Law and Geology for the Anthropocene

Toward an Ethics of Encounter

Bibliographic Data

ID12248416
AuthorsAlexander Damianos (0000-0002-5036-1221, Leiden University, corresponding author)
Year2022
Volume34
Issue2
Pages165-183
Publication date2022-02-23
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueLaw and Critique (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0957-8536 • E-ISSN: 1572-8617
PublisherSpringer Science+Business Media (PUBLISHER • DE)
DOI10.1007/s10978-022-09320-7
OpenAlexW4213437156
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited57

The Anthropocene has been observed as an opportunity to generate new legal imaginaries capable of revising incumbent assumptions of legal and political thought. What opportunities do such ambitions afford for communication between geological and legal thought? Responding to Birrell & Matthews attempt to ‘re-story a law for , rather than of , the Anthropocene,’ I wish to describe some ways in which the Anthropocene Working Group, who are pursuing formalisation of the Anthropocene as an official geological unit, are involved in a similar exercise of re-storying geology. The Anthropocene theme is brought to bear as a geological reality through material practices of measurement and correlation, as well as through the invocation of previous judgements of the evaluative committees associated with the formalisation of new geological unit. This effort amounts to a redefinition of the practices of geological observation, i.e. what counts as geologically relevant and why. In keeping with the theme of an ‘ethics of encounter’, as encouraged by Birrell and Matthews, this article suggests that the AWG’s effort provides a model with which the elaboration of ‘laws for the Anthropocene’ might correspond

Anthropocene · Environmental ethics · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Theme (computing · Climate Change and Geoengineering · Computer Science · Environmental Justice and Health Disparities · Environmental law and policy · History · Law · Philosophy