Eugenio Luciano

Eugenio is an interdisciplinary historian and philosopher of science and Anthropocene researcher. He is currently a visiting scholar at the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science and a fixed-term researcher at the University of Iceland, Faculty of Food Science and Nutrition, collaborating with Prof. Ólafur Ögmundarson on the ethics of vegan diets and superfoods. Eugenio defended his doctoral degree in history and philosophy of science from the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (Rachel Carson Center) in 2022. Eugenio’s research interests are found at the intersection of history and philosophy of science, history and philosophy of geology, theoretical stratigraphy, historical epistemology, and Anthropocene studies. 

Eugenio’s current research investigates the origins, scientific evidence, and debate gravitating around the Anthropocene Hypothesis—a recent proposal advocating for formal recognition of an “Anthropocene” as a distinct unit of time in the Geologic Time Scale / International Chronostratigraphic Chart. His research looks at the history of the Anthropocene hypothesis by surveying early research literature (2000–2009) through corpus-based analysis and by exploring the institutionalization of the hypothesis through the Anthropocene Working Group (AWG). Furthermore, the research surveys and critically discusses the empirical body (i.e. stratigraphic markers), methodology (e.g. GSSP, stratigraphic classification), epistemic properties (e.g. explanatory power, intelligibility, utility), and debate surrounding the hypothesis. The research ultimately aims to connect history and philosophy of science, philosophy of geology, epistemology, and stratigraphy to delineate a thorough profile of the Anthropocene as a scientific idea.