After the harrowing experience of the pandemic and lockdown, both states and individuals have been searching for ways to exit the crisis, many hoping to return as soon as possible to 'the world as it was before the pandemic'. But there is another way to learn the lessons of this ordeal: as inhabitants of the earth, we may not be able to exit lockdown so easily after all, since the global health crisis is embedded in another larger and more serious crisis - that brought about by the New Climate Regime. Learning to live in lockdown might be an opportunity to be seized: a dress-rehearsal for the climate mutation, an opportunity to understand at last where we - inhabitants of the earth - live, what kind of place 'earth' is and how we will be able to orient ourselves and exist in this world in the years to come. We might finally be able to explore the land in which we live, together with all other living beings, begin to understand the true nature of the climate mutation we are living through and discover what kind of freedom is possible - a freedom differently situated and differently understood.

In this sequel to his bestselling book Down to Earth, Bruno Latour provides a compass for this necessary re-orientation of our lives, outlining the metaphysics of confinement and deconfinement with which we will all be obliged to come to terms by the strange times in which we are living.

About the Author
Bruno Latour's transdisciplinary work, ranging across philosophy, history, anthropology and sociology, has positioned him as one of the world's most influential thinkers. After teaching at the Ecole des Mines in Paris from 1982 to 2006, he was appointed Professor at the Institut d'etudes politiques (Sciences Po), where he served as vice-president for research from 2007 to 2013. His many books include Laboratory Life, We Have Never Been Modern, Facing Gaia and Down to Earth.

Reviews

"astonishing meditation"
New York Times

"In After Lockdown, the French philosopher and anthropologist Bruno Latour takes a more radical stance. With the current pandemic we experience a dress-rehearsal for what climate change has in store, he thinks. So, we'd better learn to re-orient ourselves and take stock of our lives. For that, we need a new compass, an entirely different cosmology, he claims - different, that is, from the metaphysics which provides the basic conceptual framework of most modern thought."
The Montreal Review

"In After Lockdown: A Metamorphosis, Bruno Latour explores how the experience of lockdown during the COVID-19 pandemic has led us to better understand our connections with other living beings, in ways that might be conducive to confronting our climate crisis. This book will be of interest to anyone wanting to explore the philosophical meanings of lockdowns, Gaia theories and climate politics."
LSE Review of Books

"a novel and important contribution"
Journal of Ecohumanism

"Readers new to Latour will find this book intriguing and relevant, an eminently useful introduction to his approach to social science... [a] provocative and beautiful book..."
Social Forces

Book Information
ISBN 9781509550029
Author Bruno Latour
Format Paperback
Page Count 180
Imprint Polity Press
Publisher John Wiley and Sons Ltd
Weight(grams) 204g
Dimensions(mm) 216mm * 140mm * 10mm