Abstract
An obligation to preserve the beauty of Martian landscapes is often cited in opposition to terraforming Mars. Nevertheless, many popular images of these landscapes are artificially embellished with features of Earth’s natural beauty that cannot presently be found on Mars. The popularity of these “terraformed images” suggests that the scenic beauty of Mars is commonly—if not consciously—valued more highly in proportion to its resemblance to the more familiar beauty of Earth. On balance, do aesthetic considerations therefore support terraforming Mars, making it more Earth-like? One argument to the contrary is that Mars may offer distinctively Martian forms of beauty arising from atmospheric and geological (and perhaps biological) patterns and processes unparalleled on Earth. Such unearthly aesthetic qualities may be underappreciated and under-represented in popular imagery at present, but will be brought more fully into public consciousness by the future exploration of Mars. In this chapter, I argue that recognition of this beauty would provide at least a defeasible reason for caution about terraforming.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
Perhaps Mars, if rapidly terraformed and maintained in a habitable but under-populated state, could represent an “emergency backup” planet. If some unavoidable cataclysm threatened at short (but not too short) notice to wipe out the population of Earth (but not Mars), it may be that only a terraformed Mars would have the carrying capacity to accommodate immediately and then to sustain billions of interplanetary refugees. If we are seriously concerned about such eventualities, terraforming is certainly motivated. But since no cataclysm appropriate to this highly contrived scenario is known to science, terraforming an entire planet seems an unreasonably extreme precaution.
- 2.
I owe this thought to Tony Milligan.
- 3.
I thank Evan Rodriguez, Diana Marosi, and the editors for insightful criticism of earlier versions of this chapter.
References
Cockell, C. S., & Horneck, G. (2004). A planetary park system for Mars. Space Policy, 20, 291–295.
Hepburn, R. W. (1966). Contemporary aesthetics and the neglect of natural beauty. In B. Williams & A. Montefiore (Eds.), British analytical philosophy (pp. 285–310). London: Routledge and Kegan Paul.
Herschel, W. (1784). On the remarkable appearances at the polar regions on the planet Mars, the inclination of its axis, the position of its poles, and its spheroidal figure; with a few hints relating to its real diameter and atmosphere. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, 74, 233–273.
McKay, C. (1990). Does Mars have rights? An approach to the environmental ethics of planetary engineering. In D. MacNiven (Ed.), Moral expertise: Studies in practical and professional ethics (pp. 184–197). London: Routledge.
Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty. (1991). October 4, 1991. 30 ILM 1461.
Robinson, K. S. (2001). Red Mars. London: HarperCollins.
Rolston, H, I. I. I. (1986). The preservation of natural value in the solar system. In E. C. Hargrove (Ed.), Beyond spaceship earth: Environmental ethics and the solar system (pp. 140–182). San Francisco: Sierra Club Books.
Schiaparelli, G. (1888). Ueber die beobachteten Erscheinungen auf der Oberfläche des Planeten Mars. In M. W. Meyer (Ed.), Himmel und Erde, 1 Jahrgang (pp. 1–17). Berlin: Hermann Paetel.
Schwartz, J. S. J. (2013). On the moral permissibility of terraforming. Ethics and the Environment, 18, 1–31.
Sparrow, R. (1999). The ethics of terraforming. Environmental Ethics, 21, 227–245.
Sparrow, R. (2015). Terraforming, vandalism and virtue ethics. In J. Galliott (Ed.), Commerical space exploration (pp. 161–180). London: Ashgate.
Viking Lander Imaging Team. (1978). The Martian landscape. Publication SP-425. Washington, D.C.: NASA History Office. http://history.nasa.gov/SP-425/cover.htm
Wells, H. G. (1898). The War of the Worlds. London: William Heinemann.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2016 Springer International Publishing Switzerland
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
McMahon, S. (2016). The Aesthetic Objection to Terraforming Mars. In: Schwartz, J., Milligan, T. (eds) The Ethics of Space Exploration. Space and Society. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-39827-3_15
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-39827-3_15
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-39825-9
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-39827-3
eBook Packages: Religion and PhilosophyPhilosophy and Religion (R0)