Il saggio affronta alcune questioni che il concetto di Antropocene pone non solo alla teoria politica ma anche alle scienze umane e sociali. Lungo un percorso critico fra teorie e autori diversi (da Chakrabarty a Latour, da Moore e Malm fino all'ecofemminismo), il saggio discute il concetto di Antropocene con un approccio di “ecologia politica”. L'obiettivo è di tenere insieme la dimensione comune - umana e non umana - dell’appartenenza agli eco-sistemi terrestri, con la capacità di leggere criticamente e genealogicamente (...) le asimmetrie di potere, le disuguaglianze e i conflitti che hanno reso possibile e che tuttora strutturano l’Antropocene, nell’ottica politica di una giustizia climatica interumana e multi-specie. (shrink)

Nel contesto della presente crisi climatica ed ambientale, istituzioni pubbliche e private promuovono la costruzione di ‘infrastrutture viventi’. L’articolo analizza l’economia biopolitica che caratterizza questi progetti, concentrandosi sull’infrastrutturalizzazione del pioppo: un genus botanico ampiamente utilizzato come ‘barriera contro la desertificazione’, ‘struttura di fitorisanamento’, e ‘pozzo di assorbimento di anidride carbonica’. Questi progetti mobilizzano il metabolismo della cellula vivente, dando forma a nuove reti di potere bio-infrastrutturale ed elaborate strategie di accumulazione del capitale.

Drawing on Merleau-Ponty’s hypothesis about transcendental geology in the final phase of his work, this article examines the debate about the Anthropocene from the perspective of philosophy of history. Firstly, we follow the author through the preliminary materials for The Visible and The Invisible by situating transcendental geology within the book’s complex theoretical architecture, and by foregrounding the necessity of rethinking the notion of Earth through the reading that the French philosopher offers of Husserl’s phenomenology. We will thus focus on (...) the theme of the overturning of the Copernican doctrine in an ethico-practical perspective, showing that Merleau-Ponty’s ecology can be considered a philosophical ecology ante litteram. Finally, drawing on the hypothesis proposed by historians Bonneuil and Fressoz, the essay will attempt to highlight the relevance of Merleau-Ponty’s practical thought for the debate about the Anthropocene. (shrink)

In this article, I examine the debate about the Anthropocene through the lens of two images that animate this debate like presuppositions: that of the Globe and that of the Earth. After analyzing the characteristics of the former, I attempt to define the status of the concept of Earth in Merleau-Ponty’s works in relation to the concepts of Nature, life, and background. In a final section, I attempt to valorize the main theoretical objectives achieved by reading Merleau-Ponty in the direction (...) of a new reflection on the notion of the Anthropocene, beyond the Promethean discourse on the Anthropocene (which originates in a vision of the planet as a Globe). For this, we will read together some recent works by Dipesh Chakrabarty and Jeremy Devies that focus precisely on the attempt to rethink the Anthropocene beyond the image of the Globe. (shrink)

Mapping a Controversy of our Time: The Anthropocene We offer a bibliometric analysis of the literature and authors of the controversial Anthropocene discipline. Thanks to digital tools, we comprehend this complexity by drawing on existing literature and digital networks. In order to appreciate the interdisciplinary character of the controversy, we show clusters of co-cited publications, co-authors, and co-occurring terms in the fields of social science, agricultural and biological science, environmental science, and Earth and planetary science. The multidisciplinary character of Anthropocene (...) research is reflected in the co-citation analysis and the term co-occurrence analysis. We found two clusters of co-occurring terms, representing agreement and disagreement with Anthropocene, and offer a comparison of the emblematic works presented in the network. (shrink)

È ormai evidente da tempo che le democrazie si trovano in grande difficoltà quando devono affrontare la questione del cambiamento climatico. Ciò ha fatto sorgere una tendenza che si potrebbe definire «eco-autoritaria», basata sulla convinzione che la portata del problema sia tale da richiedere, in certi casi, la sospensione di alcune delle regole democratiche. A questo orientamento si oppone il cosiddetto «paternalismo libertario», secondo il quale è invece possibile strutturare il contesto decisionale in modo da spingere gli individui a compiere (...) scelte orientate in senso ambientalista senza ledere la loro libertà. La tesi dell’articolo è che una risposta ai problemi posti da entrambi gli schieramenti possa essere individuata in una concezione deliberativa della democrazia, che si alimenta del rapporto di vicendevole scambio tra la formazione istituzionale della volontà e un’informale formazione dell’opinione e delle idee. (shrink)

