Situated Anthropocentrism

Description

Matthew Segall:

"Teilhard does retain a measure of anthropocentrism, in the sense that he speaks of humanity as not just another animal species but as a new kingdom of nature. Modern geology and ecology echo this, calling our era the Anthropocene, marked by the profound influence of humanity’s activity on Earth’s systems—climate, biodiversity, and geological processes. While geologists continue to debate the formal adoption of the term Anthropocene, there is no doubt that human activities have affected the planet on a vast scale, leaving traces that will persist for millions of years.

Pope Francis, in a 2023 letter (Laudate Deum), addresses this tension between an exaggerated anthropocentrism and a disregard for our interdependence with the larger earth community. He advocates a situated anthropocentrism: one that recognizes the uniqueness of human capacities and the moral responsibility that follows, but also the complete embeddedness of humanity in the broader network of life. He reminds us that all creatures form a “universal family” linked by unseen bonds. Drawing on Donna Haraway’s phrase “contact zone,” he underscores that the world is not an inert space but a living matrix through which beings encounter one another."

(https://footnotes2plato.substack.com/p/science-and-religion-in-a-participatory)