Lieven De Cauter is a Flemish philosopher, writer, poet, and professor. His work delves into a wide spectrum of cultural and philosophical topics, often focusing on deeper societal and artistic questions. De Cauter explores modern thought and its impact on contemporary society through insightful essays and literary works. His distinctive writing style is recognized for its intellectual depth and its ability to bridge various disciplines.
Exploring the concept of an "entropic empire," the author examines the current global crises, including climate change and political unrest. He contrasts the "state of exception" (tyranny) with the "state of nature" (anarchy), suggesting that these opposing forces shape our chaotic world. Blending post-historical sci-fi with philosophical inquiry, the book raises critical questions about humanity's trajectory and whether we are regressing into a prehistorical state. De Cauter challenges readers to consider the implications of our planetary state of emergency.
In this book, activist philosopher and philosophical activist Lieven De Cauter investigates the idea that if we want to avoid collapse, we have to end the Anthropocene - the geological era of the gigantic, devastating impact of our species on planet Earth. It might even be, he argues, that the collapse of our current, growth-maximizing system is the only hope for the biosphere. Offering case studies on urban activism alongside more general reflections on civic action and social movements, De Cauter moves from the political melancholy caused by the near certainty of climate disaster and meditations on the end of "the Age of Man", towards reflections on more hopeful events of our times, like the resurgence of the commons. He hails the rediscovery of this forgotten and excluded third besides public and private, arguing it contains the seeds of another worldview and another politics. From this new perspective identity and heterotopia, other spaces as places for otherness, can be read in a new light. This collection of writings closes with texts on the corona crisis. Biopolitics, the care for the life of the population by the state, has gained a new topicality in this age of pandemics. The mix of philosophical, theoretical texts and newspaper articles make for a broadly accessible, exciting book of activist essays, in accordance with the basic creed of its author: "pessimism in theory, optimism in practice". Even if geologists are not quite sure when the Anthropocene has begun, it is high time to end it
Particularly since September 11, the War on Terrorism and the war in Iraq, it has been almost impossible to dissociate architecture from its social context. Add to this the massive influence of capitalism on architecture, disturbing demographic developments and associated political, social, and ecological catastrophes, and the result is a robotic snapshot of a society dominated by fear, exclusion and simulation. Lieven De Cauter, a leading theoretician on the subject of capsularisation, has worked over the past six years on the essays and articles contained in this book, and has documented and analyzed our changing societies before and after 9/11. For the first time, the link between the global economy, demographic changes, world terror and the role played by the United States under the Bush admisinstration, are examined in detail in a single publication. De Cauter sketches a realistic and alarming account of the new world order that is an everyday concern for the architects and planners of the contemporary city as well as for its inhabitants and users.
