Environmental Philosophy and Ethics

13. Social Ecology

2. The Global Ecological Crisis leads to Global Ecological Revolution: 1970-2050

3. Karl Marx

  • Karl Marx, 1818-1883, Germany.
  • Dialectical materialism: synthesis between mechanical materialism and Hegelian dialectics.
  • Capitalism produces abundance and scarcity.
  • Socialism provides for basic needs and social justice.

4. Murray Bookchin and Barry Commoner

  • Social ecology: anarchist, local.
  • State socialism: power in the state.

5. Murray Bookchin, 1921-2006

  • Institute for Social Ecology, Plainfield, Vermont.
  • Key concepts: Privileged terms of discourse.
    • hierarchy (bad).
    • domination (bad).
    • reason (good).
    • freedom (good).

6. Murray Bookchin

  • The Ecology of Freedom: The Emergence and Dissolution of Hierarchy (1982).
  • Hierarchy: The cultural, traditional, and psychological systems of obedience, command, and control.
  • Narrative of the emergence of hierarchy in history and its dissolution in anarchism.

7. Murray Bookchin

  • The Philosophy of Social Ecology: Essays on Dialectical Naturalism (1990).
  • Anarchy: Absence of state government in favor of face-to-face communal decision-making.

8. Murray Bookchin

  • Remaking Society (1989).
  • Democracy: participatory face to face informal systems of decision making.
  • Libertarian municipalism: self-managing assemblies of people.

9. Ynestra King

  • Taught ecofeminism at Bookchin's Institute for Social Ecology, 1976.
  • Social ecofeminism extends social ecology by analyzing the domination of women and nature.
  • "Feminism and the Revolt of Nature" (1981).
  • Transformative feminism overcomes the domination of women and nature.

10. Janet Biehl

  • "What is Social Ecofeminism?" (1988).
  • "Goddess Mythology in Ecological Politics" (1989).
  • Editor of and introduction to The Murray Bookchin Reader (1997)

11. David Watson

  • Alias George Bradford, editor of the anarchist journal, Fifth Estate.
  • "How Deep is Deep Ecology? " (1989).
  • Beyond Bookchin: Preface for a Future Social Ecology (1996).

12. Joel Koval and Alan Rudy

  • Murray Bookchin: Nature's Prophet (1996).
  • Joel Kovel, "Negating Bookchin."
  • Alan Rudy, "Ecology and Anthropology in the Work of Murray Bookchin: Problems of Theory and Evidence."

13. James O'Connor

  • Sociology Department, University of California, Santa Cruz, emeritus.
  • The Fiscal Crisis of the State (1973).
  • The Meaning of Crisis (1987).
  • Founder and editor, Capitalism, Nature, Socialism.

14. James O'Connor

  • Key Concepts: Privileged Terms of Discourse.
  • Exploitation of labor.
  • Capitalist accumulation.
  • Second contradition of capitalism.
  • Autonomy of nature.

15. James O'Connor

  • Need for an Ecological Marxist theory.
  • Production conditions:
    • natural conditions/ecosystem viability.
    • labor power/physical and mental health of workers.
    • means of communication.
  • Ecological Marxism.

16. James O'Connor

  • Natural Causes: Essays in Ecological Marxism (1998).
  • Socialism and Ecology.
  • Ecology Movements and the State.
  • What is Ecological Socialism?

17. (graphic)

18. Ariel Salleh

  • Ecofeminism as Politics: Nature, Marx, and the Postmodern (1997).
  • Socialism, ecology, feminism, and postcolonial struggle can be grounded, unified, and empowered by an ecofeminist dialectic of relations.