The World Unbound: Rethinking Subjectivism in the Anthropocene

The Anthropocene does not only mark a transformation in the relationship between humanity and nature: it challenges the very foundations of modern subjectivism. Modernity has elevated the subject to an ordering principle, separating it from the world and marginalizing everything that exceeds consciousness. From Descartes to Husserl, the subject has stood as the guarantor of meaning, while science and technology have consolidated its power. Yet this pact today shows its fragility: the Anthropocene reveals that the claimed autonomy of the subject is an artifice, exposing the vulnerability hidden behind the illusion of mastery. In light of the current ecological crisis, the paper retraces the trajectory of modern subjectivism through the perspective of some eminent interpreters – from Weber to Latour – showing how the Anthropocene delivers an “unbound” world that compels us to rethink ontological categories beyond the nature/culture dichotomy.