Challenges of globalization and the cosmopolitan imagination: The implications of the anthropocene

Abstract

The work emphasizes that the concept of Anthropocene refers to a temporal dimension within geological time: the era when human beings brought about a great transformation in the Earth's physical structure. It is a form of historical self-understanding that represents a great transformation in the Earth system's geophysical nature, coeval with the worldwide transformation caused by capitalism and westernization. The Anthropocene is inextricably bound up with sociological questions concerning capitalism, war, power, and inequality on a global scale. The text draws attention to the fact that the notion of Anthropocene does not simply refer to climate change, but is above all an interpretative category, by means of which contemporary societies may reflect on themselves and on life itself, and reinvent their space and time.