Gaia and the Anthropocene in Bruno Latour.
Event Title
FLUC - Master in Philosophy
Year (definitive publication)
2026
Language
English
Country
Portugal
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Abstract
This reading note explores Bruno Latour’s 'Facing Gaia' (2017), a reworking of his Gifford Lectures on the political theology of nature. Latour argues that contemporary ecological crises have produced a profound mutation in our relation to the world and that the classical notion of Nature has become unstable and insufficient for guiding political action. Across eight lectures, he critiques modern binaries (e.g., nature/society, subject/object) and develops Gaia as a secular, non-totalizing figure for understanding planetary entanglement. Gaia is conceived by Latour as a dynamic assemblage of agencies acting 'partes extra partes', without defined hierarchy or external design. Latour uses the Anthropocene to challenge images of the Globe as a false totality and proposes new demogenetic practices for convening the 'various peoples of nature' - a 'parliament of things' where humans and non-humans are represented within shared ecological governance.
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Keywords
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