History of Science and History of the Earth in the Anthropocene

The debate on the Anthropocene, a geological epoch marked by human technology as a driving force of geo-transformation, prompts the history of science to rethink itself in coordination with other disciplines that deal with the scientific phenome- non at a reflexive meta-level. This article discusses the various levels of such a reflection, beginning with the question of the stratigraphic evidence of the Anthropocene. A second level is historiographic: how should we rewrite history starting from a geological view- point according to which natural contexts can no longer be assumed as immovable and inexhaustible backgrounds of social processes? The third level concerns historical episte- mology, that is, the question of the intertwining of genesis, validity and functions of sci- entific conceptions co-opted in the anthropic transformation of the world. The conclusion points, as a fourth level, to the role of a sustained reflection on science in political theory and practice.