Volume 44, Issue 3, Fall 2022
ISEE 2021 Special Issue
Keje Boersma

Pages 195-219
https://doi.org/10.5840/enviroethics202292643
The Anthropocene as the End of Nature?
Why Recognizing Interventionism Is Key in Coming to Terms with the Anthropocene
In this article, I address and argue against the tendency to understand the anthropocene as inaugurating the end of nature. I conduct two key moves. First, by way of an engagement with the concept of anthropocene technology I explain how understanding the anthropocene as the end of nature prevents us from recognizing what the anthropocene is all about: interventionism. Secondly, I illustrate how a nondualist understanding of the human-nature relation allows us to recognize interventionism as the hallmark of the anthropocene without falling back into the hierarchical human-nature conceptions that underlie interventionism. A nondualist framework that conserves the human-nature distinction helps us in our ability to relate critically to contemporary science and technology in the anthropocene. I illustrate the conceptual narrative of the article through the specific case of gene drive technology development.