Immanuel Kant was born in 1724, long before space dreams entered the mind of the general public. However, his thoughts still resonate today. His ideas resonate because he created an ethics system that was "cleansed of everything that may only be empirical and [based in] anthropology" (Source: Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals; all further ) Basically, he found a moral system that all rational beings would have to follow.; a moral system based on pure reason.
Kant's thoughts are important as this blog and the space community exploration the ethics of the field because of the many different cultures involved. We need some "supreme norm" to evaluate our ethical decisions in space. Otherwise, our discussions get clouded in the wide range of subjective ethics systems around the world.
One example is the need for space. Different cultures have different needs for personal space. Thus, the culture influences the size of hallways and rooms in a space station or settlement. Thus we see why the upcoming discussion is important.
Tomorrow I will explore more of Kant's thoughts.
