Presented at the 15th Biennial Conference of the Radical Philosophy Association, University of North Florida, Jacksonville, Florida
In this paper I aim to illustrate that philosophy's contribution to the ecological crises-related discourses would be tremendous both in terms of causal investigation and alternative ways of how we view ourselves and the world. However, this needs a mindful reflection upon and a legitimization of those philosophical theories' corollaries and their basic concepts. This will be illustrated on two contributions to the Anthropocene discourse. At first, I shall elaborate analytically why the concepts of “human nature” and “origin of being” matter. Then I shall differentiate between the Anthropocene as a discourse that identifies humanity as a new geological force and the Capitalocene approach as explanatory declaring a specific mindset as guilty, among others based on cartesian dualism. Afterward, I shall represent and assess Jason Moore’s account; the main point of the assessment will be an evaluation based on a comparison of modern and premodern ways of viewing nature. Then I shall represent the marxist background assumptions of his analysis.
Hereafter, I shall examine Anne Fremaux’s theoretical draft of a new political order and citizenship, before illustrating on her taking Hannah Arendt as reference point the far-reaching consequences of philosophical conceptualizations of key terms such as “freedom”, meaning in Arendt’s case a sense of privileged freedom which will be exclusive rather than inclusive. Finally, I shall propose three questions by which we could examine the conceptual foundations and practical consequences of theories demanding fundamental changes.