Journal Title/Source
Paragrana: Internationale Zeitschrift für Historische Anthropologie
Publication Date
2023
Volume
33
Page Numbers
39-52
Document Type
Journal Article
Department
Sociology and Anthropology
Recommended Citation
Stoner, Alexander M. and Dahms, Harry F., "Freedom and Heteronomy in the Anthropocene" (2023). Journal Articles. 487.
https://commons.nmu.edu/facwork_journalarticles/487
Included in
Anthropology Commons, Arts and Humanities Commons, Economics Commons, Environmental Studies Commons, Human Ecology Commons, Political Theory Commons, Politics and Social Change Commons, Psychology Commons, Theory, Knowledge and Science Commons
Comments
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.”