Research On Foster’s Theory Of Metabolic Rift

"Harmony between the Nature and Human" is one of the basic concepts of classical Chinese philosophy. It is used to explain the relationship between man and nature:All of people should be in accord with the laws of nature to achieve harmony and unity with nature. During the time of industrial revolution in the West, human science and technology has been developed rapidly. The increased productivity which caused by science and technology development increases human’s exploitation and possession of natural resources. As a consequence, natural and people are standing in opposition. With the process of economy globalization, the ecological problems extend from part to the whole human ecosystem. Global ecological problems make the people’s homeland which they lived suffered irreparable damage. The survival of humanity is facing serious challenges. In this context, the ideologists and theorists from different backgrounds began to study and solve ecological problems through different paths. Scholar John Bellamy Foster from the United States witnessed the rapid deterioration process of the environment in which he lived, and capitalist governments’ indifferent attitude toward the ecological crisis. After that he focused his key theory on Marxism ecology research alternating political economics research. Foster summarized the generation and development of Marxist materialist ideology, by rereading Marx’s classic work, and found the idea of ecology implicated in it. By examining, Foster found "Metabolism" concept occupying an important part in Marx’s materialist thought. He believes that the concept of metabolic rift in Marx’s thought has two connotations, namely natural meaning and social meaning. By analyzing these two connotations, Foster reconstructed Marx’s Metabolic Rift Theory. He pointed out that the direct cause of metabolic rift was the separation of urban and rural area as well as material interruption in the cyclical process during long-distance of products transportation, under capitalism. However, the fundamental reason was the capitalist mode of production. Then Foster launched an ecological criticism to capitalism, which centering on capitalist production area, based on Metabolic Rift Theory, and eventually he proposed the solutions to the ecological crisis.Metabolic Rift theory constitute the core of Foster’s theory, whose contribution was mainly reflected in two parts:on the one hand, it not only reveals the root of the ecological crisis of capitalist, but also profoundly criticize the anti-ecological nature of the capitalist system; On the other hand, it not only enriches and develops the Marxism, but also injects new vitality for the development of ecology Marxism. At the present stage, our country is in the process of the of socialist modernization drive, which development is the primary task. However, the extensive development of past has also brought serious ecological problems, such as environment pollution, over-exploitation of resources, the emergence of fog and haze and so on. A package of solution of capitalism ecological crisis proposed by Foster has important reference significance for solving the current ecological environment problem in our country. The idea of sustainable development in Foster’s Metabolic Rift Theory provides a theoretical support for China to steadfastly apply the Scientific Outlook on Development as well as construct ecological civilization.