Freedom in the Anthropocene : Twentieth-Century Helplessness in the Face of Climate Change

Prologue: The Elusive Clarity of the Anthropocene -- Introduction: What is the Meaning of Freedom in the Anthropocene -- 1. Georg Luk̀cs (1885-1971) and the Critique of Reification: On the Dialectical Genesis of the Great Acceleration -- 2. Theodor W. Adorno (1903-1969) and the Critique of Identity Thinking: The Great Acceleration as Historical Sedimentation -- 3. Moishe Postone (1942 -- ) and the Critique of Traditional Marxism: Helplessness and the Present Moment of the Great Acceleration -- Conclusion: Contemporary Environmental Politics and the Necessity of Critical Theory.;While it is clear that the Holocene/Anthropocene transition marks the unprecedented transformation of human societies, scholars have not been able to account for what this transition entails, how it could give rise to our current ecological predicament, and how we might plausibly move beyond it. Without such an understanding, we are left with an inadequate analysis that creates the condition for ill-informed policy decisions and a self-sustaining cycle of unsuccessful attempts to ameliorate societally induced environmental degradation. Freedom in the Anthropocene illuminates our current ecological predicament by focusing on the issue of history and freedom and how it relates to our current inability to render environmental threats and degradation recognizable, and by extension, subject to its conscious and free overcoming by society. Working through the writings of three twentieth century critical theorists (Lukcs, Adorno, and Postone), the authors argue that the idea of the Anthropocene is a historically specific reflection of helplessness, which only becomes possible at the close of the twentieth century. While it is clear that the Holocene/Anthropocene transition marks the unprecedented transformation of human societies, scholars have not been able to account for what this transition entails, how it could give rise to our current ecological predicament, and how we might plausibly move beyond it. Without such an understanding, we are left with an inadequate analysis that creates the condition for ill-informed policy decisions and a self-sustaining cycle of unsuccessful attempts to ameliorate societally induced environmental degradation. Freedom in the Anthropocene illuminates our current ecological predicament by focusing on the issue of history and freedom and how it relates to our current inability to render environmental threats and degradation recognizable, and by extension, subject to its conscious and free overcoming by society. Working through the writings of three twentieth century critical theorists (Lukács, Adorno, and Postone), the authors argue that the idea of the Anthropocene is a historically specific reflection of helplessness, which only becomes possible at the close of the twentieth century Front Matter....Pages i-x Prologue: Smog, Haze, Sulfur: The Elusive Clarity of the Anthropocene....Pages 1-17 Introduction: What Is the Meaning of Freedom in the Anthropocene?....Pages 18-27 Georg Lukács (1885–1971) and the Critique of Reification: On the Dialectical Genesis of the Great Acceleration....Pages 28-47 Theodor W. Adorno (1903–1969) and the Critique of Identity Thinking: The Great Acceleration as Historical Sedimentation....Pages 48-72 Moishe Postone (1942-) and the Critique of Traditional Marxism: Helplessness and the Present Moment of the Great Acceleration....Pages 73-98 Conclusion....Pages 99-109 Back Matter....Pages 110-125 Freedom in the Anthropocene illuminates the Anthropocene from the perspective of critical theory. The authors contextualize our current ecological predicament by focusing on the issues of history and freedom and how they relate to our present inability to render environmental threats and degradation recognizable and surmountable.