroy themselves or encounter resource constraints before they can conquer the stars OR every intelligent species who could conquer the stars chooses not to.

6.       Wontian motivations are universal/ Every intelligent species would eschew reality

7.       4

8.       Beings no more sophisticated than ourselves armed with current technologies such as radio waves and nuclear weapons surely could attract the attention of very distant observers.

9.       2

10.   Because aliens who discover why the universe exists will abandon their previous inclinations and embrace the purpose of God

11.   Our universe is religiously ambiguous

12.   The cosmic uniqueness of human beings

13.   God has infinite love for every individual creature

14.   Explain the regular, intelligible mathematical laws this universe is governed by

15.   The second one

16.   The fact that all advanced civilizations are Wontians