Peter Burdon

"Death for Gaia" is a philosophical story about a group of scientists who create and release a biological weapon they call 'Hemlock-42'. This virus is designed with a single goal in mind: to eradicate most of humanity as a means of preserving what remains of planetary ecosystems and the declining diversity of species. Less than ten percent of humanity survives the pandemic. Forty-six years after this momentous disruption, various tribes of the After World have gathered, in this period of fragile but renewed stability, to discuss the justifiability of the acts that led to the Great Die-Off. Professor Durruk Senjen, the sole surviving activist who released Hemlock-42, has been called to defend his acts and face judgement. Note from the authors: Readers may draw parallels between the fictional virus described in this book and the outbreak of COVID-19 at the beginning of 2020. Our manuscript was complete and under review in July 2019 and thus any similarities are purely coincidental. We offer this book with condolences to those who have lost loved ones to the pandemic.

Hannah Arendt is one of the great outsiders of twentieth-century political philosophy. After reporting on the trial of Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann, Arendt embarked on a series of reflections about how to make judgments and exercise responsibility without recourse to existing law, especially when existing law is judged as immoral. This book uses Hannah Arendt’s text Eichmann in Jerusalem to examine major themes in legal theory, including the nature of law, legal authority, the duty of citizens, the nexus between morality and law and political action.

Hannah Arendt is one of the great outsiders of twentieth-century political philosophy. After reporting on the trial of Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann, Arendt embarked on a series of reflections about how to make judgments and exercise responsibility without recourse to existing law, especially when existing law is judged as immoral. This book uses Hannah Arendt’s text Eichmann in Jerusalem to examine major themes in legal theory, including the nature of law, legal authority, the duty of citizens, the nexus between morality and law and political action.