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Washington and Lee University School of Law
Washington and Lee Journal of Energy, Climate, and the Environment
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Vulnerability And Power In The Age Of The Anthropocene, Angela P. Harris
Vulnerability And Power In The Age Of The Anthropocene, Angela P. Harris
Washington and Lee Journal of Energy, Climate, and the Environment
Feminist legal theorist Martha Fineman has suggested that recognition of universal human “vulnerability” should be the starting point for thinking about the state’s obligations to its citizens. This Article argues that Fineman’s concept of vulnerability is valuable for situating political and legal theory within a concern for the natural world. We live in what some scientists have dubbed the Anthropocene—an age in which our collective behavior has serious implications for the flourishing of all life on earth. The concept of “ecological vulnerability” recognizes that humans are vulnerable not only because they age, become ill, and die, but because their survival …