| At the beginning of the 21 st century,the severe ecological crisis has not yet been resolved,and the haze of the financial crisis has superimposed.The intertwining of ecological crisis and financial crisis has brought more severe challenges to human survival.What is the root of the problem,how to get rid of the double crisis that restricts the dilemma of human development,and seek for a true reconciliation of the contradictions between man and nature,and between man and man.This is a topic of the times and a historical responsibility that every scholar must shoulder.To answer the question of today’s era,it is not enough to limit the theoretical perspective of natural ecology.Only by taking the dual dimensions of natural ecology and social ecology to understand the crux of today’s crisis,can we take a comprehensive view of the overall situation,and then we can solve the problem.John Bellamy Foster,as a leading figure active on the stage of ecological Marxism,is well-known both at home and abroad in the spirit of intensive cultivation of Marx’s texts and by deeply exploring the ecological dimension of Marx’s materialism.Throughout Foster’s recent ideological development,he did not stop at academic achievements in the field of natural ecology and stood still.As a prolific scholar who is good at grasping the pulse of the times and resonating with the times,his ecological thinking is gradually turning to society Ecological field.Any thought originates from the thought of the times,but also from the inheritance and development of predecessors’ thoughts.Foster’s ecological thought is inseparable from the living background.In the past,the hometown of birds,flowers,and mountains and rivers was turned into a smoky mountain under the sway of industrial civilization.This woke up Foster,who focused on the economic crisis,and began to focus his theoretical perspective on the relationship between man and nature.At the time,academics’ discussions on ecological issues were described as benevolent and wise.From Foster’s point of view,because they adhere to the old materialistic thinking model of the dual opposition between entity and subject,man and nature on the basis of philosophy,they can never reach the key of ecological problems.He listened to the voice of the times and formed a unique ecological thought in the collision with other people’s thoughts.In the field of ecology,some Western scholars believe that Marx has an empty field of ecological thought.They even regard Marx as an anti-ecological thinker of "economic determinism" and "technical universalism." Foster tries to defend Marx;he believes that ecological thought is implicit in Marx’s theory,and Marx has never abandoned the ecological care for man and nature.Therefore,he decided to return to the source of Marx’s materialist thought and deeply explore the ecological dimension of Marx’s materialist thought.By looking back on the development of Marxist materialism,Foster believes that in Marx’s high evaluation of Epicurus and Feuerbach’s materialism,the materialistic nature view has always reflected the ecological care of man and nature.He also believes that Marx’s practical materialism has never abandoned the concept of nature in the sense of materialist ontology,and the materialistic view of nature has always echoed in Marx’s works.In the carding of Marx’s natural ecological thoughts mainly around "Capital",Foster discovered a vital concept-"metabolism break",and attributed the root of the opposition between man and nature to the logic of capital,thus unfolding The anti-ecological critique of capitalist production has broken through the false veils of the myths of science and technology,natural capitalization,and market universalism.According to Foster,the root of the ecological crisis is the logic of capital,and it is difficult to bridge the gap between man and nature without abandoning the capitalist system.In recent years,while focusing on natural ecological issues,Foster has gradually focused on the study of social issues,and further advanced and developed the Marxist critical theory of political economy.By examining the expansion of the subjectivity of financial capital in monopoly capitalism,he asserted that the development of capitalism has entered the "monopoly financial capital stage." At this stage,because capital is still the basic system of the era,the nature of capital’s unlimited pursuit of surplus value has not changed.The infiltration of financial capital into all aspects of social life has brought about an unusual crisis.A series of economic and social problems such as slow global economic development,severe polarization,inflation of monopoly financial capital,and widening of the gap between North and South development,have caused the whole economy to fall into a stagnation-financialization trap.Foster is keenly aware that stagnation and financialization have a symbiotic relationship.Monopoly capitalism’s dependence on financialization is just like the addict cannot do without drugs.Economic development fluctuates with the rise and fall of capital financialization.In recent years,Foster ’s work has been constantly reinventing around monopoly financial capital,and has conducted in-depth research on issues such as “stagnation—the financial trap”,neoliberalism and monopoly capital,the crisis of capitalism and social democracy,and the revival of socialism,Formed a clear structure,strict logic,a complete framework of social ecological ideas.Based on the dual dimensions of time and space,and combing Foster’s natural and social ecological ideas according to the main line of capital logic,on the one hand,it presents the theoretical contributions of