Researching Ecological Marxism By Philosophical Hermeneutics

Ecological Marxism originating from the 1970s is a new trend in contemporary western Marxism research, which is a theoretical rethinking and construction with the uprising of problems from ecological environment and the protection of green environment. From the perspective of reality, Ecological Marxism is a must considering the response from the Marxism for the ecological environment problem on the earth. However, in the light of the time Marx and Engels live in, the problem from ecological environment has not been so sharp and universal, the ecological theory has also not been truly built like today. Thus, it cannot be said that the Ecological Marxism thoughts in contemporary ecological philosophy are all based on the text from Marx and Engels, or the tradition of Marxism. How the Ecological Marxism can be constructed, and how the Marx and Engels’s great thinking can be found and developed fruitfully in the meaning of ecological philosophy, which is said to be a theoretical position for ecological Marxism. In this present paper, we are trying to make an answer in a dimension.When deepening into contemporary Ecological Marxism’s contents and features named by us, wholly analyzing their thoughts’ gradual development, it is found that from Marxism to Ecological Marxism is actually an process of interpretation, which not only covers the concepts and theories in the text from Marx and Engels, invents some ones relevant to them, but also is required by the development of the society. What is needed mostly is that the interpretation of Ecological Marxism should take the problems that have never occurred in Marx and Engels’ thoughts or their social environment into the logic framework of Marxism. It is certain that this work has to make a breakthrough the original meaning from Marx and Engels’ thoughts, but also is a sort of inventive development, which in a certain way has a link to the methodological framework of philosophical hermeneutics. For the philosophical hermeneutics in itself mainly focuses on uncovering the inner integrity of a theory or thought in the process of development and being fruitful. Thus, from the perspective of philosophical hermeneutics, it is a better way to regard the theoretical construction of Ecological Marxism, to analyze the relations between ecological philosophy and Marxism, and further combing clearly Ecological Marxism’s legal and border line as a sort of Marxism. Specifically, in the process of construction of Ecological Marxism, two dimentions can be found in the interpretation of the text from Marx and Engels, and the traditional thoughts of Marxism, which have a link respectively with Paul Ricoeur’s metaphor hermeneutics and Hans-Georg Gadamer’s dialectical hermeneutics:Firstly, it focuses on the ecological philosophy interpretation for the original thoughts of Marx and Engels, which means combing the contemporary ecological environment problem to make an interpretation of ecological philosophy with the concept and thoughts in Marx and Engels’s text, such as:nature, relations between the human being and nature, influences from the human being’s practical activity. Reasons for the way of understanding reflecting a way of metaphor is for that a theoretical presupposition is found when Ecological Marxism interprets the basic concepts form the context from Marx and Engels, which means some necessary elements from Marx and Engels’text can be taken as some expressions of ecological philosophy, or these concepts can be some concepts for ecological philosophy. Further, Ecological Marxism takes Marx and Engels’relevant thoughts into a certain ecological context, and makes it to be a source of ecological metaphor by the transferring of context. Thus, the "concept of nature"," the theory of technology", and "the theory of alienation" are all taken as the thoughts of Ecological Marxism. The interpretation of metaphor is taken as the guarantee of their transfer which means with the transfer of context to make a deep understanding of Marx and Engels’text to produce new ecological philosophy connotation to get an ecologicalized Marx’s thoughts.Secondly, to take Marxism to be a tradition brought by Marx, regard it as a philosophical position and a thinking approach, and employ it in the normal form in ecological philosophy. The way of interpretation reflects Hans-Georg Gadamer’s principle of "the dialectical hermeneutics", which means to take the world we are in as the standing point to search for the fusion between Marxism and contemporary ecological philosophy, meanwhile, with the "effective history" consciousness to analyze the possibility of Marxism to rethink of and respond to contemporary ecological environment problem. In the approach of interpretation, the ecological Marxism actually takes Marxism as a certain thinking normal form and value position, in the analysis of the whole society and the judge for the future development to abstract the enlightenment for contemporary ecological philosophy. In another word, ecological Marxism is the result of fusion of Marxism and ecological philosophy. With the understanding of the nature and ecology in the process of human being’s practices, the Marxism as the core of practical life must lead to the way of natural ecological "effective history", that is, with the deep understanding of natural ecology in the process of human being’s practices, the Marxism philosophy taking practice as its core must expand to a theoretical focus of ecological environment problems, which is the realistic condition in the process of construction of ecological Marxism.To employ the philosophy hermeneutics to comb the thoughts of ecological Marxism can make Marx and Engels’ thoughts clear and find the true value of Marxism’s position in contemporary ecological philosophy to get the thinking approach and way of construction of ecological Marxism, which is also a necessary for searching for the legal base for ecological Marxism, and afford more protection for the positive meaning of Marxism in the natural ecological dimension.