https://sah.hcommons.org/members/dancapper/activity/ Activity feed for Daniel Capper. Sat, 04 Apr 2026 08:33:49 -0400 https://buddypress.org/?v=10.6.0 en-US 30 hourly 2 56b09eeb04f35fa2c6547fbb6443e8be https://hcommons.org/activity/p/1763705/ Thu, 23 Dec 2021 16:25:16 -0500 The planned expansion of the human presence on our moon demands that we reconsider our relationships with our planet’s partner. Threats to the moon such as those engendered by mining encourage the preservation of various precious areas of our moon’s surface through the emplacement of international multiuse land reserves. Arising from tested env…[Read more]

]]> 0 a397a3e18739c8cbabd9675e00ba97f2 https://hcommons.org/activity/p/1757725/ Fri, 05 Nov 2021 11:19:42 -0400 One of the more important things that we can learn from space exploration is how to love lifeless stuff. We generally are taught by our cultures to love life but not be too concerned with nonlife. However, in our present understanding, within the solar system only the Earth has life. If we are to care for places like our amazing moon and be…[Read more]

]]> 0 f728e469d91bcfb145fd6b51fe1bb4a6 https://hcommons.org/activity/p/1751065/ Wed, 08 Sep 2021 10:30:34 -0400 0 f5ee62ccf36bba451bee4548d2205538 https://hcommons.org/activity/p/1739254/ Mon, 24 May 2021 10:56:16 -0400 A 2020 scientific report indicated the presence of phosphine, a potential biosignature chemical, in the atmosphere of Venus. As a result, Venus instantly became a global cultural celebrity. How did Venus become so fashionable, so cool in colloquial language, so quickly? I contend that Venus became the center of attention at least temporarily…[Read more]

]]> 0 18c8e61192edd1a159cf724c41b2d4bd https://hcommons.org/activity/p/1708485/ Tue, 15 Sep 2020 16:16:41 -0400 This essay concerns the process of how we develop astrobiological morals by examining some of the compromises within ethical argumentation. I illustrate these compromises by turning to Saturn’s moon Titan to provide an ethical theory challenge in terms of protecting Titan life, should life be found there, as well as protecting the habitats of t…[Read more]

]]> 0 a79593a73a2b183c26ffe4704b5ac4f2 https://hcommons.org/activity/p/1694616/ Wed, 01 Jul 2020 18:13:02 -0400 Today more than ever we need a robust set of environmental ethics that can steer us in positive directions, and Buddhism, with its practices like animal release rituals, can provide us with at least some of the moral ecological guidance that we require. Yet, like with all systems of ethics, Buddhist environmental ethics sometimes do not lead to…[Read more]

]]> 0 8329ad4e733b7f59d01b5678a32af3e1 https://hcommons.org/activity/p/1679158/ Sun, 23 Feb 2020 16:04:04 -0500 A number of scientific writers have proposed manipulating the ecology of Mars in order to make the planet more comfortable for future immigrants from Earth. However, the ethical acceptability of such ‘terraforming’ proposals remains unresolved. In response, in this article I explore some of these scientific proposals through the lens pro…[Read more]

]]> 0 a0baf83a1e6f16b9ca4438abe0d725e8 https://hcommons.org/activity/p/1670078/ Thu, 14 Nov 2019 10:59:42 -0500 Multiple searches hunt for extraterrestrial life, yet the ethics of such searches in terms of fossil and possible extant life on Mars have not been sufficiently delineated. In response, in this essay I propose a tripartite ethic for searches for microbial Martian life that consists of default nonharm toward potential living beings, default…[Read more]

]]> 0 c59ab5c24f56c32aac47fa5ad56580b6 https://hcommons.org/activity/p/1660687/ Mon, 19 Aug 2019 17:45:39 -0400 0 eb0eb653a0310da4858e2be023b285b3 https://hcommons.org/activity/p/1642120/ Sun, 09 Jun 2019 16:20:45 -0400 Current calls to protect the Martian environment with “Planetary Parks” maintain environmental merit. However, they lack a sufficiently urgent timeframe for initiating protection as well as a robust scientific method for the establishment of noteworthy Martian natural landmarks as natural reserves. In response, if we return to the seminal env…[Read more]

]]> 0 2310b0ecf5f9b8ef04c2ae288b237927 https://hcommons.org/activity/p/1608068/ Tue, 08 May 2018 19:08:30 -0400 The expansion of the use of ethnography in the study of religion has led to substantial methodological confusion. The reflexive ethnographic efforts that exist commonly appeal to the need for ethnographer empathy for field subjects, although the nature and ethical ramifications of this empathy remain poorly explored. This essay offers a model of…[Read more]

]]> 0 44980f0d2bdc5ee4b3392f9f3091d271 https://hcommons.org/activity/p/1608065/ Tue, 08 May 2018 19:03:14 -0400 This article explores the relationships of non-Tibetan American disciples with Tibetan spiritual teachers (lamas) in terms of theory, practice, and experiential meaning. Contrary to some previous studies, data for this article indicate that submission to the lama is not an end in itself, but rather ideally provides an opportunity for disciples to…[Read more]

