Towards A Fifth Ontology For The Anthropocene

Ontological pluralism's search for answers in difference displays an admirable respect for other cultures and ways of doing things. Guilt and atonement are the proper sentiments when confronted with enormous crimes, but they are a poor guide to how humankind should understand and respond to the Anthropocene. The ontological shifts that accompany the most profound events in the history of any civilisation take time. The play between technology and ontologies, subtle as it is, does not come to terms with the profound shift represented by the advent of the new epoch. A fifth ontology will provide a structure of ideas to explain and give meaning to the mood of the Anthropocene epoch. It begins from acceptance that catastrophic human failure has shifted the Earth onto a new trajectory, one on which the planet is unstable, uncontrollable and much less sympathetic to life.