Planetary Idealism stages an unlikely encounter between German Idealism and concerns over the environmental impact of new technology. Under contract with Stanford University Press, it takes its cue from Dipesh Chakrabarty’s suggestion that “If Hegel were alive to plumb the depths of our sense of the present, he would notice an awareness of the planet and of its geobiological history.” While this awareness is often traced back to twentieth century technological developments like GPS or cybernetics, this book uncovers an understanding of the reciprocal determination of nature and technical media already at the end of the eighteenth century. Turning to writings from Hegel, Goethe, Schelling, Novalis, and Hölderlin, Planetary Idealism explores how this incipient awareness of the intercalation of technics and the environment provokes an early effort to develop modes of inhabiting the planet that might withstand the rising tide of the Anthropocene.
If Hegel were alive to plumb the depths of our sense of the present, he would notice an awareness of the planet and of its geobiological history.
Dipesh Chakrabarty