Disrupting Anthropocentrism Through Relationality

Literatures on the Anthropocene in International Relations (IR) (and elsewhere) often cite the conceptual and ontological separation of humanity from nature as fundamental to the dominant modern worldview and generative of the many ecological crises characteristic of this epoch. One central entailment of this worldview has been anthropocentrism, which expresses the idea that humans are the most important beings on the planet and even in the cosmos. As a way to defamiliarize ourselves from anthropocentrism and begin exploring some possible alternatives, this chapter will focus on interrogating what we call fundamental ontological assumptions about the primordial conditions of existence. The chapter looks at two complementary opposite sets of assumptions concerning the basic conditions of existence: separation, and what we call robust relationality or interconnection. It elaborates how we understand these contrasting sets of assumptions and their consequences. Finally, it examines how these assumptions inform different possible ways of approaching, understanding, and responding to the crises of the Anthropocene.