The Politics of Nature: New Materialist Responses to the Anthropocene
Abstract
In order to explore some of the divergences within new materialism and elucidate their relationship to actor-network theory, this article will develop Latour’s theory of agency and then compare it to those new materialists who uphold a ‘flat ontology’ that includes technological tools (Jane Bennett) and those who uphold an animate/inanimate distinction (Tim Ingold and Eduardo Kohn). In light of the ecological crisis called the Anthropocene, the dissolution of the animate/inanimate distinction will be defended in order to address both polar bears and glaciers, coral reefs and clown fish. Though Latour himself has defended such a dissolution, his political proposals to address the ecological crisis revert back to the modern and dualist position he has himself critiqued for so long. Using the gains of actor-network theory, while differentiating a new materialist ecological politics from that of Latour, will be shown to be necessary in order to find a solution to the crisis of the Anthropocene.
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This article is part of the Theory, Culture & Society special section on ‘Questioning New Materialisms’ (TCS 35(7–8), December 2018), edited by Charles Devellennes and Benoît Dillet.
Biographies
Arianne Conty is a continental philosopher working in the fields of the philosophy of technology and the philosophy of religion. Her research has been focusing on theories of subjectivity and processes of individuation in relation to technology and to the Anthropocene. Her articles have been published in many reputable journals, such as Politics, Religion & Ideology, Techné, Philosophy Today, South African Journal of Philosophy, La Deleuziana, Literature & Theology, Medieval Mystical Theology and Religion and the Arts.
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Article first published online: October 11, 2018
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Published online: October 11, 2018
Issue published: December 2018
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