Being Earthbound: Arendt, Process, and Alienation in the Anthropocene

Belcher, Oliver; Schmidt, Jeremy J.

doi:10.1177/0263775820953855

Being Earthbound: Arendt, Process, and Alienation in the Anthropocene

Belcher, Oliver; Schmidt, Jeremy J.

Authors

Dr Oliver Belcher oliver.belcher@durham.ac.uk
Associate Professor

Dr Jeremy Schmidt jeremy.schmidt@durham.ac.uk
Associate Professor

Abstract

Hannah Arendt developed a twofold account of ‘being earthbound’ directly relevant to Anthropocene debates regarding the political. For Arendt, both senses of ‘being earthbound’ arose as humans began to act into nature, not merely upon it. The first sense is oriented to a political ontology of process, which arose as human actions – political, technological, scientific – nullified modernist conceits separating humans from nature. The second sense is one of earth alienation, which is referenced specifically to a scientific praxis coincident with advances in science and technology that alienates common sense experiences in politics. Though not unqualified, these two senses of being earthbound anchor our argument that Arendt offered prescient resources for understanding the political in the Anthropocene at the intersection of science, capital and world. The article ends by contrasting Arendt’s account of being earthbound with Bruno Latour’s recent interventions on the politics of Gaia.

Citation

Belcher, O., & Schmidt, J. J. (2020). Being Earthbound: Arendt, Process, and Alienation in the Anthropocene. Environment and Planning D: Society and Space, 39(1), 103-120. https://doi.org/10.1177/0263775820953855

Journal Article Type	Article
Acceptance Date	Aug 2, 2020
Online Publication Date	Sep 1, 2020
Publication Date	2020
Deposit Date	Aug 2, 2020
Publicly Available Date	Sep 2, 2020
Journal	Environment and Planning D: Society and Space
Print ISSN	0263-7758
Electronic ISSN	1472-3433
Publisher	SAGE Publications
Peer Reviewed	Peer Reviewed
Volume	39
Issue	1
Pages	103-120
DOI	https://doi.org/10.1177/0263775820953855

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