Considerations on the concept of world and of relationship to the world in the age of Anthropocene: essay on XXI century philosophy The essay intends to analyze the notion of “world” and “relationship to the world” as a crucial problem connected to the symbolic, economic and ecological crisis. The reflection starts from the analysis of the complex notion of “Anthropocene” (and why it should be conserved) and from the analysis of the notion of “world” (and why it should be conserved (...) as a “relationship to the world”). The essay then proposes four theses on how to understand the “world” and the “relationship to the world” through a critical discussion especially with the theories of Bruno Latour, Quentin Meillassoux and Donna Haraway. The development of the essay leads to the central question of the need for conflict and for overcoming of the modern imaginary and the capitalist mode of production as the only possible solution to the “loss of the world” and to the contemporary symbolic, economic and ecological crisis. (shrink)

The aim of this essay is to connect the notion of the Anthropocene with Merleau-Pontyan thought by drawing on two aspects of the author’s ontological reflection. First, I consider “the event of the Anthropocene” as an event that is part of an instituting dynamic, in reference to the ontological dimension of “Institution” that Merleau-Ponty borrows from Husserl and develops in an original way in his 1954-1955 lectures at the Collège de France. I then underline the difficulties that arise when multiple (...) names are employed to designate our “current geological era” in debates on the Anthropocene, a complex global event with political, ethical, and social dimensions. To conclude, I show that this multiplication of names is constitutive of the event of the Anthropocene. The Merleau-Pontyan idea of “a theme that constitutes itself through its variations,” introduced by Mauro Carbone in his work on sensible ideas and the “arche-screen” and closely linked to the element of “Institution,” can help us find philosophical advancements at the heart of this contemporary naming debate. (shrink)

In recent years, the concept of the Anthropocene has summoned such an archipelago of senses that the academic debate related to this term, which initially emerged in the natural sciences, has since penetrated the fields of philosophy, economy, history, and sociology. To draw a possible cartography of the Anthropocene, we wish before anything else to emphasize the intrinsic connection between the debate on the Anthropocene and the theme of climate change, and, more generally, of the environmental crisis. We will attempt (...) to show, also, how a Merleau-Pontyan philosophy that is constitutively dedicated to overcoming dichotomies – philosophy and non-philosophy, nature and culture, subject and object – can provide a valuable methodological and ontological support for the study of the environmental question and the ecological crisis. This philosophy belongs, in its own right, among the non-sad philosophies for thinking climate change. (shrink)

V današnjih humanističnih vedah ne manjka sklicevanj na antropocen in ontološke premike, ki naj bi jih ta domnevno sprožil. Esej se osredotoči na več fiktivnih in kritičnih del – predvsem na roman Paula Bowlesa The Sheltering Sky iz leta 1949 – zato da bi podal vrsto trditev glede težavnosti predstavljanja razmerja med naravo kot področjem kavzalnosti, ki se podreja naravnim zakonom, na eni strani ter nominalno človeškim ali razumskim področjem, kamor sodijo dejanja, namere in različni upravičeni ali neupravičeni razlogi, (...) na drugi strani. Predvsem pa ga zanima raziskovanje želja, ki motivirajo prizadevanja po kontrastnih načinih reprezentiranja tega razmerja in na koncu vztraja na ključni vlogi reprezentacije, ki naredi upodabljanje takšnih dilem razumljivo, njihove predpostavke pa problematične. (shrink)

Autor artykułu zastanawia się, czy istnieje jakaś narracja filozoficzna, która jest dopasowana do epoki antropocenu lub kapitalocenu. Stara się pokazać, że w kilku współczesnych nurtach filozoficznych widać zarysy takiej narracji, od teorii aktora-sieci po poststrukturalistyczny feminizm. Koncepcje postwzrostowe mogą być zaś mediatorem, który pomoże w spopularyzowaniu tych.

The thesis explored in this essay is that contemporary educational thought has suffered a loss of significance, manifested when our language and concepts fail to be experienced as signifiers of commitment. A certain reluctance can be observed, among academics and others, against the notion of defending any cause or idea – with notable exceptions such as “respect for difference”. One may of course contest that a special kind of commitment is needed in education; but problems emerge when the educational values (...) in place are no longer experienced as very significant for education itself, because the lack of investment in turn reduces the need to criticize and question these values. The problem concerns the lack of reflexive creativity, not the lack of ideals per se. The idea of a loss of signification is elaborated in two examples: “dannelse” and “kritikk”. In a further step, the loss of signification is discussed in relation to the lack of a larger, social project, where the discussion of the Anthropocene is one example of how such a project might be formulated today. (shrink)

