2022/05/23 by Jürgen Renn · 13 citations
Arts and Humanities · Physics and Astronomy · Social Sciences · #Anthropocene #Computer science #Deep time #Discipline #Earth science #Earth system science #Ecocriticism and Environmental Literature #Ecology #Environmental ethics #Epistemology #Geographies of human-animal interactions #Geology #History of science #Order (exchange) #Paleontology #Perspective (graphical) #Philosophy #Social science #Sociology #Space Science and Extraterrestrial Life #Transformative learning
paper · doi:10.1086/719703
published in Isis 113(2), 377-385 (University of Chicago Press)
openalex publication_date 2022/05/23 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/22
To understand the dynamics and trajectories of the Anthropocene, the single most crucial parameter of investigation is time—specifically, the interconnections and friction between multiple timescales and temporal processes. This essay outlines a possible role for the history of science in understanding the Anthropocene. The notion of the “Anthropocene” entails different historical horizons being banded together—in particular, longue durée transformations and the now-accelerating environmental and socio-epistemic changes. But the challenge of the Anthropocene for the history of science lies not only in new questions, topics, and methodological approaches: the history of science itself may gain new opportunities to use its insights and reflective potential to encourage innovative forms of scientific knowledge production. The essay argues that we need a new transdisciplinary, transformative science in order to understand the techno–Earth System from an integrative perspective. This new science of “geoanthropology” should study the technosphere as part of the techno–Earth System by integrating different disciplinary perspectives.