Abstract

This chapter aims to explore the characteristics of contemporary ecological self-awareness through a phenomenological hermeneutic approach and to answer the following questions: What motivates the emergence of ecological self-awareness, eco-conscious behavior, and their implied acts? What are the presuppositions of these approaches? This chapter follows the hypothesis that current environmental issues are not only a matter of our response to the physical changes of the planet, but also to the development of Western thought. The first part of the chapter explains what kind of break occurred during the transition from modernity to the Anthropocene. Modernity most radically realized the tendency of Western thought: nature and animals were reduced to resources. This was determined by the peculiar self-awareness of modernity in which human activity was grounded in reflexivity and control. The Anthropocene is a turning point in self-awareness. The human of modernity has defined itself as an exceptional being whose essence consists of spirit, reason, and the power to plan and control. In the Anthropocene, the opposite definitions are formed in terms of unpredictable consequences, material traces, waste, and pollution. This chapter analyzes the self-awareness of humanity as a geological force and as a species. The second part of the chapter focuses on theoretical debates that question the concept of the human. The criticism of the anthropological difference presents an image of a de-centered human. The final part focuses on the experience of nature’s vulnerability. Using Edward Casey’s description of experiencing damaged nature, it is explained why the experience of nature’s vulnerability is one of the most significant motives and what kind of responsibility arises in the experience. The peculiar self-awareness of the Anthropocene epoch – in which the human is a culprit – is marked, which points not to humanity’s indifference as a geological force, but to the search for a suitable relationship with the environment and with oneself.