Life generally becomes an object of reflection when it is threatened. In particular, humans tend to think about life (rather than simply continuing to live it) when faced with the prospect of death: whether the death of individuals due to illness, accident, or old age; the death of entire ethnic or national groups in wars and other forms of armed conflict; as well as of entire populations, whether human or nonhuman. Although Minimal Ethics for the Anthropocene is concerned first and foremost with life—understood as both a biological and social phenomenon—it is the narrative about the impending death of the human population (i.e., the extinction of the human species) that provides context for its argument. “Anthropocene” names a geohistorical period in which humans are said to have become the greatest threat to life on Earth. However, rather than a scientific description, the term serv...read more
