Domination in the Anthropocene

Abstract

The critique of human domination is a tenet of environmental thinking. Now, the rise of the Anthropocene has increased the risk that survivalism obscures nonhuman emancipation as a public and private goal: if the conversation about the Anthropocene keeps focusing on the dangerous disruption of planetary systems, fear of extinction can relegate nonhuman emancipation indefinitely. Furthermore, the language of the Anthropocene privileges terms such as «transformation» or «hybridization», overshadowing how nature has been, and continues to be, colonized by human beings. Unsurprisingly, the name of the new epoch puts humanity at the center of Earth's history, turning the «anthropos» into the main character of the planetary drama. It would thus seem that the Anthropocene's irruption hinders the critique and removal of domination. However, as this paper will argue, that is not necessarily the case. The Anthropocene can provide a more realistic account of socionatural relations and thus put past and present domination into a wider context. In turn, this opens up new possibilities for the critique of domination -possibilities that do not rely on traditional arguments regarding capitalism's rapaciousness or human's lack of empathy. While the complete absence of domination will remain an ideal goal for the time being, an enlightened or managed domination can meaningfully reduce the harm done to nature in a non-ideal world and prepare us for a future where humanity self-consciously overcomes the acquired habit of domination.