Herodotus in the Anthropocene

Joel Alden Schlosser. (2020). Chicago: Chicago University Press.   

Schlosser argues that Herodotus’ methods of inquiry in the Histories, which, although far predating the Anthropocene, are a worthy model of how to explore and relate to the world that modern readers can and should employ when discussing the current environmental crisis. The focus is on the Nomos, which is defined as the ‘patterns or orders of collective life including both humans and nonhumans’ (p. 5). Following Herodotus, the chapters of this book fall into two categories: what (chapters 1, 3, 5) and how (chapters 2, 4). Chapters 1, 3, and 5 comprise the ‘what’, which focusses on the different forces impacting politics, on the role of the Nomos, which Schlosser translates as ‘practice’ rather than ‘law’ or ‘custom’, in Herodotus’ political theory, and on the concepts of freedom and earthly flourishing. Chapters 2 and 4 in turn comprise the ‘how’, which focusses on how Herodotus locates and moves through his inquiries, and on the role of storytelling as a way of creating responses from his readers.

Example quotation

Although Herodotus praises deliberative and inclusive political practices, these cannot guarantee success; rather, they create conditions for negotiating the inevitable shifts and fluctuations entailed by living in a world marked by dynamic complexity. Human beings can pursue freedom through practices of equality; freedom names the human component of flourishing that Herodotus puts in an earthly, planetary context.

(p.7)