Paper short abstract:

We define 4 framings of the Anthropocene: eco-modernist, planetary stewardship, sustainability pathways and post-humanist. A 5th category refers to the Anthropocene as responsibility and locates a Derridean ethics of acting in an uncertain era, through which we can find ‘goods’ in the Anthropocene.

Paper long abstract:

There is a growing agreement amongst scholars, that the notion of the Anthropocene indicates a number of fundamental conceptual shifts that destabilise important underlying traditional, scientific assumptions and dichotomies. A closer reading on the conceptual level of the Anthropocene reveals that although there is agreement that a new engagement with the problems that arise in this new era is needed, there are different ways in which different fields suggest one should engage with it. In this paper, we set out 4 framings that we argue have fundamentally different framings of the 'problem' of the Anthropocene' and equally diverse responses to this problem. These four fields include:

1- the 'eco-modernist' or post-environmentalist perspective builds on the enlightenment ideals of progress and rational engagement.

2- the 'planetary stewardship' paradigm reinforces the dependence of humans on the functioning of the Earth's systems within planetary boundaries.

3- the 'pathways to sustainability' approach relies much on an STS framing of opening up multiple alternative pathways into the future.

4- the post-humanist or 'relational ontology of things' paradigm argues that all things are equally related to one another.

We then propose a fifth category that refers to the 'Anthropocene as responsibility' and argue that within this paradigm, it is possible to find a Derridean ethics of our responsibility that comes with being human and acting on the planet, when the future is uncertain. It is through this lens that we propose that it is possible to locate a set of 'goods' within the Anthropocene.