Sign-In
Cart
The Temporal Organization of Life: Investigating the Conceptual, Ethical and Ontological Implications of Astrobiology
Hardcover
Series: Space and Society
Astronomy & SpaceHistory & Philosophy of SciencePhysics
PREORDER - Expected ship date December 11, 2026
Please select the version of book you would like to purchase.
ISBN10: 303181357X
ISBN13: 9783031813573
Publisher: Springer
Published: Dec 11 2026
Language: English
ISBN13: 9783031813573
Publisher: Springer
Published: Dec 11 2026
Language: English
One of the more contentious debates to emerge into scientific prominence has been whether life is prevalent in the cosmos and its level of complexity. The author of this book argues that, of the many factors that shape this debate, one of the most overlooked yet crucial rests on the different roles that temporal organization plays in biotic systems.
Further, the author claims that, although the origin and evolution of life is dependent on the arrow of time, rooted in entropy, the traditional understanding of time's arrow is insufficient to account for the diverse types of temporal processes characteristic of living organisms; most notably, the diverse functions played by past-present-future in shaping biotic systems. Far from a minor problem, he argues that the forms of temporal (bio-tensed) organization utilized by biotic systems shape not only the emergence and prevalence of all life, but also the scientific theories we use to explain the universe along with the moral concepts that inform our responsibilities to extraterrestrial life (should we find any).
Drawing from philosophy, the life sciences and astrobiology, this book claims that understanding the centrality of temporality for living systems provides crucial insights that help answer the epistemological, ethical and cosmological challenges that face astrobiology's search for the origins and prevalence of life in the universe.
Drawing from philosophy, the life sciences and astrobiology, this book claims that understanding the centrality of temporality for living systems provides crucial insights that help answer the epistemological, ethical and cosmological challenges that face astrobiology's search for the origins and prevalence of life in the universe.
Also from
Howard, Jason
Raising Chickens and Goats: A Backyard Homesteading Guide to Raising Farm Animals for Beginners By Jason
Howard, Jason
Paperback
$23.74
The Korea Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter: What you should know about Danuri ( Enjoy the moon )
Howard, Jason
Paperback
$10.79
Also in
History & Philosophy of Science
The Formative Years of Relativity: The History and Meaning of Einstein's Princeton Lectures
Gutfreund, Hanoch
Renn, Jürgen
Hardcover
$66.00
Physics of the Future: How Science Will Shape Human Destiny and Our Daily Lives by the Year 2100
Kaku, Michio
Hardcover
$9.99
The Darkness Manifesto: On Light Pollution, Night Ecology, and the Ancient Rhythms That Sustain Life
Eklöf, Johan
Hardcover
$12.99
The Mystery of Life Energy: Biofield Healing, Phantom Limbs, Group Energetics, and Gaia Consciousness
Leskowitz, Eric
Paperback
From $11.99
The Day It Finally Happens: Alien Contact, Dinosaur Parks, Immortal Humans--And Other Possible Phenomena
Pearl, Mike
Paperback
$19.00
The Self-Actualizing Cosmos: The Akasha Revolution in Science and Human Consciousness
Laszlo, Ervin
Paperback
From $9.99
The Edge of Space-Time: Particles, Poetry, and the Cosmic Dream Boogie
Prescod-Weinstein, Chanda
Hardcover
$28.80
I Told You So!: Scientists Who Were Ridiculed, Exiled, and Imprisoned for Being Right
Kaplan, Matt
Hardcover
$28.50
Hidden Creatures: Luscious Leeches, Bashful Botflies, and the Wondrous, History-Shaping World of Parasites
Martins, Dino
Hardcover
$28.50
The Earth Said Remember Me: How to Revive Our Memories and Restore the Planet
Mark, Jason Dove
Hardcover
$22.49
The Agi Chronicles: The Inside Story of the Race to Create an Artificial Superintelligence
Roose, Kevin
Hardcover
$31.35
Prophecy: Prediction, Power, and the Fight for the Future, from Ancient Oracles to AI
Veliz, Carissa
Hardcover
$31.50
Other Minds: The Octopus, the Sea, and the Deep Origins of Consciousness
Godfrey-Smith, Peter
Paperback
$19.00
Return of the God Hypothesis: Three Scientific Discoveries That Reveal the Mind Behind the Universe
Meyer, Stephen C.
