Planetary Crises and the Difficulty of Being Modern

Abstract

This article questions whether the presently dominant ideas about globalisation and global warming work with very different conceptions of the ‘globe’ that are both connected and yet opposed to each other. The discussion on globalisation may be seen as an extension of homocentric narratives of modernity that see humans as separate from the natural world. The global warming literature, on the other hand, has led to a serious renewal of critical calls to abandon the nature/culture distinction. This article tracks some of the ethical difficulties of being modern at a time when collective human aspirations carry planetary implications. In the process, the article brings into conversation some post-human and post-colonial perspectives on our time.