• identify the key debates, central issues and dominant philosophical positions with regard to the Anthropocene;
• critically assess the philosophical robustness and soundness of these philosophcal positions, and to identify options for their improvement;
• distinguish, assess and identify the basic eco-philosophical concepts and theories in the philosophical debates on the Anthropocene;
• critically apply these eco-philosophical concepts and theories to concrete current ecological and geopolitical issues.

Ecophilosophy in the Anthropocene

There is hardly any question about it: ‘the environment’ dominates all the social, economic, political and even individual agendas in our days – climate change and rising sea levels, biodiversity and species extinction, pollution, sustainability, energy transition: there is no escape. For philosophers, these issues raise the most profound question in at least three areas: metaphysics, ethics and political philosophy – the three areas represented in the ‘Ecology and Sustainability’ module.
 
This particular course, ‘Ecophilosophy in the Anthropocene’, focuses on the Anthropocene as a new way of understanding the global ecological crisis, i.e., as the geological epoch following the Holocene, in which the human (anthropos) has become the most important geological factor, from now on crucially determining the fate of the biosphere. In general, this course deals with the metaphysical, ontological and anthropological implications of the Anthropocene and what it means for rethinking the human condition. It also reflects on the widespread recognition of an ecological turn in philosophy and the humanities more generally. The course consists of two parts.
 
In the first part we will first take a look at the scientific debate on the Anthropocene and then reflect philosophically on some of the central issues, in particularly focusing on (socio)ecological complexity and on the discussions around biodiversity and extinction, including the possibility of human extinction. We will also introduce students to geophilosophy and demonstrate its usefulness for reflecting on the Anthropocene. Authors to be discussed in this part include Gilles Deleuze, Michel Serres, Andreas Malm and Timothy Morton.
 
In the second part we will first present an overview of the prevailing narratives on the Anthropocene and then reflect on what these imply for rethinking the Earth and the relation between humanity and the Earth in light of the necessity of re-earthing humanity so as to ensure the possibility of human habitation on the planet. It will then focus on the technological dimension of the Anthropocene through a discussion of the notion of the technosphere as the new decisive geosphere, both on what this means from an energetic perspective and from the question of human agency and responsibility. Finally it will reflect on the necessity of a new terrestrial ethos in relation to the question concerning technology. Authors to be discussed in this part include Clive Hamilton, Bruno Latour, Peter Sloterdijk and Bernard Stiegler.