Paperback
$23.74
When Everyone Knows That Everyone Knows . . .: Common Knowledge and the Mysteries of Money, Power, and Everyday Life
Pinker, Steven
Hardcover
From $14.99
Original Sin: On the Genetics of Vice, the Problem of Blame, and the Future of Forgiveness
Harden, Kathryn Paige
Hardcover
$27.00
What Sheep Think about the Weather: How to Listen to What Animals Are Trying to Say
Thomas, Amelia
Paperback
$16.19
Six Easy Pieces: Essentials of Physics Explained by Its Most Brilliant Teacher
Leighton, Robert B.
Sands, Matthew
Feynman, Richard P.
Paperback
$15.29
What If? 2: Additional Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions
Munroe, Randall
Hardcover
$28.50
The Disordered Cosmos: A Journey Into Dark Matter, Spacetime, and Dreams Deferred
Prescod-Weinstein, Chanda
Paperback
$18.99
2084 and the AI Revolution, Updated and Expanded Edition: How Artificial Intelligence Informs Our Future
Lennox, John C.
Paperback
$26.59
Do Aliens Speak Physics?: And Other Questions about Science and the Nature of Reality
Whiteson, Daniel
Warner, Andy
Hardcover
$26.99
Why We Ask Why: The Science of Explanation and the Human Drive to Understand
Lombrozo, Tania
Hardcover
$28.50
Notes on Complexity: A Scientific Theory of Connection, Consciousness, and Being
Theise, Neil
Paperback
$18.00
The Pleasure of Finding Things Out: The Best Short Works of Richard P. Feynman
Feynman, Richard P.
Paperback
From $7.99
Technology and Barbarism: Or: How Billionaires Will Save Us from the End of the World
Nieva, Michel
Paperback
$18.00
Unvaccinated Under God: Religion and Vaccine Hesitancy in Modern America
Kieffer, Kira Ganga
Hardcover
$44.93
The Real Anthony Fauci: Bill Gates, Big Pharma, and the Global War on Democracy and Public Health
Kennedy, Robert F., Jr.
Hardcover
$30.88
The Blind Spot: Why Science Cannot Ignore Human Experience
Frank, Adam
Gleiser, Marcelo
Thompson, Evan
Paperback
$20.66
Aristotle's Revenge: The Metaphysical Foundations of Physical and Biological Science
Feser, Edward
Paperback
$47.88
A Mind for Numbers: How to Excel at Math and Science (Even If You Flunked Algebra)
Oakley, Barbara
Paperback
$19.00
Misguided: Where Misinformation Starts, How It Spreads, and What to Do about It
Facciani, Matthew
Paperback
$60.00
Scientific Facts in the Bible: 100 Reasons to Believe the Bible is Supernatural in Origin
Comfort, Ray
Paperback
$8.54
Living on Earth: Forests, Corals, Consciousness, and the Making of the World
Godfrey-Smith, Peter
Paperback
From $11.99
Magnifica Humanitas: Encyclical on Safeguarding the Human Person in the Time of Artificial Intelligence
Prevost, Robert
Paperback
$18.99
The Fabric of Reality: The Science of Parallel Universes--And Its Implications
Deutsch, David
Paperback
$17.10
Finding Darwin's God: A Scientist's Search for Common Ground Between God and Evolution
Miller, Kenneth R.
