Research On Hegel’s Views Of Nature

Hegel’s views of nature examine the nature and the relationship between man and nature in a speculative and idealistic way.It contains many errors that violate scientific facts,therefore it is not highly evaluated in China and abroad.However,a reinterpretation of Hegel’s views of nature from both ecophilosophy and the thoughts of Marx and Engels aspects reveals that it is still of great value.Taking Hegel’s“Introduction” of Philosophy of Nature and “Geographical Basis of History” of The Philosophy of History as the main texts,this thesis reinterprets Hegel’s answer to the three questions below in the context of ecophilosophy and related thoughts of Marx and Engels,they are “What is nature”,“How human beings treat the nature” and“How nature impacts on human society”.On “What is nature”,Hegel believes that the importance of the whole is more important than the part,and the properties of the part depend on the whole.This is consistent with the ecophilosophy’s view concerning the relationship between the whole and the part.Hegel explores the advantages of examining natural objects through the lens of degeneration,and Marx’s view that the man anatomy is the key to the monkey anatomy inherits Hegel’s view of degeneration.On “How human beings treat the nature”,Hegel’s criticism of extrinsic teleology challenges the anthropocentrism,and his recognition of intrinsic teleology coincides with theory of intrinsic value in ecophilosophy.Regarding the phenomenon of the destruction of the natural environment,Hegel attributes the cause to humanity’s desire for self-interest,which Engels inherits in the Dialectics of Nature and further concretizes the selfish desires of people as the capitalist pursuit of profit.Hegel’s insistence that man’s cognitive activity towards nature is dynamic rather than passive is an important source of Marx’s dynamic thoughts in the Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844.Engels’ generalizations of the characteristics of the way in which modern science examines things in the Anti-Dühring inherit Hegel’s criticismof modern science.On “How nature impacts on human society”,Hegel does not exclude the geographical environment in his study of human society,but takes into account both human and nature,which reflects the views of history of ecophilosophy;and draws more historically realistic conclusions than Montesquieu’s,which is endorsed by Plekhanov.That is to say,some of Hegel’s understandings of nature itself and its role of nature in the development of human society share a consensus with ecophilosophy,which shows the ecological wisdom of Hegel’s views of nature.Some of Marx’s and Engels’ understandings inherit Hegel’s views of nature,which has received little attention in previous researches.