Foreword

      Laying Down the Principles of Intentional Political Curricula for the Anthropocene World

      Proposed in the early 2000s to researchers in the life sciences and geosciences by the geochemist Paul Crutzen, the notion of the Anthropocene seeks to emphasize the idea of anthropogenic changes, which affect all the outer layers of the planet (gases, liquids and solids) and profoundly modify its biogeophysical dynamics. Climate and biodiversity issues would be good examples of this. Such modifications would come to characterize this new geological era and thus replace the previous one, the Holocene. From a natural sciences perspective, the matter would prove controversial and be discussed within the International Commission on Stratigraphy. Nonetheless, it has paved the way for a new account of the interface between the social history of humans and the natural history of the planet (Beau and Larrère 2018).

The questions that subsequently arise are not straightforward and require an ability to master systematic thought and make a collective decision in an uncertain situation: what should be done about tipping points, the irreversibility of climate change, the erosion of biodiversity, profound changes in biogeochemical cycles and the limits of the planet (Rockström et al. 2009a, 2009b)? Based on proposed theories, how can we date and ascertain the origin of this new era, that is, the beginning of agriculture, the conquest of America, the invention of the steam engine and the edging towards overconsumption during the second wave of globalization? The answers to these questions require that we develop new theories and appropriate new knowledge, but they also concern fundamental issues. Anthropological answers include the links between culture and nature which condition our capacity to address the challenges posed at the risk of relegating humanity to one of its constituent areas (the North, the West, etc.; see Descola 2019). Yet there are also sociological answers, which refer to the relations