In recent years much jurisprudential affection has coalesced around the concept of the Anthropocene. International lawyers have enlisted among the ranks of humanities and social science authors embracing this proposed scientific time category, and putting it to work. This essay draws on sources from a range of fields including legal anthropology and critical legal theory in re-examining the reception of the Anthropocene in international law, focusing on its mythical qualities. We demonstrate how the Anthropocene both reinforces and meshes perfectly with the three narrative pillars of contemporary international environmental law: evolutionary progress; universal evaluations of nature and constructions of legal subjectivity; and legal monism. The Anthropocene, like few ideas in modern scholarship, is quite expressly a tale of origins explaining and legitimating its narrators’ place in the universe. Joining signposts such as The Tragedy of the Commons, the Myth of the Anthropocene embeds collective memories eclipsing the need to reconsider complex and contested histories in understanding the contemporary roles of law in mediating people’s relations with nature. In response, we call for a more inclusive account of environmental law that draws on diversity rather than universality, with particular sensitivity to those perspectives that are inadvertently excluded from the Anthropocene discourse.

中文翻译：

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人类世的原始场景：国际环境法中的叙事和神话

近年来，许多法理学的影响都围绕着人类世的概念。国际律师已跻身人文和社会科学作者行列，接受这一提议的科学时间类别，并将其付诸实践。本文借鉴了包括法律人类学和批判性法律理论在内的一系列领域的资料，重新审视了国际法中对人类世的接受，重点关注其神话性质。我们展示了人类世如何加强并完美契合当代国际环境法的三大叙事支柱：进化进步；对法律主体性的性质和建构的普遍评价；和法律一元论。人类世，就像现代学术中的一些想法一样，是一个非常明确的起源故事，解释和合法化其叙述者在宇宙中的地位。加入诸如公地悲剧、人类世神话之类的路标，嵌入了集体记忆，无需重新考虑复杂和有争议的历史，以了解法律在调解人们与自然关系方面的当代作用。作为回应，我们呼吁对环境法进行更具包容性的解释，利用多样性而非普遍性，对那些无意中被排除在人类世话语之外的观点特别敏感。人类世神话嵌入了集体记忆，在理解法律在调解人与自然关系方面的当代作用时，需要重新考虑复杂和有争议的历史。作为回应，我们呼吁对环境法进行更具包容性的解释，利用多样性而非普遍性，对那些无意中被排除在人类世话语之外的观点特别敏感。人类世神话嵌入了集体记忆，在理解法律在调解人与自然关系方面的当代作用时，需要重新考虑复杂和有争议的历史。作为回应，我们呼吁对环境法进行更具包容性的解释，利用多样性而非普遍性，对那些无意中被排除在人类世话语之外的观点特别敏感。