After Exploitation

A revolution is taking place in the sciences and the arts, but the general public is barely aware of it. In his new book, Kocku von Stuckrad describes this revolution as a “relational turn” that no longer sees humans as masters of the world, but rather integrates them into a complex network of relationships with the nonhuman world. Instead of perpetuating the separation of culture from nature, subject from object, and mind from matter—a separation that stems from the European tradition—von Stuckrad moves beyond understandings of umwelt (German for “the world around us”) and develops the outlines of a mitwelt ethics (literally, an ethics for the “world we’re with”) that considers human and nonhuman beings as equals in their knowledge and relations to the world. Only in this way can we break out of what the author calls the “exploitation regimes” of patriarchy, capitalism, and colonialism that have brought the planet to the brink of collapse. The book formulates concrete future perspectives for a flourishing and respectful human relationship with the earth, in which scientific, artistic, and political-legal innovations come together consistently and programmatically. In overcoming the colonial plundering of the planet, non-European and Indigenous traditions of world relations take on special significance, as do holistic European traditions, such as Romanticism, which reject human fantasies of domination and advocate a relational approach to the nonhuman world. The important role of art, literature, and spirituality in shaping a world ‘after exploitation’ is also conveyed in other elements of the book: von Stuckrad uses personal vignettes and poetic mitwelt words to create ways of communicating that go beyond factual information and support readers on their journey through the relational turn. Originally published in German in 2024 (Nach der Ausbeutung/Europa Verlag), this book has already proven itself essential reading for all those interested in explanations and solutions to climate change, human relationships with the more-than-human world, the role of art and literature in scientific and social transformation, and global and environmental justice in general. The English translation will surely find a place on course reading lists as well as on the shelves of activists and policy-makers.