Freedom and Heteronomy in the Anthropocene
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Alexander M. Stoner
Alexander M. Stoner , associate professor and head of the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Northern Michigan University in Marquette, Michigan, USA. His current research focuses on linkages between political-economic drivers of and societal responses to global climate change.Harry F. Dahms , Professor of Sociology, co-director of the Center for the Study of Social Justice and co-chair of the Committee on Social Theory at the University of Tennessee Knoxville, as well as editor ofCurrent Perspectives in Social Theory and director of the International Social Theory Consortium.
Abstract
The concept of the Anthropocene reflects a particular meaning of the “human” as it exists in society, and a specific understanding of freedom, which only became possible at the close of the twentieth century. Whereas Enlightenment thinkers such as Kant, Rousseau, and Adam Smith attempted to grasp the potential for humanity to be changed through society in a self-conscious process of attaining freedom, the “Age of Man” today appears entirely disconnected from human agency. Indeed, the Anthropocene is associated not with the flourishing of life but with the sixth mass extinction. Drawing insight from classical and contemporary critical theory, this paper seeks to explicate the emancipatory potential within the concept of the Anthropocene, and the ways in which this potential is blocked by material circumstances that masquerade as “freedom.”
1 We thank Dr. Nicholas Zeller (Kennesaw State University) and Katrina Stoner for comments on the manuscript.
About the authors
Alexander M. Stoner, associate professor and head of the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Northern Michigan University in Marquette, Michigan, USA. His current research focuses on linkages between political-economic drivers of and societal responses to global climate change.
Harry F. Dahms, Professor of Sociology, co-director of the Center for the Study of Social Justice and co-chair of the Committee on Social Theory at the University of Tennessee Knoxville, as well as editor of Current Perspectives in Social Theory and director of the International Social Theory Consortium.
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Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Zur Einführung: Freiheit im planetarischen Raum des 21. Jahrhunderts
- I. Perspektiven im 21. Jahrhundert
- Freiheitsrechte, Freiheitspflichten
- Politische Freiheit – Überlegungen im Anschluss an Adorno
- Freedom and Heteronomy in the Anthropocene
- Die strangulierte Freiheit im globalisierten Neoliberalismus
- Die Freiheit nach dem Tod
- II. Planetarische Kontexte
- Von der Freiheit zur Befreiung, eine iberoamerikanische Perspektive
- Individuum und Freiheit in Luhmanns systemtheoretischer Sicht
- Liberté et communauté en Islam
- Freedom: An African Perspective
- Entangled Notions of Freedom and Dependence
- III. Bildung zur Freiheit
- Freedom, Democracy and Science
- Freiheit und Entanglement: Kulturelle Resilienz als relationale Bildungstheorie
- Über Freiheit – im pädagogischen Sinn
- IV. Gesellschaftliche Sphären
- Recht und Freiheit – Ein juristischer Blick
- Sport und Freiheit
- Literatur ist Freiheit
- V. Technologien und Märkte
- A Dive into the Depths of Human Intimacy
- Soft Paternalism and Freedom in the Age of Artificial Intelligence – Through the “tactfulness (融通無碍 Yuzu-Muge)” of 華厳学 Hua-Yan philosophy
- Freely Associated Production as a Political Ideal
- La liberté à corps perdu
- Autorinnen und Autoren
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Zur Einführung: Freiheit im planetarischen Raum des 21. Jahrhunderts
- I. Perspektiven im 21. Jahrhundert
- Freiheitsrechte, Freiheitspflichten
- Politische Freiheit – Überlegungen im Anschluss an Adorno
- Freedom and Heteronomy in the Anthropocene
- Die strangulierte Freiheit im globalisierten Neoliberalismus
- Die Freiheit nach dem Tod
- II. Planetarische Kontexte
- Von der Freiheit zur Befreiung, eine iberoamerikanische Perspektive
- Individuum und Freiheit in Luhmanns systemtheoretischer Sicht
- Liberté et communauté en Islam
- Freedom: An African Perspective
- Entangled Notions of Freedom and Dependence
- III. Bildung zur Freiheit
- Freedom, Democracy and Science
- Freiheit und Entanglement: Kulturelle Resilienz als relationale Bildungstheorie
- Über Freiheit – im pädagogischen Sinn
- IV. Gesellschaftliche Sphären
- Recht und Freiheit – Ein juristischer Blick
- Sport und Freiheit
- Literatur ist Freiheit
- V. Technologien und Märkte
- A Dive into the Depths of Human Intimacy
- Soft Paternalism and Freedom in the Age of Artificial Intelligence – Through the “tactfulness (融通無碍 Yuzu-Muge)” of 華厳学 Hua-Yan philosophy
- Freely Associated Production as a Political Ideal
- La liberté à corps perdu
- Autorinnen und Autoren