]]> 0 8f954d6ec6737f05f4650ce33e53baea https://hcommons.org/activity/p/1608063/ Tue, 08 May 2018 18:59:57 -0400 This essay offers an alternative, self psychological model for understanding the possible healing dynamics of the guru-disciple relationship. Previous psychological studies often have interpreted the devotion of Americans to Eastern gurus as inherently enriching pathology for the disciple, yet this understanding does not helpfully explicate much…[Read more]

]]> 0 87b2c466209fc87b3ad57bf59ba18eb8 https://hcommons.org/activity/p/1608061/ Tue, 08 May 2018 18:55:21 -0400 This study employs ethnographic field data to trace a dialogue between the self‐psychological concept of the self object and experiences regarding the concept of “interbeing” at a Vietnamese Buddhist monastery in the United States. The dialogue develops an understanding of human experiences with the nonhuman natural world which are tensive, limin…[Read more]

]]> 0 b690dd48f40dd170a01bc00c3b86c897 https://hcommons.org/activity/p/1608060/ Tue, 08 May 2018 18:52:02 -0400 In current debates about Buddhist approaches to the non-human natural world, studies describe Buddhism variously as anthropocentric, bio-centric or eco-centric. These perspectives derive for the most part from examinations of philosophical and normative aspects of the tradition without much attention to moments when embodied practice diverges from…[Read more]

]]> 0 18554de2cd3debc4247b9841c5245fc7 https://hcommons.org/activity/p/1608058/ Tue, 08 May 2018 18:48:27 -0400 Groundhog Day animal weather forecasting ceremonies continue to proliferate around the United States despite a lack of public confidence in the oracles. This essay probes religio-historical and original ethnographic perspectives to offer a psychological argument for why these ceremonies exist. Employing Paul Shepard’s notion of a felt loss of s…[Read more]

]]> 0 a3adae89d9f553afdf0cdda0dd2f6216 https://hcommons.org/activity/p/1608057/ Tue, 08 May 2018 18:44:07 -0400 Religious experiences with sacred nonhuman natural beings considered to be “persons” remain only vaguely understood. This essay provides a measure of clarification by engendering a dialogue between psychoanalytic self psychology on one side and, on the other, religious experiences of cattle and Tulsi plants as holy mothers at a Hindu cattle san…[Read more]

]]> 0 c073061df5384a031ef177052c99d1cb https://hcommons.org/activity/p/1608056/ Tue, 08 May 2018 18:37:23 -0400 Myriad instances of animist phenomena abound in the Buddhist world, but due to the outdated concepts of thinkers such as Edward Tylor, James George Frazer, and Melford Spiro, commonly scholars perceive this animism merely as the work of local religions, not as deriving from Buddhism itself. However, when one follows a number of contemporary…[Read more]

]]> 0 44d310e85f4b47799d969334bce87598 https://hcommons.org/activity/p/1608055/ Tue, 08 May 2018 18:31:18 -0400 This book explores why numerous Americans currently adopt the practice of Tibetan Buddhism. It suggests that many Americans become Tibetan Buddhists because of satisfying long-term relationships that they develop with Tibetan religious teachers, or lamas. To reach this conclusion, life stories of several practitioners were collected in the course…[Read more]

]]> 0 7189ab38adf8cbb0df3a143108103a56 https://hcommons.org/activity/p/1608054/ Tue, 08 May 2018 18:26:13 -0400 In every religion animals, plants, and other nonhuman natural beings are divine messengers, bringers of spiritual or material gifts, gods, guardian spirits, or sacred ancestors. Sometimes natural entities are holy models for emulation, kin who share human souls, arbiters of virtue and vice, or partners in the project of existence. At other times…[Read more]

]]> 0 5988fa3797d1275b1fe3b3ed89b3cb32 https://hcommons.org/activity/p/1608053/ Tue, 08 May 2018 18:15:38 -0400 0 fc286134772a05f31b06298eed85698c https://hcommons.org/activity/p/1608052/ Tue, 08 May 2018 18:14:01 -0400 0 230292b6afa9cf4c5e1c7ad8438c5b36 https://hcommons.org/activity/p/1608051/ Tue, 08 May 2018 18:11:24 -0400 0 ad2ac97cf87c4c2d60945f7455143458 https://hcommons.org/activity/p/1608050/ Tue, 08 May 2018 18:08:55 -0400 0 19ca259a03c0d968ab8212626805bbe2 https://hcommons.org/activity/p/1608049/ Tue, 08 May 2018 18:07:13 -0400 0 aef6fc11012b79f3a1681561abb40ad5 https://hcommons.org/activity/p/1608047/ Tue, 08 May 2018 18:05:08 -0400 0 d0eb5bacd9379e15912fcfa04ef6ed6b https://hcommons.org/activity/p/1608046/ Tue, 08 May 2018 18:03:26 -0400 0 172c35efd63ea262cbf817790e30240e https://hcommons.org/activity/p/1608045/ Tue, 08 May 2018 18:01:21 -0400 0 3eefdc38f6a05809c0eb05662ef559e4 https://hcommons.org/activity/p/1608043/ Tue, 08 May 2018 17:57:22 -0400 0 a8b56789f6b1a60f246669e4e1392491 https://hcommons.org/activity/p/1608040/ Tue, 08 May 2018 17:45:17 -0400 0