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Burdon, Peter D. --- "Rethinking global ethics in the Anthropocene" [2019] ELECD 2180; in Burdon, Peter; Bosselmann, Klaus; Engel, Kirsten (eds), "The Crisis in Global Ethics and the Future of Global Governance" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2019) 92

Book Title: The Crisis in Global Ethics and the Future of Global Governance

Editor(s): Burdon, Peter; Bosselmann, Klaus; Engel, Kirsten

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

Section: Chapter 6

Section Title: Rethinking global ethics in the Anthropocene

Author(s): Burdon, Peter D.

Number of pages: 17

Abstract/Description:

Section 1 of this chapter argues that the Anthropocene should be understood through the lens of Earth system science. It describes the Anthropocene as a ‘recent rupture in Earth History arising from the impact of human activity on the Earth System as a whole’. This statement carries important implications for the human condition; section 2 suggests that environmental thinking might recognize a limited form of anthropocentrism which acknowledges that human beings have become forces of nature. Section 3 considers the implications of the preceding analysis for the future of global ethics. It first argues that the increase in human power recognized by the Anthropocene cannot be appeased by a withdrawal into wilderness ethics or shallow commitments to legal rights. It goes on to suggest that our movements ought to push for deeper notions of egalitarian politics as expressed in notions of liberation, emancipation and power sharing.