Abstract
In this essay, I discuss three models of utopia—the teleological, discursive, and horizonal—and query how they might apply to the subject of founding a utopia in space. Of these, the horizonal model championed by Ernst Bloch proves to have the greatest potential for theoretical suitability, in that the limitlessness of outer space makes it an ideal object and outlet for the limitlessness of human desire. I employ Frederick Turner’s “Frontier Thesis” (1893) as an early example of horizonal utopian theory, and describe how ‘frontierism’ recommends an ongoing engagement with challenging environments in order to exercise and thus preserve human virtue. Contrarily, I warn of the dangers of ‘consolidationism’ —the acceptance of this planet as the sole desirable habitat for human life—and point out Immanuel Kant’s “To Perpetual Peace” (1795) as being the best, but still deeply flawed, exemplar of this philosophy. I end by supporting the frontierist claim that investigating the horizonal-utopian potential of outer space is key to spurring on cultural development on Earth.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
Bainbridge (2009, p. 521).
- 2.
Bloch (1986, p. 7).
- 3.
This term is Bloch’s shorthand for a concrete utopia on the horizon of possibility (Bloch 1986, p. 11).
- 4.
Geoghegan (1996, p. 151).
- 5.
Bloch (1986, p. 1375). To be an ‘objective hope-image’, homeland must involve the coordination of all citizens’ desires. It represents the cessation of conflict resultant from individuals adhering to a multitude competing subjective hope-images, and thus answers the anti-utopian criticism launched by Karl Popper in The Open Society and Its Enemies (1945).
- 6.
Bainbridge (2009, p. 518).
- 7.
Provoking such a cultural awakening was Frederick Engel’s key motivation for attacking utopian socialism in “Socialism: Utopian and Scientific”, and for Karl Marx’s condemnation of religion as the “opium of the people” in “Towards a Critique of Hegel’s Philosophy of Right: Introduction”.
- 8.
Kant (1983, pp. 121–125). In his words, nature “has taken care that men can live in all regions of the world… Through war she has driven them everywhere… Also through war she has constrained them to establish more or less legal relationships”. (p. 121) His note on the ‘life of the hunter’ seems to strongly confirm my reading of him that access to space for retreat strongly correlates with the continuation of warring behavior (p. 122).
- 9.
I am indebted to Tony Milligan for suggesting this nomenclature.
- 10.
Turner (1962, p. 4).
- 11.
Turner (1962, p. 15).
- 12.
Billings (1997, p. 190).
- 13.
Turner (1962, pp. 220–221).
- 14.
Kant, “Speculative Beginning of Human History”, in Kant (1983, p. 59).
- 15.
In addition to the editors of this volume, I would also like to acknowledge the formative feedback of Jon Pike and Alex Barber on earlier drafts of this article.
References
Bainbridge, W. S. (2009). Motivations for space exploration. Futures, 41, 514–522.
Billings, L. (1997). Frontier days in space: Are they over? Space Policy, 13, 187–190.
Bloch, E. (1986). In N. Plaice, S. Plaice, & P. Knight (Eds., & trans.), The principle of hope. Cambridge, MS.: The MIT Press.
Geoghegan, V. (1996). Ernst bloch. New York: Routledge.
Kant, I. (1983). In T. Humphre (Ed., & trans.), Perpetual peace and other essays. Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Company Inc.
Turner, F. J. (1962). The frontier in american history. New York: Rinehart and Winston Inc.
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
Yorke, C.C. (2016). Prospects for Utopia in Space. 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_5
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-39827-3_5
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)