Research On Paul Burkett’s Ecological Socialism Thought

Paul Burkett is a famous representative of ecological socialism in contemporary. Not only did he demonstrate the close relationship between Marx and modern ecologist based on philosophy from historical macroscopic dimension, but also made deep micro analysis to the materialism origin of ecology and Marx’s materialism tradition. These elucidate the consistency of Marxism and ecology, besides, excavate the ecological thought of Marx. Burkett also criticized the capitalist ecological crisis, dissect the inner conflict of capital and nature, on one hand from the breaking of capitalist society and nature metabolism, on the other hand deep into the internal elements of capital. Based on this he draw the conclusion that capitalism cannot solve the ecological crisis by itself. Therefore, Burkett thinks that if ecological socialism to become reality, not only need the design of social system, economic regulation, but also require the following up of man minds, he designed the ecological socialism idea from political, economic and cultural three dimensions. Burkett’s ecological socialism ideology has significant theoretic value, while it has limitations too. Research on his ecological socialism ideology can help understand the essence and origin of contemporary ecological problems, pay more attention to the ecological civilization construction of our country, promote the sustainable development of economy, society and environment.