A “Pagan” Anthropocene?

Lyotard Beyond Postmodernism

Abstract

The article considers the notion of the Anthropocene in the light of several philosophical tools that we can draw from Jean-François Lyotard. At first, I consider Lyotard’s analysis on postmodern condition, in particular in respect of the process of legitimation and the crisis of grand narration. Then, I ask if the Anthropocene is itself a new grand narrative or if, on the contrary, another understanding of the Anthropocene can be proposed starting from Lyotard’s reflexions on paganism. After an analysis of some elements of Lyotard’s paganism, I search for the traits of a “pagan Anthropocene”, using several examples from the contemporary ecological studies. At the end, I argue that the notion of pagus proposed by Lyotard can work together with the idea of compost proposed by Donna Haraway, going in this way beyond the postmodern towards a shared dwelling with non-human entities in a terrestrial condition.