Tematem tekstu jest wizja społeczeństwa postkapitalistycznego brytyjskiego ekonomisty i badacza zrównoważonego rozwoju, Tima Jacksona. Jest to utopia unikatowa, możliwa do zrealizowania, budowana w oparciu o najnowsze ekonomiczne ustalenia empiryczne i raporty przyrodoznawców dotyczące powagi współczesnych zagrożeń środowiskowych. Artykuł systematycznie rekonstruuje jej najważniejsze założenia. Argumentacje Jacksona wymierzone są przeciwko „wzrościzmowi” (ang. growthism), to znaczy bezrefleksyjnej akceptacji samej logiki nie kończącego się wzrostu gospodarczego za wszelką cenę. Utopia budowana przez tego ekonomistę opiera się na filarach równowagi, dobrobytu (prosperity), psychologicznego przepływu (flow) i (...) wytwarzania (work). Artykuł wykorzystuje idee zawarte w pracach Jacksona (Dobrobyt bez wzrostu. Ekonomia dla planety o ograniczonych zasobach z 2009 roku oraz Post Growth. Life after Capitalism z roku 2021), a także wybrane tezy i ustalenia nurtu ekonomii ekologicznej dewzrostu. (shrink)

In this interview, Estelle Ferrarese elaborates on her account of vulnerability and care to highlight its political and social, as opposed to its ethical, dimensions. Drawing on, amongst others, Adorno, Tronto, Castell, and Laugier, she argues that vulnerability and care should not be understood ontologically, as an antropological exposure of the body, but rather socially, as the normative expectations and material conditions under which care work takes place. Situating her approach in anglophone and francophone discussions on vulnerability and precarity, she (...) discusses her approach to normative expectations and how it informs her account of vulnerability of living at the mercy of someone else's agency, as well as the politicization of vulnerability. She also discusses the political implications of her account of vulnerability and care with regard to a range of contemporary issues, such as the Men's Right Movement, the posthuman turn and the Antropocene, and mutual aid and the neoliberalization of the welfare state. (shrink)

One of the possibilities of critical thinking involves dealing with the problems we face and not only diagnosing and revealing them. However, this ability to devise creative and responsible solutions to urgent matters involves a singular starting point. If we wish to create space for questions where multiple, diverse and contingent compositions arise, at many levels – from sensitive, artistic and biological to political, legal and institutional – we need to set the outlines which enable such capacity. It seems necessary (...) to dismantle, let go and become detached from what still persists within us as metaphysical and transcendental inheritance. It is necessary to bring back some tools into play – some of them probably already known – into both the fields of intellectual thought and practices, in order to make room for the advent of the possible. In our article we will be addressing the issue regarding the term anthropocene, enabling a more complex analysis by examining it from various notions (life, nature, humanity, rationality, politics, prudence, contingency). (shrink)

Kluczowy kontekst artykułu stanowi najnowsza wiedza dotycząca powagi planetarnego kryzysu środowiskowego i jego reperkusji społeczno-gospodarczych (kompromitacja kapitalizmu paliw kopalnych i nierówności). Na tym tle teoretycznym zostaną ze sobą krytycznie porównane trzy ujęcia. Chodzi o filozofię Herberta Marcusego, krytykę tzw. „tanich natur” i kapitałocenu Jasona W. Moore’a oraz o ekonomię ekologiczną wystudzania wzrostu. Wszystkie z nich to postkapitalistyczne eko-utopie budowane w obliczu troski o samo przetrwanie cywilizacji. Tekst poszukuje antycypacji myśli Moore’a i idei ekonomistów ekologicznych w refleksji Marcusego na temat ekologii. (...) Wskazane zostaną ważne podobieństwa, jak i wybrane różnice między wymienionymi wyżej koncepcjami. Artykuł rozpatruje przy tym dwa poziomy: diagnozy dotyczącej problemów rozwiniętego społeczeństwa przemysłowego oraz możliwej, systemowej oraz konstruktywnej korekty. Tekst przekonuje, że istnienie konkretnych ujęć ekonomii ekologicznej dewzrostu, dobrobytu i redystrybucji przeczy tezie Marcusego o tym, że kapitalizm całkowicie kolonizuje ludzką wyobraźnię. (shrink)

The paper revises the idea of speech as a fundamental political faculty in response to the challenges of the Anthropocene. First, it is argued that, rather than as a subsystem of language, speech should be conceptualised as the expression of the embodied capacity of voice (in this respect, the paper follows Adriana Cavarero’s [2005] argument). Secondly, vocality is linked to the faculty of taste (understood as in Arendt’s reading of Kant) to locate politics in the broader order of materiality (physis).