PGSO 2020: Urgent Voices in the Anthropocene

About the Conference:

In 2000, atmospheric chemist and Nobel laureate Paul Crutzen proposed the term “anthropocene” to describe a new geological era in which humankind is the greatest geological force on the planet. Since then, the term has been the center of debates regarding when the holocene ended, whether the distinction is geologically significant, and whether “anthropocene” is really the best terminology to describe our current era (Capitalocene, Plantationocene, and Chthulucene have also been suggested). Philosophical discourse regarding the anthropocene centers on our current climate crisis and the interrelated forces of global politics, economic inequality, systems of oppression, and problematic conceptions of the human-nature relationship that have persisted in Western philosophy.

The University of South Florida Philosophy Graduate Student Organization would like to invite graduate students to submit abstracts for our conference “Urgent Voices in the Anthropocene.” We are interested in philosophical explorations of the Anthropocene which relate to: technology, the climate crisis, feminism, systems of oppression, post-modernity, post-humanism and political thought. This list is far from exhaustive, and we welcome other papers in line with these considerations.