Reflect 12 - Ending the Anthropocene

Activist philosopher and philosophical activist Lieven de Cauter investigates the idea of ending the Anthropocene – the geological era of the gigantic, devastating impact of our species on planet Earth – in order to avoid collapse. Ending our current, growth-maximizing system might be the only hope for the biosphere. Offering both case studies on urban activism and more general reflections on civic action and social movements, De Cauter moves from the political melancholy caused by the near certainty of climate disaster and meditations on the end of ‘the Age of Man’, towards reflections on more hopeful events of our times, like the resurgence of the commons. He hails the rediscovery of this forgotten and excluded third type of property, arguing that it contains the seeds of another worldview and another politics. This collection of writings closes with texts on the corona pandemic. Biopolitics, the care for the life of the population by the state, has gained a new topicality. The mix of philosophical, theoretical texts and newspaper articles make for a broadly accessible, exciting book of ‘activist essays’, in accordance with the basic creed of its author: ‘Pessimism in theory, optimism in practice.’