The Expanse and Philosophy

Enter The Expanse to explore questions of the meaning of human life, the concept of justice, and the nature of humanity, featuring a foreword from author James S.A. Corey

The Expanse and Philosophy investigates the philosophical universe of the critically acclaimed television show and Hugo Award-winning series of novels. Original essays by a diverse international panel of experts illuminate how essential philosophical concepts relate to the meticulously crafted world of The Expanse, engaging with topics such as transhumanism, belief, culture, environmental ethics, identity, colonialism, diaspora, racism, reality, and rhetoric.

Conceiving a near-future solar system colonized by humanity, The Expanse provokes a multitude of moral, ethical, and philosophical queries: Are Martians, Outer Planets inhabitants, and Earthers different races? Is Marco Inaros a terrorist? Can people who look and sound different, like Earthers and Belters, ever peacefully co-exist? Should science be subject to moral rules? Who is sovereign in space? What is the relationship between human progress and aggression? The Expanse and Philosophy helps you answer these questions—and many more.

• Covers the first six novels in The Expanse series and five seasons of the television adaptation
• Addresses the philosophical issues that emerge from socio-economics and geopolitics of Earth, Mars, and the Outer Planets Alliance
• Offers fresh perspectives on the themes, characters, and storylines of The Expanse
• Explores the connections between The Expanse and thinkers such as Aristotle, Kant, Locke, Hannah Arendt, Wittgenstein, Descartes, and Nietzsche

Part of the popular Blackwell Philosophy and Pop Culture series, The Expanse and Philosophy is a must-have companion for avid readers of James S.A. Corey’s novels and devotees of the television series alike.

Contributors: Expanded Rocinante Crew List x

Acknowledgements xv

Foreword xvii

Introduction xix
Jeffery L. Nicholas

First Orbit: From Earth to the Stars 1

1 The Infinite and the Sublime in The Expanse 3
Michael J. O’Neill

2 Interplanetary Expansion and the Deep Future 13
Margarida Hermida

3 Humanity’s Dilemma before Abaddon’s Gate 25
Leonard Kahn

4 Hate Expectations: Politics and Gender Roles in The Expanse 33
S. W. Sondheimer

Second Orbit: Is It the Protomolecule, or Just Human Nature? 45

5 The Banality of Evil: Hannah Arendt and Jules-Pierre Mao 47
R. S. Leiby

6 Amos Meets Nietzsche 57
Pankaj Singh

7 Is Amos Evil? 65
Diana Sofronieva

8 Moral Obligation in an Anarchic World 74
Matthew D. Atkinson and Darin DeWitt

9 Terrorism and the Churn 84
Trip McCrossin

Third Orbit: Remember the Cant! 91

10 The Inners Must Die: Marco Inaros and the Righteousness of Anti-Colonial Violence 93
Sid Simpson

11 Being Beltalowda: Patriotism and Nationalism in The Expanse 102
Caleb McGee Husmann and Elizabeth Kusko

12 Anarchy in the OPA: Sovereignty, Capitalism, and Bare Life 111
Lisa Wenger Bro

13 “Can’t We Try Something Else?” Is James Holden a Hero? 125
Jeffery L. Nicholas

Fourth Orbit: They Still Dream 133

14 “We had a garden and we paved it”: The Expanse and the Philosophy of the Anthropocene 135
Diletta De Cristofaro

15 We Can Be Gods: Remorseless Logic or Shared Humanity 145
Max Gemeinhardt

16 Gunnery Sergeant Draper and the Martian Congressional Republic’s Vision for Mars 151
James S. J. Schwartz

Fifth Orbit: Tilting at Windmills 161

17 How to Be a Hero: Hannah Arendt and Naomi Nagata on Making and Doing Politics 163
Tiago Cerqueira Lazier

18 The Lives of Naomi Nagata: Intersectionality and the Impossible Choices of Resistance 171
Guilel Treiber

19 Risky Tradeoffs in The Expanse 179
Claire Field and Stefano Lo Re

Sixth Orbit: Riding the Roci 187

20 The Long Dark Night of The Hat: The Metaphysical Fate of Detective Josephus Miller and His Headwear 189
S. W. Sondheimer

21 Between Worlds: The Multiplicitous Subjectivity of Naomi Nagata 195
Eric Chelstrom

22 Language Games in The Expanse: If a Lion Could Showxa, We Would Not Pochuye Him 203
Andrew Magrath

Appendix: The Expanse Episodes List 215

Index 217

JEFFERY L. NICHOLAS is Associate Professor at Providence College, Rhode Island, and Research Associate at the Center for Aristotelian Studies and Critical Theory at Mykolas Romeris University, Lithuania. He is co-founder and Executive Secretary of the International Society for MacIntyre Enquiry. His publications include Love and Politics: Persistent Human Desires as a Foundation for Liberation and Reason, Tradition, and the Good: MacIntyre’s Tradition Constituted Reason and Frankfurt School Critical Theory.

Is Marco Inaros a terrorist?
Can people who look and sound different, like Earthers and Belters, ever get along?
What does “Beltalowda” really mean?
Should science be subject to moral rules?
Who is sovereign in space?

In The Expanse, the hit television show and Hugo award-winning novel series, humanity’s colonization of the solar system has brought with it a desire for power and unprecedented social and economic consequences. Unforgettable characters face harrowing choices in a near future in which basic necessities like food and air are scarce resources, corporate greed runs amok, and intense violence is commonplace. Yet amidst the turmoil, a team of Earthers, Martians, and the people of the Outer Planets forge a family and help each other carry burdens both large and small.

Confronting existential issues with the urgency of a rogue asteroid response, The Expanse and Philosophy delves into questions of good and evil, the morality of space expansion, the nature of the sublime, the practice of politics, the intersectional construction of personal identity, and more. Original essays from a diverse group of scholars peer into the protomolecule and out through the Ring Gates—taking you on a philosophical journey with Miller, Holden, Amos, Naomi, Avasarala, and Bobbie as they touch down on Earth, the Outer Planets, and Ilus.

Featuring a foreword from The Expanse creator James S. A. Corey, The Expanse and Philosophy offers an explosive investigation into how science fiction can help shape the future of humanity.

To learn more about the Blackwell Philosophy and Pop Culture Series, visit www.andphilosophy.com