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. 

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.

Contributors: Expanded Rocinante Crew List x

Acknowledgements xv

Foreword xvi

Introduction xviii

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

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viii CONTENTS

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

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CONTENTS ix

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