Abstract

The fact that humans are responsible for climate change is certain. But the meaning of the fact of human responsibility is not disclosed by stating the fact: there is a distinction between the two principles, de facto and de jure, the right to state a fact and the right to assert the meaning of the fact. This distinction must be preserved in order that humans may interpret the nature of our responsibility, as a form of justice. In fact, the nature of human responsibility can never be exhaustively determined. To recognise the fact of human responsibility for climate change may only lead us to acknowledge that climate change coincides with the plundering and exploitation of the earth as a natural resource, together with the industrial pollution which fouls our atmosphere. It is something else again to know precisely what must be done, how to think and write and interpret the science, or even what can be achieved before it is too late to prevent the worst effects of global warming. In this essay I analyse the central claims of proponents of the idea of the Anthropocene, arguing that they are arrogant and perhaps even naïve: in particular, the suggestion that humanity and nature have now fused to become a geological force is shown to be theological in its orientation. The essay also exposes Anthropocenology as a form of pedagogy, meaning that rather than opposing the neoliberalism that it attacks, Anthropocenology joins itself to the biopolitical institutions of education, seizing power in order to govern a totalized human population all the more effectively.

摘要

人类对气候变化负有责任这一事实是肯定的。但是人的责任事实的含义并没有通过陈述事实来揭示：事实上和法律上的两个原则是有区别的。，陈述事实的权利和主张事实含义的权利。必须保留这种区别，以便人类可以将我们责任的性质解释为一种正义形式。事实上，人类责任的性质永远无法彻底确定。承认人类对气候变化负有责任的事实可能只会使我们承认气候变化与地球作为自然资源的掠夺和开发以及污染大气的工业污染同时发生。确切地知道必须做什么，如何思考、写作和解释科学，甚至在为时已晚以防止全球变暖的最坏影响之前可以实现什么，又是另一回事。在这篇文章中，我分析了人类世思想支持者的核心主张，争论他们是傲慢的，甚至可能是幼稚的：特别是，人类和自然现在已经融合成为一种地质力量的建议在其方向上被证明是神学的。这篇文章还揭示了人类世学作为一种教育学形式，这意味着人类世学并没有反对它所攻击的新自由主义，而是将自己与生命政治教育机构结合起来，夺取权力以更有效地管理总体人口。