Beyond the epistemic crisis: A speculative turn for Earth System Science in the Anthropocene

Abstract

Since the mid-1980s, Earth System Science has been developing and consolidating itself as a comprehensive field capable of generating knowledge to address the interconnected crisis system that has come to be known as the Anthropocene. Although it is considered a frontier discipline and has indeed achieved significant epistemological advances, its boundaries and developmental prospects remain limited and confined to the epistemological dimension, leaving its underlying metaphysical foundation hidden and unacknowledged. This analysis reveals how these foundational assumptions limit ESS’s capacity to address interconnected Anthropocene crises. It demonstrates how contemporary speculative philosophy, especially approaches that dissolve the nature-culture dichotomy through concepts of hybrid agency, could transform ESS’s theoretical foundations. The paper develops key elements for a Speculative Philosophy of Earth Systems (SPES) that rethinks ESS’s basic categories while preserving its scientific rigor. SPES emerges not as replacement but as necessary evolution – one that enables ESS to better grapple with the complex realities of a planet where ecological and social systems are inextricably intertwined.