Some reflections on human identity in the Anthropocene
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Date
2021
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Abstract
This article observes that both the similar and the dissimilar are of ethical importance in
discourse on human identity. There is a need for a common humanity and to guard against
domination in the name of difference � precisely by recognising the otherness of the other.
This also applies to reflections on what it means to be human in the age of the human, namely
the Anthropocene. A survey is offered of how this tension between the similar and the
dissimilar plays itself out in the work of five theorists, namely Dipesh Chakrabarty, Clive
Hamilton, Dona Harraway, Michel Serres and Kathryn Yusoff. On this basis, six tentative
conclusions are offered: (1) Despite the appropriate ethical emphasis on difference and
otherness, the quest for the universal in the particular cannot be readily abandoned. (2) Such
a sensitivity for the universal in the particular needs to be extended to a recognition of the
way in which an integrated earth system functions. (3) The ethical emphasis on difference and
otherness should be extended to non-human animals. (4) Human dignity and the �integrity of
creation� are not necessarily inversely proportioned. (5) Relations may well have an ontological
priority over individuals. (6) Identity need not be constituted by the distant past or the
immediate presence as if continuity over time forms a guarantee for a sense of identity.
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Keywords
Human identity, Anthropocene, Humanity, Ethical importance, Human dignity
Citation
Conradie, E. M. (2021). Some reflections on human identity in the Anthropocene. HTS Teologiese Studies / Theological Studies, 77(3), a6600 . https://doi.org/10.4102/hts.v77i3.6600