Summary

Increasingly, the Anthropocene is being recognized as a global crisis, extending far beyond its geological connotations and sparking a wide-ranging debate among scientists, politicians, sociologists, philosophers, economists, and artists.

In the 1990s, Bruno Latour and other philosophers of science developed the Actor-Network Theory (ANT), which posits that the production of knowledge about reality occurs within a network of relationships and interpretations that develop in a social space, in which all elements play comparable roles. Humans and non-humans interact, and through these interactions, knowledge is generated, which in turn constructs reality.

We are moving toward a new form of politics, one in which issues are more interconnected and involve multiple actors. Solutions to these problems do not arise from administrative risk management or traditional political approaches, but rather from a holistic understanding of the complex relationships among all participants.

Metaphorically, Latour proposes a new “Constitution” that would suspend the traditional divisions between human and non-human, subject and object, politics and nature. In their place, he envisions a “common house” (oikos), where life is organized with equitable consideration for all integral elements.

Year: 2017