The Task of Philosophy in the Anthropocene

[ecosophia]

A while back, rather to my surprise, I fielded an invitation from philosophy professor (and retro technology aficionado) Richard Polt to submit an essay for an academic volume titled The Task of Philosophy in the Anthropocene. Some months thereafter, even more to my surprise, I heard that my essay, "The Coming of the Post-Axial Age," had been accepted for publication, alongside contributions by professors of philosophy in Europe and North America. To top it all off, my contributor's copy came in today's mail: a nicely produced and intellectually meaty volume. I'm sorry to say it's priced at current academic-press rates, which are absurdly high; if you work for a university library or have plenty of cash to spare, you can order a copy here. 

(No, this isn't the cover art, though it could very well have been. I couldn't find an online cover image in a format that Dreamwidth can handle.) 

The conventions of academic publishing (and the details of my contract) preclude my publishing the essay elsewhere for a while, but it was an interesting challenge to ask myself what I'd say to professional philosophers in the present day, when philosophy has lost the ample public interest it once had (as late as the 1950s, a new book by Sartre was a significant cultural event) and the institutional arrangements that support philosophy as an academic profession are cracking at the seams as western civilization settles deeper into decline. It was also interesting to take on Karl Jaspers' notion of the Axial Age and its consequences -- among the more widely accepted versions, among intellectuals these days, of the mythology of progress -- and to try to set the rise of philosophy itself into a historical framework that doesn't bow to progress and the stealth teleology that pervades it. 

I have no way of knowing if any similar opportunity will ever come my way again, but I hope it does -- and I hope this essay helps get philosophers thinking about what it means to pursue their craft in an age when faith in progress is canceling itself out. 

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

Congratulations!

Country wise, where do you think the next round of philosophical ideas will come from?

[ecosophia]

That's like predicting exactly where a lightning bolt will strike. I'd be surprised to see them coming from Europe or North America, as they're still early in the process of digesting the results of the golden age of Western philosophy -- but that leaves a lot of territory where the creative interaction between Western philosophy and other cultural patterns could launch a burst of new philosophical ventures.

[(Anonymous)]

Congratulations JMG! Much deserved if you ask me.

-Brigyn

[ecosophia]

Thank you.

[(Anonymous)]

That's great! I'll badger the library to get a copy. Did you perchance reference your notion of the 'anthropic moment' as opposed to the anthropocene? It was a point well made, and you were quite possibly the first to make it, so it'd be great to have an academic paper to footnote in that regard.

Jay Dee

[ecosophia]

I referenced it in a footnote, as it isn't central to the theme of the paper; my essay in Dark Mountain 13, "Confronting the Cthulhucene," is on that subject.

[auntlili]

Congratulations! I sit on the Board of an organization that supports our local branch of the Free Library. I'll ask our librarian if she can recommend it for purchase. If not, we have reciprocal lending agreements with many local universities and I may be able to get hold of it that way.

[ecosophia]

Thank you.

Congrats

[(Anonymous)]

Any way that you could give us a abstract level overview of your article and how it differs from the rest of the articles.

I have never been all that fond of the idea of the "Axial Age". For that matter, I think that the "Renaissance" really wasn't that big a deal.

Most of this kind of thinking seems mostly intent on pointing out the historical basis for our current wonderfulness and infallibility.

Re: Congrats

[ecosophia]

Bingo. The very short form of my argument is that I take apart Jaspers' claim that the Axial Age was some kind of universal and irrevocable shift in human history, and demonstrate that the cultural and intellectual changes he discusses have a straightforward cause: the expansion of literacy outside the bounds of a scribal elite. That was the precondition for the refocusing of thinking from mythology to philosophy, the transformation of language from oral performance to sequence of analyzable abstractions, and all the cascade of changes that followed from that. It can be demonstrated easily enough by history that the same changes happen in reverse when a widespread loss of literacy returns oral language to a central position. Thus the "Axial Age" is much less important than Jaspers thought it was, and its emphasis on abstract thinking can be seen as an overemphasis, even an unbalancing, leading to the recognition that we're now potentially heading into a post-Axial age, in which human capacities other than the ability to think in ornate abstractions may deserve, and get, more attention.

There's more to it, but that's the central theme.

[kayr]

Well the introduction was an interesting read. I have forwarded the link to a friend who works in the library at the local community college. Perhaps they can buy the book and I can then borrow it. We shall see.

[ecosophia]

I hope so! Thank you for doing this.

[(Anonymous)]

Just purchased the hardback. Definitely pricey, but I generally only ever spend money on books anyways, and I figured this will balance out all the hard cover books I have bought over the years for $1 at friends of the library book sales! I also figure that since you are so kind to put much of your writing out there for free, the least I can do is purchase your work when it becomes available in other formats. Looking forward to reading these essays.

-Dan Mollo

[ecosophia]

Thank you kindly! I hope it gives you plenty to chew on.

Splendid hustle

[(Anonymous)]

Well that's the fitting porch for you! :)
Neat to glimpse your happiness!

Anyway I have been contemplating the amount of output you're consistently producing and I am equally impressed and intimidated!! Dare to give tips to a mere putzing-around mortal?
Congratulations all around!

