In Catastrophic Times is neither a book of prophecy nor a survival guide. Here, Isabelle Stengers reminds us that it falls to us to experiment with the apparatuses that make us capable of surviving without sinking into barbarism, to create what nourishes trust.

In Catastrophic Times

Resisting the Coming Barbarism

There has been an epochal shift: the possibility of a global climate crisis is now upon us. Pollution, the poison of pesticides, the exhaustion of natural resources, falling water tables, growing social inequalities – these are all problems that can no longer be treated separately. The effects of global warming have a cumulative impact, and it is not a matter of a crisis that will “pass” before everything goes back to “normal.”

Our governments are totally incapable of dealing with the situation. Economic warfare obliges them to stick to the goal of irresponsible, even criminal, economic growth, whatever the cost. It is no surprise that people were so struck by the catastrophe in New Orleans. The response of the authorities – to abandon the poor whilst the rich were able to take shelter – is a symbol of the coming barbarism.

 

This book was co-published by Open Humanities Press and meson press as part of OHP’s Critical Climate Series.

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Publishing Year
2015
Language
English
Pages
156
Print Edition Price
$ 20.00 RRP
License
CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0
ISBNs
978-1-78542-009-2 (Print)
978-1-78542-010-8 (PDF)
DOI
10.14619/016

The Author

Isabelle Stengers is professor of philosophy at the Université Libre de Bruxelles. She is trained as a chemist and philosopher, and has authored and co-authored many books on the philosophy of science. In 1993 she received the grand price for philosophy from the Académie Francaise. Her last book published in English is Thinking with Whitehead: A Free and Wild Creation of Concepts (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2014).

Isabelle Stengers's Author Profile