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A Study On Ted Benton’s Ecological Marxism

Posted on:2023-05-04Degree:DoctorType:Dissertation
Country:ChinaCandidate:L WangFull Text:PDF
GTID:1526306851973079Subject:Basic principles of Marxism
Abstract/Summary:PDF Full Text Request
Ted Benton,as the founder of ecological Marxism school,has an important theoretical position in the ecological Marxism.The core idea of Benton ecological Marxism is that neither the traditional Soviet socialism,which is mainly industrialized,nor capitalism with the purpose of value proliferation,can not meet the development requirements of ecological society.However,the basic principles of socialism written by classical writers have always been worth affirming.So in this sense,he pointed out that the future society should meet the requirements of ecological development and socialist value.As the name implies,this type of society is the ecological socialist society under the view of ecological Marxism.However,the construction of ecological socialism needs to solve a prerequisite problem,that is,how to promote the historical materialism to "green".In Benton’s view,Marx and Engels over emphasized the development of productivity,production transformation labor,and the great wealth of material wealth.So in a sense,historical materialism is "anti ecological".However,this does not mean that this theory is outdated and cannot be applied to the root cause of modern ecological problems and the specific path interpretation.Facing the criticism of the external environment,especially the western green trend of thought on historical materialism,the response of ecological Marxism is so weak,even some people choose to quit.Therefore,Benton puts forward that the emphasis should be paid to the academic and political traditions of Marxism itself,and to respond to other theoretical dialogues and to the concerns of practical problems.In this process,we should pay attention to the criticism and revision of our own theory in order to realize the development of keeping pace with the times.It will make the theoretical framework of Marxism play a role in the global problems at present stage,and help human beings strengthen their own abilities in the struggle against oppression,exploitation and protection of ecological environment.As for how to do this,Benton must make ecological correction to the basic concept category of historical materialism,especially labor theory,technology theory,production theory,etc.,so as to promote historical materialism to be the legal tool to explain and solve ecological crisis.Based on the above views,Benton puts forward the basic principles of the construction of ecological society in the future,that is,on the basis of the moral concept change,it will lead to the change of production mode and system,and finally lead to the integration of socialism and ecological centralism.From the standpoint,viewpoint and method of Marxism,although Benton’s above thought,especially in the future ecological society,has the tendency to revise Marxism,even "anti" Marxism,we can not deny Benton’s great efforts in exploring the "green" of historical materialism.This effort has shown us the great influence of Marxism as a "red theory" in the global ecological movement and ecological trend of thought.At present,although the opinions within ecological Marxism are different,there is no complete agreement.However,there is a high unity in one issue,that is,they all believe that historical materialism can make unique and valuable contributions to help human beings out of ecological predicament.Specifically,this paper mainly includes the following six parts: the first part is the introduction.The second part explains the background and theoretical origin of tedbenton’s ecological Marxism.From the perspective of the background of the times,there are mainly the following aspects: one is that the ecological crisis of capitalist countries is becoming more and more serious;the second is the frequent emergence of ecological problems in socialist countries;the third is the booming ecological movement in western developed countries;the fourth is the critical questioning of historical materialism by the thought of "deep green".From the perspective of theoretical origin,it is mainly reflected in the following aspects: first,Marx and Engels’ ecological thoughts;secondly,Malthus’ population theory;the third is the ecological centrism of environmental philosophy;the fourth is the ecological criticism theory of Frankfurt school;and the fifth is the related thought of structuralism Marxism.The third part focuses on tedbenton’s ecological criticism of capitalism and his Ecological Reflection on socialism.Tedbenton’s ecological criticism of capitalism mainly lies in the following aspects: the value concept of capitalism "dominating nature";the ideology of industrial society and the essence of capitalist economic exploitation are ecological exploitation.Tedbenton’s Ecological Reflection on Soviet model socialism mainly reflected in the following aspects: Soviet Socialist efforts on the road of ecological protection;the vigorous development of Soviet ecological thought and the half way of its death and the anti ecological nature of Soviet Socialist Road.The fourth part mainly demonstrates tedbenton’s ecological criticism and ecological reconstruction of historical materialism.Benton’s ecological criticism of historical materialism mainly includes: the ecological dilemma brought by the break of historical materialism;the defect of the labor theory of "production changing model" of historical materialism;the anti ecological structure of the intentional structure of historical materialism labor theory;the tendency of "only productivity theory" of historical materialism.Benton’s ecological reconstruction of historical materialism is as follows: on the basis of non reductive naturalism philosophy,by affirming to defend the ecological dimension of historical materialism,and complementing and revising the concept of historical materialism production,and trying to reconstruct the relationship between nature and society by "the limitation of nature".The fifth part mainly explains tedbenton’s theory and future conception of ecological Marxism.In terms of theoretical proposition,Benton proposed to replace "production transformation" labor with "ecological adjustment type" labor;substitute for transformative technology with regulatory technology;replace "dominate nature" with "adapt to nature" and ecological centralism value position.In terms of the future conception of ecological society,Benton puts forward the integration plan of socialism and ecological centralism,the political mode of ecological autonomy and the specific construction path of ecological autonomy.The sixth part is the theoretical analysis and practical enlightenment of Benton ecological Marxism.Benton’s theory of ecological Marxism has such and such defects,but he has defended the ecological dimension of historical materialism to a great extent and promoted the development of "green" of historical materialism.Moreover,it is of great significance for the construction of ecological civilization in China in the new era.
Keywords/Search Tags:Marx’s ecological thought, ecological Marxism, ecological socialism, construction of ecological civilization in China
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