ENLIVENMENT ~ 8 Week Book Circle ~ Monday Nights ~
Melbourne Book Circle: July 2026
ENLIVENMENT, Toward a Poetics for the Anthropocene
by Andreas Weber
A new understanding of the Anthropocene that is based on mutual transformation with nature rather than control over nature.
We have been told that we are living in the Anthropocene, a geological era shaped by humans rather than by nature. In Enlivenment, German philosopher Andreas Weber presents an alternative understanding of our relationship with nature, arguing not that humans control nature but that humans and nature exist in a commons of mutual transformation. There is no nature–human dualism, he contends, because the fundamental dimension of existence is shared in what he calls "aliveness." All subjectivity is intersubjectivity. Self is self-through-other. Seeing all beings in a common household of matter, desire, and imagination, an economy of metabolic and economic transformation, is “enlivenment.”
Who is this for: This reading circle is for people who sense that the ecological crisis is also a crisis of relationship, imagination, and how we relate to life itself. Together, we'll explore Enlivenment as an invitation to move beyond seeing the world as a collection of resources, and towards experiencing it as a living community of which we are a part.
The circle is open to anyone who will do the reading, show up with curiosity, think deeply, and engage respectfully in open dialogue. You don't need to be an academic or an outspoken participant. Whether you contribute through conversation, careful listening, or quiet reflection, your presence will matter. This circle is a space for people willing to question inherited assumptions, cultivate new ways of seeing and are committed to life-giving ways of being together.
What is the format:
8 Book Circles starting Monday, 27 July, 2026
Session 1: Mon, 27 July - 7:ooPM Introduction: A poetics of the real
Session 2: Mon, 3 Aug - 7:ooPM The ideology of death
Session 3: Mon, 10 Aug - 7:ooPM Bioeconomics: the hidden megascience
Session 4: Mon, 17 Aug - 7:ooPM Biopoetics: desiring to be
Session 5: Mon, 24 Aug - 7:ooPM Natural anticapitalism: exchange as reciprocity
Session 6: Mon, 31 Aug - 7:ooPM Commons: inviting the other
Session 7: Mon, 7 Sept - 7:ooPM Poetic objectivity: understanding as being fully alive
Session 8: Mon, 14 Sept - 7:ooPM Culture: imagining the other
Cost: The book circle is free to join. Participants must purchase the book or can arrange to read at Sanders Place.
Questions: email katie@humainities.com