A Discussion On The Ecological Marxism Theory And The Reconstruction Of The Pirnciple Of Environmental Law In China

As the latest school of Western Marxism, the Ecological Marxism theory did aecological transformation to the traditional historical Materialism, and established ascientific, dialectical, historical, ecological Materialism. The Ecological Marxismlaunched a criticism of social theory to the capitalist mode of production, whichincludes the institutional criticism as the core while the technical criticism andvaluable criticism for the expansion. It has profound inspiration and guidancesignificance to solve the increasingly prominent environmental issues and ecologicalcrisis."The dualism of the legislative purpose" of China’s Environmental Law whichestablished under the guidance of traditional values has certain defects incoordinating the environmental protection and the economic development in the legalpractice, especially reflected in the conflict between public environment interest andpublic economic interest, the public environment interest and private economicinterest obviously, which has seriously affected the normal functioning of theenvironmental laws as well as the normal operation of the community. The EcologicalMarxism theory interprets and solves environmental problems based on theframework of historical materialism, adheres to the methods of analysis and criticalspirit of historical materialism, which provides an important methodological guidancefor the purpose of China’s environmental law and the construction of China’senvironmental legal system, makes a contribution to create the realization ofconditions of the purpose and value of environment law, promotes the effectiveoperation of the environmental law’s function, and finally achieves the harmonybetween man and nature in China’s ecological civilization.This paper includes five sections.In the first part of the paper, it sorts out the historical context of development ofthe Western Ecological Marxism theory, which can be divided into three development stages: emengence, development and prefection. It simply introduces the mainrepresentative and representative works of each stage, and the theory of core at eachstage are reviewed in briefly, which showes the advance and limitation of EcologicalMarxism theory in historical background and the objective conditions at that time.This section focuses on two different train of thoughts in the argumentation to openthe visual threshold of historical materialism in the two academic groups representedby O’Connor and Foster. O’Connor probed the ecological crisis and economic crisistriggered by the second contradiction of capitalism, and constructed a culturalHistorical Materialism. Foster demonstrated the essential attribute of ecologicalmaterialist philosophy in historical materialism by exploring the ecological point ofview through the writings of Marx and Engels.Owing to O’Connor’s theory constructed the basic framework of the EcologicalMarxism theory. I Selected the main points of his theory as a core analyticalframework in the second part. This part introduces three theory topics.1, The View ofNature of the Ecological Marxism is different from the productivity and relations ofproduction of traditional Marxism. O’Connor constructed the ecological linkagesbetween man and nature through the interpretation of the cultural and naturaldimensions on the productivity and relations of production.2, According to thecaptitalism production conditions theory, O’Connor revealed the instituional origin ofthe capitalism ecological crisis, and criticized anti-ecology of the capitalist mode ofproduction.3, Construct the Ecologic Socialism which is oriented by "productivejustice". Compared with the "distributive justice", this part explained the precisemeaning of the "production of justice".To analyze the environmental problems by using the Ecological Marxism theory,the way to conduct a theoretical integration between the law and he EcologicalMarxism theory must be improved firstly. Setting the purpose of the environmentalLaw is the most direct and clear value orientation of expression in the statute whenthe society as a whole face environmental problem. Thus the third chapter analyzedthe purpose of the provisions of existing environmental legislation, and thecontradiction between the situation in environmental protection and economicdevelopment, cutted through the debates between anthropocentrism and non-anthropocentrism, in order to explore to guide the setting of the legislativepurpose of the Environmental Law according to the basic discourse about therelationship between man and nature on Ecological Marxism theory, and to establishthe ultimate purpose of China’s environment-the harmonious development society ofmankind and nature, in order to achieve the reconstruction of teleology in China’senvironmental law by use of the Ecological Marxism theory.In the forth part, it ams to complete the reconstruction of the functional theory ofthe environmental law through the ecological Marxism theory. The naturalenvironment is the prerequisite for the economic and social development, theenvironmental legislation and environmental policy can not be divorced from theeconomic and social factors in isolation. The environmental protection, economicdevelopment and social equity are interplaying and interacting each other.wherein-depth analysis is the two conflicts between public environment interest and publiceconomic interest, the public environment interest and private economic interest, toshow the funtion of the coordination of benefit played by the Environmental law, aswell as the function of the augmentation of benefit required by the "Productivejustice". The common basis to establish the contact with Ecology Marxism and theEnvironmental Law is the core of interests recognition, interests guarantee, interestsbalance and the relief of damaged interests between the environmental interests andeconomic interests, in order to carry on the reform in the traditional economicdevelopment model and the traditional environmental governance pattern.In the fifth part, it demonstrated the probability to realize theoretical butt jointbetween Ecological Marxism theory and the environmental law in modern Chinathrough the changes of institutionalization operation. As an advanced theoreticalthoughts of Marxism, Ecological Marxism internalized into the concrete andhistorical social process of production, and played the role of guidance and valuejudgment on the basic principles and the basic system of environmental law, throughthe conversion of the practice model of economic development and the governancemodel of environmental law. Drawing on the two angles, the author expected China’senvironmental law system and principle designed to meet the theoreticalrequirements.1, In order to effectively protect and restore the production conditions, it is necessary to push forward to establish the risk control mechanism that Governmentas the dominant force.2, Ecological socialism emphasized the democratization of thenational control, therefore we should establish a sound Public Participation System inthe environmental law. The principle of natural should rise to the principle of the real.as well as developing the practical rights and obligations of security mechanisms.This is not only an inevitable requirement for China’s socialist politicaldemocratization, also an important manifestation of the sound of China’senvironmental legal system and the embodied in the environmental laws andgovernance.Although the study on the reconstruction of the purpose, the function, the basicprinciple and the institutional level of the environmental law based on the EcologicalMarxism theory is not perfect, e can not deny that the reference significance ofEcological Marxism theory for the severe environmental problems in China today,especially the value judgment and the significance of methodological guidance.