Geoengineering as Techno-care: Ethical Issues in/for the Anthropocene

This paper deals with the ecological interpretation of “care” within the Anthropocene framework, which I have called Techno-care My basic assumption is that the Anthropocene equates to more than an aspirant geological epoch: it is the best candidate for becoming the métarécit of our age. In its essence, the Anthropocene does not correspond to the “Age of Man”, but to the epoch in which technology becomes the “subject of history and of nature as well.” Hence the idea that its appropriate name is not Anthropo-cene, but Techno-cene. Concretely, the following pages sketch the Paradox of Omni-responsibility, an ethical paradox emerging within the Anthropocene framework and especially evident in the geoengineering solutions being proposed for ecological problems. I have characterized this oxymoron as techno-care, that is, something that transforms responsibility (and care) into a risk rather than a resource. On this basis, the most significant outcome of the Paradox of Omni-responsibility as techno-care is the undermining of Hans Jonas’ principle/imperative responsibility as a standard for the ecological thought of recent decades. In the conclusion, I suggest the possibility of a Care Imperative as a reply to this undermining.