Attunement and the Sense of Significance in Dianthropocene Life

Abstract

The concept of the Anthropocene rightly points to the damaging effects of human agency on ecosystems and the climate. In this article, I argue that the agency of nature nonetheless continues to play a central role on the human sense of significance. For this purpose, I introduce and discuss the Danish philosopher-theologian K.E. Løgstrup's concept of attunement and show how attunement constitutes a relationship between humans and nature through which a sense of fellowship, rather than hostility, springs. This section is divided into two parts. The first part outlines the elementary features to Løgstrup's argument in his philosophy of sensation, while the second part elaborates on his concept of attunement. It is argued that Løgstrup's philosophy of sensation and attunement describes what I call sovereign conditions of life that are continuously at work in midst of the Anthropocene. Subsequently, two empirical cases are applied to illustrate how attunement is operative in experiences of agency in nature. In conclusion, I propose the concept of the Dianthropocene as a tool for rediscovering the mutual ‘throughput’ circulations between human and more-than-human agency.