Imaginaries in Crisis: Ethics, Aesthetics, and Care in the Anthropocene

Abstract

The imaginary dimension of the ecosocial crises that compromise the planet’s habitability refers to the set of images, concepts, meanings, and value systems through which we think about these crises and seek to respond to them. Representations are not neutral; they are shaped by modern values—such as unlimited progress, the equivalence between desire and need, the separation between humanity and nature, and technical domination—the consequences of which become critically evident in the context of the Anthropocene. From this perspective, the Anthropocene reveals not only an ecological collapse but also the historical realization and exhaustion of modern values. In this sense, confronting these crises requires new ways of feeling and valuing the world—namely, an anti-modern ethics. With this aim, the ethics and aesthetics of care are presented as affective and moral alternatives capable of imagining new relationships with the living, reconfiguring collective imaginaries from shared vulnerability, which leads to valuing interdependence and sensitivity, thus enabling new forms of responsibility.