Join the Notre Dame Institute for Advanced Study for a Masterclass given by NDIAS Graduate Fellow Makella Brems (Ph.D. candidate, Political Science) entitled "Embracing Anthropocentrism: an Arendtian Approach to Ecological Crises." 

Human activity currently overshoots several critical planetary boundaries. To secure a livable future, some (environmentalists) determine that we must pursue “degrowth.” Others (ecomodernists) determine that we ought to “decouple” from nature so we can continue pursuing growth. Environmentalists regard decoupling as technologically infeasible; ecomodernists deem degrowth politically infeasible. Both have a point: Neither our politics nor our technology seem up to the task. We thus find ourselves trapped in a “paradox of power and helplessness,” in which we possess the ability to destroy the earthly conditions we need to survive but lack the technological capacity to replace them or the political will to restore them. In this masterclass, Brems searches for a way out of this trap, seeking new directions from Hannah Arendt’s The Human Condition. 

If you plan to attend, please RSVP here. Refreshments will be provided.