Ecological Implication Of Historical Materialism

As an important representative of ecological Marxism with the philosophical standpoint of anthropocentrism,Jonathan Hughes,a British scholar,faced with the western "dark green" trend of thought and the questioning and criticism of ecological Marxism on historical materialism,based on the classic text of Marx and Engels,with the help of the theoretical method of Analytical Marxism,It reveals the ecology of historical materialism from a deep level and makes a strong theoretical response to the misunderstanding and criticism faced by historical materialism.Jonathan Hughes’ s ecological Marxism theory takes historical materialism as a normative interpretation framework.On the basis of revealing the ecological dimension of historical materialism,it proposes to apply historical materialism as an ecological method to the solution of ecological crisis.Different from other British Ecological Marxists,Jonathan Hughes pays more attention to the fundamental significance of the basic principles of historical materialism for the understanding of the root causes and path opening of the ecological crisis.In particular,Hughes attached great importance to the contradiction between productivity and production relations,which made him not only stay at the abstract level of practical assumptions in solving ecological problems like many ecological socialists.On the contrary,he jumped out of the idealized circle of previous ecological Marxist research in the construction of future ecological society,and put forward the ecological problem solving path in line with the Marxist paradigm-"ecological development of productive forces" and "satisfaction of human real needs" with the logical approach of "from reality to the future".Jonathan Hughes’ investigation of "ecological development of productivity" and "satisfaction of human real needs" is not just a theoretical assumption.From the content structure presented in his text,Hughes is based on the actual situation of productivity development and the alienation of real needs at the current stage of human society,This paper tentatively puts forward the theoretical ideas and practical methods that human beings should actively adopt for ecological problems.Objectively speaking,Jonathan Hughes not only realized the ecological defense of historical materialism in the way of "practical materialism",but also applied this way to the realistic solution of ecological crisis.This is also the most distinctive theoretical feature that Jonathan Hughes’ s ecological Marxism is different from other ecological Marxism theories.Starting with the definition of the category of "ecological problems",Jonathan Hughes focuses on the theoretical value of historical materialism theory and historical materialism method to ecological problems,and makes it clear that the root essence of ecological problems lies in capitalist system and capitalist mode of production from the perspective of class analysis.Secondly,Jonathan Hughes explained the destructiveness of the generalized anthropocentrism thinking mode and the unreal nature of the ecocentrism thinking mode by comprehensively investigating the two thinking modes of anthropocentrism and ecocentrism,On this premise,it is clear that the solution of ecological problems must be based on the "real" Anthropocentrism with "man society nature" as a whole in the context of Marxist theory.Thirdly,starting from the analysis method of historical materialism and with the help of the classic texts of Marx and Engels,Jonathan Hughes responded to and criticized Malthusian and Malthusian population theory;At the same time,through the interpretation of the "three ecological principles" of historical materialism on the relationship between man and nature,this paper makes a theoretical response to the anti ecological interpretation of "ecological fracture theory" and "production process theory" of historical materialism by western scholars represented by Ted Benton.Finally,after a comprehensive investigation and interpretation of the basic problems,Jonathan Hughes made a normative functional interpretation of the productivity theory of historical materialism by using the theoretical resources of Analytical Marxism-the revolutionary effect of productivity development: promoting effect and breaking effect,which showed the independent trend of the ecological development of productivity,And the dialectical relationship between this independent trend and the satisfaction of human "real needs".In short,in the path of solving the ecological crisis,Hughes paid particular attention to the internal ecological logic in the independent trend of productivity development,and stressed that on the basis of meeting the "real needs" of mankind in different historical stages,under the framework of the socialist system,through the ecological development of productivity to meet the real needs of mankind,so as to fundamentally solve the ecological problems.Jonathan Hughes’ Ecological Marxism,as an important representative theory of the school of ecological Marxism,has very practical theoretical commonality with the construction of ecological civilization of socialism with Chinese characteristics.In particular,Hughes’ s "ecological development of productive forces" theory and "real needs" theory have important enlightenment and reference significance for developing ecological productive forces in the new era and meeting the needs of the people for a better life.From the perspective of historical materialism,in the actual process of economic and social development,we can neither pursue economic growth on the basis of destroying the environment like economic centrism,nor talk about ecological and environmental protection divorced from the reality of social development like ecological centrism.The important problem is how to achieve the organic unity of economic and social development and ecological and environmental protection,and fundamentally solve the opposition between ecology and economy.At present,the development of ecological productivity in capitalist countries is essentially the result of capital innovation.In essence,it still takes the pursuit of profit maximization as the fundamental logic,so it is fundamentally contrary to ecological civilization.For the ecological development of productive forces,China has neither ready-made theories to follow nor successful experience to learn from.Among them,"how to develop ecological productivity under the condition of socialist market economy" will be the primary problem we face.Jonathan Hughes’ relevant thoughts in this regard provide some ideas for us to explore and answer this question.In addition,socialism with Chinese characteristics has entered a new era,and the needs of the people have risen from "growing material and cultural needs" to "growing needs for a better life".Needless to repeat,whether from the perspective of connotation or extension,"the need for a better life" is much richer and broader than "material and cultural needs".There is no doubt that the people’s growing need for a better life must be a "real need",and the people’s "real need" must include "ecological need".In this sense,the satisfaction of "ecological needs" will greatly promote the satisfaction of "people’s growing needs for a better life".This enlightens us that we must be based on the "real needs" of the people at this stage,start with the problem of unbalanced and insufficient development,and try to solve this pair of contradictions from the ecological level.Therefore,the study of Jonathan Hughes’ Ecological Marxism has enlightenment and reference significance for us to correctly understand the transformation of the main social contradictions in the new era and meet the people’s growing needs for a better life.