Anthropocene

The chapter focuses on the notion of Anthropocene. This appeared around the year 2000, quickly raising its status from a technical term and a scientific hypothesis to a keyword – or catchword – of major import in the public debate worldwide. It conveys the idea that humankind has acquired a capacity to intervene in the world which is on a par with – hence directly affects – the biophysical dynamics of the planet. The chapter addresses the Anthropocene as a result of a major transformation in late-modern accounts of reality and agency, largely coincident with the advent of post-Fordism in economics, neoliberalism in politics, complexity thinking in the life, matter and computational sciences, and post-foundationalism in the social sciences and humanities.