A.

Re: Splendid hustle

[ecosophia]

Thank you!

My secret is fairly simple: I don't own a television. That frees up four to six hours a day for doing something less boring than watching little colored images jerk around on a glass screen. Now of course it also helps that writing is my full-time day job, but even before I started writing full time, not slurping at the glass teat was an effective way to have a life.

Justin Smith

[(Anonymous)]

I strongly recommend the books & occasional blogging of Justin EH Smith at jehsmith dot com. One of the few who uses philosophy to discuss things other than philosophy.

Re: Justin Smith

[ecosophia]

Thanks for this; I'll have a look as time permits.

[(Anonymous)]

I noticed with some amusement that one of the other chapters was titled "Between the Anthropocene and Hubriscene". Hubriscene fits pretty well in my estimation. Cthulhuscene fits pretty well too.

But on balance I think you called it right on the dot in your essay "The Myth of the Anthropocene", with the present age being the end of the Late Pleistocene, accompanied by the usual chaotic transition period and followed by the Neocene to come.

http://archdruidmirror.blogspot.com/2017/06/the-myth-of-anthropocene.html?m=1

[ecosophia]

I'm increasingly convinced that that's the more meaningful way to look at things.

[(Anonymous)]

Speaking of the Neocene, there is a really cool website from Russia inspired by the writings of authors like Dougal Dixon which tries to imagine what life might look like 25 million years from now. It has a lot of other fascinating articles about paleontology, natural history, future evolution and other related topics.

http://www.sivatherium.narod.ru/englver.htm

[ecosophia]

This is absolutely delightful. Thank you!

[(Anonymous)]

In the days when there were correspondence courses in physical culture and occultism, were there also philosophy courses? I mean not just for academic interest but with the assumption that working through the course would substantially change your thought processes, behaviour and how you lived your life?

Regardless of the answer to that, have you ever considered doing a book in the style of LRM and CGD, but that teaches people your philosophy (stoicism and anything else it consists of)? That's something I'd be interested in.

[ecosophia]

Indeed there were! The New Thought movement, one of the major intellectual currents in the popular culture of the time, focused on the idea that changing the way you thought about the world would change the way you lived and the way you experienced life. Not only were there correspondence courses along those lines, I have one of them; it was offered from the 1930s through the 1960s (I think) by an outfit called the Order of Essenes out of Tampa, Florida, and was founded by Burks Hamner, who was a successful businessman before he launched his order. Though some of the attitudes it teaches are better suited to an era of economic expansion than to the age of decline we're now in, it's useful stuff -- I've worked my way through it once and am currently on a second pass.

(A parenthetical note for any of my readers who've taken the OBOD correspondence course, or any other occult, spiritual, or magical correspondence course -- your first pass through is just the beginning. It's not until you do it over again a second time that you really start to get what it has to offer, and going through it repeatedly is the best way to squeeze every drop of juice out of it. I've been through the OBOD course four times now and each time I've gotten new things out of it.)

As for a book on my philosophy -- hmm! That's an intriguing notion, though also kind of a daunting one. I'd have to think very hard about how to do something along those lines. Hmm and again hmm...

Delighted to hear this news

[(Anonymous)]

Dear John Michael Greer,
I am delighted to hear this news. I am a fan of your work, and also of Richard Polt's. (His book and eponymous blog, THE TYPEWRITER REVOLUTION, inspired me to return to using a typewriter, an adventure of many and to me most interesting subtleties.) I look forward to reading the anthology.
Sincerely,
MILLICENTLY LURKING

Re: Delighted to hear this news

[ecosophia]

Thank you! I also have a copy of Polt's typewriter book, and a typewriter to match.

[(Anonymous)]

Sounds very interesting. If I can find the book, I'll read at least your essay!

Years ago, I read Jasper's essay in order to understand better the concept of the Axial Age, and was surprised to see that he didn't invent the idea, he seems to have taken it from Manfred Weber, Max Weber's brother. I still found Jasper's essay very stimulating because of his discussion of the legitimacy of government, which is always rather irrational. Why do we consider a government elected by the majority of the citizens legitimate when we don't usually follow their judgment in other matters? And still we need some kind of legitimacy.

[ecosophia]

Thus going to show that reason isn't necessarily a valid guide to all things in life. I think it was George Bernard Shaw who said, "Democracy substitutes election by the incompetent many for appointment by the corrupt few..."

Congratulations are in order!

[ferngladefarm.blogspot.com]

Hi John Michael,

Congratulations on your work being included in an intellectually meaty volume. I hope that students and philosophers alike get to meditate upon your writing.

Cheers

Chris

Re: Congratulations are in order!

[ecosophia]

Thank you!

[(Anonymous)]

Thank you for letting us know about this, John. I'm going to submit this as a recommendation for purchase to my library. I'm running 1-for-2 right now with more academic suggestions, but that ain't zero and it can't happen if one doesn't ask.

David, by the lake

DRM

[(Anonymous)]

Do you happen to know if the ebook format comes with DRM?

Re: DRM

[ecosophia]

No idea. You'd have to drop an email to the publisher.