The Geoethical Semiosis of the Anthropocene: The Peircean Triad for a Reconceptualization of the Relationship between Human Beings and Environment

This article seeks to reconcile, as well as operationalize, two different methodological approaches on the basis of some important basic affinities: geoethics and Peircean semiotics. For this purpose, Peirce’s triangle is conceived as a “translator mechanism” to parse the human–planet relationship that cannot be dealt with through actions in pairs but must be considered as a triadic relationship in which geoethics comes into play to develop a new relationship between human beings and environment. Following this, the triangle heuristic will employ the vertices Geoethics–Illness of the Earth–Society as a metaphor of the Anthropocene era through the lens of Peircean semiotics. This triangle method will help investigate some research questions: (1) Is planet illness an icon, index, or a symbol of the negative impact of the society? (2) When do we encounter environmental phenomena constituting images of planet illness? (3) What is the salient perspective from which to study the phenomenon of the Anthropocene? In discussing these issues, the authors call into play the concept of noosphere and propose a new ethical framework guiding human behavior toward the environment.