Oxford University Press published a new book by Konrad Szocik, Professor at the Department of Social Sciences at UITM, entitled “Feminist Bioethics in Space: Gender Inequality in Space Exploration”.
This is the first book in the world devoted to the feminist perspective of thought in reflection on space and space missions.
This book is an example of the author’s application of a feminist perspective in philosophy, ethics and bioethics to reflections on future human space missions. Dr hab. Konrad Szocik focuses on bioethical issues that may arise in future long-term and long-distance space missions. These issues primarily concern the improvement of man and his reproduction in space.
The book points out the consequences of space missions for traditionally marginalized and excluded groups, such as women, non-white people, people with disabilities, indigenous people and sexually non-binary people.
After finishing my first monograph on the bioethics of space exploration published by Oxford University Press in 2023, I pursued a one-year research scholarship at the Bioethics Center at Yale University. My stay there inspired me to take up the theme of feminism in the context of space exploration. In this way, the idea for another monograph published by Oxford was born. Feminism itself, on the other hand, regardless of the context of space exploration, interests me very much as a valuable cognitive perspective that offers a different view of reality – in the light of discrimination, oppression and inequality.
The context of future space exploration offers an interesting field for thought experiments, in which we can reflect on what should be avoided in our attitudes, so as not to repeat the mistakes known from our history in the future – says dr hab. Konrad Szocik, UITM Professor at the Department of Social Sciences.
Oxford University Press is the largest and one of the oldest scientific publications in the world. It is a faculty of Oxford University. In the humanities, especially philosophy and ethics, it is considered the best scientific publication in the world.
Dr. hab. Konrad Szocik’s book “Feminist Bioethics in Space: Gender Inequality in Space Exploration”, published by Oxford University Press in 2024, is available both online and in print.
We also especially recommend the article by Dr. Konrad Szocik entitled “Elon Musk, Mars and bioethics: is sending astronauts into space ethical?”, which was published on the Oxford University Press blog.