Paperback
$18.04
There Are Places in the World Where Rules Are Less Important Than Kindness: And Other Thoughts on Physics, Philosophy and the World
Rovelli, Carlo
Paperback
From $11.99
Everyday Extraordinary: A Scientist Ponders a Lifetime of Magical, Bizarre, and Paranormal Experiences
Markovsky, Barry
Hardcover
$28.45
The Science of Last Things: Essays on Deep Time and the Boundaries of the Self
Wayland-Smith, Ellen
Paperback
$16.20
For Small Creatures Such as We: Rituals for Finding Meaning in Our Unlikely World
Sagan, Sasha
Paperback
$20.90
The Case for a Creator: A Journalist Investigates Scientific Evidence That Points Toward God
Strobel, Lee
Paperback
$18.99
How the World Really Works: The Science Behind How We Got Here and Where We're Going
Smil, Vaclav
Paperback
$17.10
The Beginner's Guide to Constructing the Universe: The Mathematical Archetypes of Nature, Art, and Science
Schneider, Michael S.
Paperback
$18.99
The Darkness Manifesto: On Light Pollution, Night Ecology, and the Ancient Rhythms That Sustain Life
Eklöf, Johan
Paperback
From $11.99
Return of the God Hypothesis: Three Scientific Discoveries That Reveal the Mind Behind the Universe
Meyer, Stephen C.
Hardcover
$30.88
The Skeptics' Guide to the Universe: How to Know What's Really Real in a World Increasingly Full of Fake
Novella, Steven
Paperback
From $9.99
Ignorance: What We Do Not Know, Cannot Know, Must Not Know, and Refuse to Know
Szpiro, George G.
Hardcover
$42.00
Merchants of Doubt: How a Handful of Scientists Obscured the Truth on Issues from Tobacco Smoke to Climate Change
Oreskes, Naomi
Conway, Erik M.
Paperback
$18.99
War on Ivermectin: The Medicine That Saved Millions and Could Have Ended the Pandemic
McCarthy, Jenna
Kory, Pierre
Hardcover
$30.88
The Random Universe: How Models and Probability Help Us Make Sense of the Cosmos
Jaffe, Andrew H.
Hardcover
$30.88
The Passing of the Great Race: The Racial Basis of European History (With Original 1916 Illustrations in Full Color)
Grant, Madison
Hardcover
$28.11
Forgotten Landscapes: How Native Americans Created Pre-Columbian North America and What We Can Learn from It
Rice, Stanley A.
Hardcover
$28.45
The Battle for Your Brain: Defending the Right to Think Freely in the Age of Neurotechnology
Farahany, Nita A.
Paperback
$19.00
Superconvergence: How the Genetics, Biotech, and AI Revolutions Will Transform Our Lives, Work, and World
Metzl, Jamie
Paperback
$20.89
Until the End of Time: Mind, Matter, and Our Search for Meaning in an Evolving Universe
Greene, Brian
Paperback
From $11.99
Beyond the Quantum: A Quest for the Origin and Hidden Meaning of Quantum Mechanics
Valentini, Antony
Hardcover
$50.75
Moral AI: And How We Get There
Sinnott-Armstrong, Walter
Conitzer, Vincent
Borg, Jana Schaich
Paperback
$18.99
Theory and Reality: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Science, Second Edition
Godfrey-Smith, Peter
Paperback
$52.43
Meeting the Universe Halfway: Quantum Physics and the Entanglement of Matter and Meaning
Barad, Karen
Paperback
$48.93
Science and Spiritual Practices: Transformative Experiences and Their Effects on Our Bodies, Brains, and Health
Sheldrake, Rupert
Paperback
$16.10
(Super) Natural Science: The Real Science of Superheroes, Mythic Creatures, and the (Sci-Fi) Universe
Liu, Charles
Paperback
$23.70
God According to God: A Scientist Discovers We've Been Wrong about God All Along
Schroeder, Gerald
Paperback
$18.99
At Work in the Ruins: Finding Our Place in the Time of Climate Crises and Other Emergencies
Hine, Dougald
Paperback
$20.90
This Will Make You Smarter: New Scientific Concepts to Improve Your Thinking
Brockman, John
Paperback
From $11.99