Foster’s ecological Marxist ideas,and also attempts to base on historical materialism The theory highly examines the shortcomings of Foster’s ecological Marxist ideas,with a view to providing theoretical reference for China to properly deal with human and nature and human-to-human issues on the road to the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.In our opinion,Foster’s ecological Marxist thoughts have made important contributions in countering Western scholars’ accusations of Marx’s lack of ecological thought dimensions and presenting Marx’s rich ecological thoughts.However,there are still a series of misunderstandings and limitations of Romanticism in the philosophical basis of Marx’s ecological thought,the systematization and thoroughness of his reflection on "economic stagnation-financial trap" and the reality of his economic and social ecological construction plan.This article is mainly based on Marxist philosophy,and in the review of Foster’s related works,it focuses on the categories of "philosophical foundation","natural ecological thinking",and "social ecological thinking".The full text is divided into six chapters.The first chapter explains the background and development of Foster’s ecological Marxism.Philosophy is a reflection on the problems of the times.While industrial civilization is pushing the wheel of history forward,its "anti-natural" nature puts mankind in an uprooted survival crisis.The harsh ecological reality is the living soil for the formation of Foster’s ecological thought.At the same time,in the face of the deterioration of the ecological environment,scholars have given various explanations from different perspectives,and Foster’s ecological Marxism was born out of collision with other theories.While tracking the issues of the times,Foster’s theoretical focus is not only limited to natural ecology,but also concerned with social ecology.In other words,with the emergence of the problems of the times,Foster’s ecological thinking is also developing and deepening.The second chapter explains that Foster,after diagnosing the theoretical dilemma of contemporary ecological thoughts,points out that Marx’s practical materialism contains the ecological power to reconcile the contradictions between man and nature.In order to prove that Marx and ecology are not a simple grafting of two unfamiliar fields,and there are rich ecological thoughts hidden in Marx’s materialism,he decided to find Marx’s concern for nature from the source.For this reason,from Epicurean’s natural materialism to Feuerbach’s humanistic materialism,he believes that in Marx’s practical materialism,natural materialism in the sense of ontology has never been absent.The third chapter mainly elaborates Foster’s natural ecological thought.The core category of Foster’s ecological thought-"metabolic fracture",is mainly concentrated in the field of natural ecology.From the concept of labor in Marx’s "Capital",he sees that the capitalist mode of production has an irreparable metabolic crack between man and nature,city and countryside.Following the category of "metabolic fracture",Marx’s natural ecology thoughts are outlined.Apply Marx’s ecological thinking to explain the actual ecological problems,and deeply point out that the capital logic is the economic root of the ecological crisis,and the capitalist system is the system root of the ecological crisis.It does not sublate capital logic,does not eradicate the capitalist system,and any solution to ecological problems They are undoubtedly abandoning everything.The fourth chapter discusses Foster’s social ecology thoughts about "people and people".After the 1970 s,a large amount of capital could not find effective investment space in the real economy,resulting in economic surplus.Keynesianism,which was regarded as a panacea by oligopoly,also lost its charm,and neoliberalism took the throne of theory.The main characteristics of neoliberalism bailout are economic financialization and financial virtualization.However,due to the unrestrained proliferation of financial derivatives,the virtual economy bypassed the real economy and continued to expand.As a result,the financial bubble burst and "stagnation" became an economic phenomenon in this period.Based on the trap of "stagnation-financialization",Foster deeply dissected the monopoly capitalist society and pointedly pointed out that the logic of financial capital is the source of social division.The fifth chapter is a summary of Foster’s overall thought contribution,mainly focusing on the excavation of Marx’s ecological thought from materialism to prove the natural origin of Marx and ecological thought.Based on Marx’s practice of materialism,he criticized both contemporary ecological and natural crises.On the basis of critique of the financial capital logic and the capitalist system,Foster has always adhered to the Marxist position.The sixth chapter is based on Marxism to examine the theoretical limitations of Foster’s ecological thought.Using Marxism to observe Foster’s ecological thought,it is found that he is still stuck in the binary opposition between man and nature at the foundation of philosophy.Baja’s humanistic materialism is simply interpreted as a more intuitive naturalism,and he is destined to be unable to dialogue with Marx.At the same time,in the critique of financial capital,due to the destructive over-focusing of financial capital,Marx’s affirmation of capital logic is concealed.When exploring the social plan of the ecological revolution,due to the influence of subjective and objective factors,his ecological thoughts appear to be too idealistic and abstract. |
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