Fine della civilizzazione? Il cambiamento climatico e il progresso umano

The idea of civilization is deeply linked with the idea of progress, that is the enhancement of culture and the invention of new cultural practices. However, climate change seems to be a serious threat to human civilization. The concept of Anthropocene clearly shows that climate change is the outcome of the pervasive spreading of human progress. On one side, some established naturalistic evolutionary approaches affirm that being able of intentional cooperation and invention is the core of ‘human nature’. On the other side, posthumanism finds the antidote to the dangers of climate change in some kind of overcoming of human nature. Acknowledged the unfeasibility of the posthuman proposal, a revision of the naturalistic and evolutionary view of human nature will be provided. Such a revision is grounded in the work of Charles Darwin himself and in the sentimentalist approach of Scottish Enlightenment thinkers such as David Hume and Adam Smith.