Research On Joel Kovel’s Ecological Critical Thought

Joel Kovel is an important representative of the ecological socialism thought after the 1990 s, his theory of ecological criticism is the core of his ecological socialism theory. This paper looks Kovel’s thought of ecological criticism from the perspective of Marxist philosophy and Ecological Socialism. Kovel objectively analyzes the severity of the ecological crisis under the capitalist system, reflection and criticism on the root causes of the ecological crisis based on the Marx doctrine, in order to get rid of the ecological crisis, he also put forward the theory of ecological socialism expected and evaluation, in order to distinguish the reality socialism and the ecological socialism that he constructed, Kovel also reflects on the anti-ecological tendency of the first generation of socialism.The first part of this paper introduces the background, the significance, the domestic and foreign scholars on the study of Kovel thought; the second part briefly introduces Kovel’s lifetime and academic thoughts; on the basis of analyzing the theoretical background of Kovel’s ecological criticism thought, and stating Marx’s theory on Kovel’s ecological critical thinking about the relationship between man and nature, the theory of alienated labor, and analyses the correlation between ecological Marxism, ecological socialism thought and Kovel; The third part analyses the theoretical system of Kovel’s thought of ecological criticism, mainly from the capital is the largest natural enemy, the anti-ecology nature of development of capitalism, the powerless of the capitalism ecology political, and traditional socialism is not ecological rationality to state Kovel’s critical thought; This part not only studies the thought of Kovel’s ecological criticism, but also gives study and review on Kovel’s reconstruction after the ecological criticism, that is to explore the road of ecological socialism; The fourth part makes an objective and fair assessment to Kovel’s ecological criticism theory, affirmed the theoretical value of Kovel’s thought of ecological criticism and analyzed its theoretical limitations, and expounded the enlightenment of Kovel’s ecological critical thinking to the construction of ecological civilization in China.Comprehensive analysis the theoretical source of Kovel’s ecological criticism thought, theoretical system and its reconstruction after critical, it will not only help to further deepen the understanding and research of ecological socialism, but also help people to understand the essence and origin of capitalism and socialism as well as its environmental problems. On thebasis of object to evaluate Kovel’s thought of ecological criticism, it absorbs the essence of the ecological thought of the historical materialism, there is a certain enlightenment and reference significance for our country to build a socialist ecological civilization, to promote social, economic and environmental sustainable development.