After the Anthropocene

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xxvii

   PDF

2. Introduction

   • Anne Fremaux

   Pages 1-39

3. A Critical Examination of the Naturalistic Narrative of the Anthropocene

   • Anne Fremaux

   Pages 41-83

4. The ‘Return of Nature’ in the Capitalocene: Against the Ecomodernist Version of the ‘Good Anthropocene’

   • Anne Fremaux

   Pages 85-117

5. For a Post-Anthropocentric Socio-Nature Relationship in the Anthropocene

   • Anne Fremaux

   Pages 119-163

6. A New Green Political Economy for the Anthropocene

   • Anne Fremaux

   Pages 165-210

7. A Post-Liberal Green Republican Democracy for the Anthropocene

   • Anne Fremaux

   Pages 211-264

8. Conclusion: The Need for a Counter-Anthropocene Narrative

   • Anne Fremaux

   Pages 265-270

9. Back Matter

   Pages 271-316

   PDF

The environmental crisis is the most prominent challenge humanity has ever had to battle with, and humanity is currently failing. The Anthropocene—or so called ‘age of humans’—is indeed a period when the survival of humanity has never been so much at risk. This book locates itself in the field of critical green political theory. Fremaux's analysis of the current environmental crisis calls for us to embrace radical shifts in our modes of being; or, in other words, socially progressive innovations that will be described within the unique framework of "Green Republicanism." In offering a constructive and emancipatory delineation of what could be considered an ecological civilization that is respectful of its natural environment and social differences, this book describes how to shift from an ‘arrogant speciesism’ and materialistic lifestyle to a post-anthropocentric ecological humanism focusing on the ‘good life’ within ecological limits. This new political regime calls for a radical reinvention of our societies, a decentering of the humans within our metaphysical worldview, and a withdrawal of the capitalist technosphere at the benefit of the biosphere. It will require a new economic paradigm that replaces the unsustainable capitalist logic of growth by sustainable degrowth and steady economics. Rooted in ethical thinking and political philosophy, this book seeks to offer a concrete roadmap of how sustainable societies can be fostered. 

• Anthropocene
• Green Politics
• Ecomodernism
• Green Republicanism
• Ecological Citizenship
• Post-growth/Degrowth economics
• capitalism
• biosphere
• technology
• Biophilia
• Anthropos
• technosphere
• Republicanism
• Earth Systems Sciences
• utopianism

“This book offers a skillful synthesis of a critique of the present ecocidal order known as the Anthropocene and a vision of how to move beyond it into a post-anthropocentric, post-liberal and post-capitalist world. Fremaux’s vehicle is a green republicanism which situates human beings as responsible Earth citizens, working within ecological realities which enable as much as they limit. Her grasp of political and social theory as well as ecocentrism is sure. Particularly commendable is that she doesn’t shirk the difficult challenges involved in realising a sane polity, and the pragmatic realism of her analysis is complemented by an imaginative apprehension of possibilities. Fremaux’s book is an indispensable guide to where we now need to go, and how to get there.” (Patrick Curry, author of Ecological Ethics (2017) and editor-in-chief of The Ecological Citizen)

 

• School Of Politics, International Studies And Philosophy, Queen's University, Belfast, UK

  Anne Fremaux

Anne Fremaux completed her PhD at the School of Politics, International Studies and Philosophy at Queen’s University Belfast, Ireland. Her publications include La nécessité d'une écologie radicale. La pensée à l'épreuve des problèmes environnementaux (2011) and L’Ère du levant (2016).