What I take from Isabelle Stengers is cosmopolitics. It turns the question of who apprehends from a problem of knowledge into a problem of political design.
How the word moved
She came into my writing in February 2026, in The Planetary Steward, when I'd had enough of fretting over what an elephant or a forest really apprehends.
In my words
"This reframes the question of “who apprehends” from a problem of knowledge to a problem of political engineering."
from The Planetarity Syllabus. Governing the Planet, Part 3: The Planetary Steward, 26 Feb 2026
Related
- Related Planetary Philosophy - she helps widen the circle of apprehenders.
- Related Multispecies Justice - forums where nonhuman voices get heard.
- Related Apprehension - who apprehends is her question as much as mine.