281 Values for space activity regulation

Job title:

281 Values for space activity regulation

Company:

Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales

Job description

Space activity is known as a major modifier of the environment, both in space and on Earth. Be it for greenhouse gas emissions, ecosystems destruction, and air pollution, its weigh in current global changes cannot be neglected. On the other hand, immense benefits originate in space activity for security, research, and society at large. Even when its necessary decarbonation will be achieved, its environmental impact will remain huge. The question thus raises whether it should be regulated, and on which basis.In order to answer this question, the first task is to precisely determine the benefits of spatial activity for humanity, both globally and in its national components. How is the determination to be achieved? What is the right standpoint for this task? Should it an economic and balance the environmental impact of spatial activity against its contribution to growth and the number of jobs it allows? This would leave security, sovereignty, and concurrence among nations aside (as concurrence among nations goes beyond economics). The point of view of national policy or of geopolitics would leave consumers welfare aside (in terms of transport and leisure). A strict environmentalist point of view would neglect the contribution of spatial activity to the production of climate and environmental data. It is thus especially difficult to decide which point of view to choose for determining the benefits of spatial activity, with all its diverse elements, for humanity.Defining from which point of view spatial activity could or should be regulated is even more difficult. Should we adopt the point of view of Western consumers? African consumers, leading most of their economic life with only their cell phones? Should we adopt a national point of view? A European one? But if so, what about Great Britain, the United States, China, etc.? Is the UN the place to think about possible regulation? But haven’t its limitations made it difficult to defend this point of view? A Latourian option would be to try to adopt the non-human point of view, but which one to choose, and why? The initial question raises the formidable methodological problem of proposing a point of view from which to organize the discussion, one that does not fall prey to easy criticism.The methodological difficulty of choosing a point of view from which to conduct the investigation on spatial activity regulation is compounded by others. For example, defining the boundaries of spatial activity and identifying its specific features, as compared with other economic activities achieving great benefits with large environmental impact, is not self-evident. If we think of spatial activity as an economic activity that produces services, emits greenhouse gases and pollutants, and destroys ecosystems, we don’t distinguish it from other economic activities that could be described in the same way. The question of the specificity of spatial activity thus raises: on the one hand, it looks like it is only a question of quantifying the benefit and impact, but on the other, there seems to be something special about acting so far away from the Earth surface.All these questions, in their generality and diversity, lead us to the view that a philosophical approach may be useful for attempting at determining on which normative basis space activity regulation might arise. The philosophical approach has the advantage of holding the economic, military, managerial challenges at a reasonable distance. Environmental ethics, developing since the 1970s, is a relevant resource to build up a normative framework from which to offer possible regulation schemas. International regulation of other economic activities may also serve as reference, at least for comparison.The PhD candidate will thus have to constitute a bank of normative texts allowing one to imagine possible regulations of spatial activity. Rhese normative texts will have to be adapted to spatial activity agents. This is why the project also have an empirical dimension, consisting in eliciting the values of various agents, both via questionnaires and semi-directed interviews. Value elicitation about such a sensitive topic is well-known to be difficult. The PhD candidate will first have to become familiar with the culture of spatial firms and agencies, in order to able to inquiry into agents’ values without generating rejection responses. Designing the questionnaires and interviews will be the second part of the empirical task, and analysing the answers the third part.Methodology:selection of the relevant normative texts (bibliographical work plus transformation of the main claims to adapt them to spatial activity)empirical social science methodology: questionnaires and interviews.Field of empirical work:leaders of spatial activity, as diverse as possible (agencies and firms)onsite workers, including in Guyane if possibleApplicant profile: training in philosophy and/or sociology of scienceFor more Information about the topics and the co-financial partner (found by the lab !); contact Directeur de thèse –Then, prepare a resume, a recent transcript and a reference letter from your M2 supervisor/ engineering school director and you will be ready to apply online before March 14th, 2025 Midnight Paris time !

Expected salary

Location

Paris

Job date

Wed, 05 Feb 2025 06:59:26 GMT

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