Nature and Marxism

[Cyberwave]

The past few weeks I've been expressing a deep love of nature and was wondering to what extent does communism fit in with the theme of nature "loving?" I know communism is in itself inherently greener than other ideologies, but I haven't truly managed to read a lot about Marxism views nature and such [other than how nature is objective, and independent of humanity in the sense of, the idealist conception is wrong]. I think transcendentalism and Paganism are interesting in their regards to their inherent "nature worship," and their spiritual themes around nature. While I'm certainly not advocating individualist philosophy, I was wondering if there are any "spiritual" like elements of Marxism in these regards to nature.

[caramelpence]

[other than how nature is objective, and independent of humanity in the sense of, the idealist conception is wrong].

Well, no, if anything, Marx thinks the exact opposite - he rejects the notion that there is such a thing as nature as such or that natural history and human history can be seen as separate entities, and stresses the perpetual action of man on nature and the ways in which man transforms the natural world. In The German Ideology, for example, when Marx is dealing with Feuerbach's contemplative materialism, whereby Feuerbach was able to avoid having to recognize the active nature of mankind and the transformation of the world throughout history by making a distinction between the true and superficial essences of entities, Marx points out that even those parts of the natural world that might appear to be eternal or to have the condition of "sensuous certainty" are actually of human origin, so that the cherry tree, for example, was "only a few centuries ago transplanted by commerce into our zone, and therefore only by this action of a definite society in a definite age it has become 'sensuous certainty' for Feuerbach". Immediately after having posed this argument against Feuerbach, Marx also makes a similar point in relation to Bruno Bauer, who he criticizes for speaking in terms of "the antitheses in nature and history", as if to imply that "these were two separate 'things' and man did not always have before him an historical nature and a natural history". For Marx "the celebrated 'unity of man with nature'" is not a metaphysical goal to be aspired to but a historic fact in that he does not believe that nature has ever had an objective or eternal existence outside of the activity and life of human beings.

The general thrust of Marx's views on nature, both in The German Ideology and later in his intellectual development, is a healthy productivism, that is, a celebration of the powers of man and the need to exploit the natural world, and for that reason Marx is refreshing in contrast to contemporary environmentalism and much of what passes for "left wing" thought.

[Proukunin]

I would assume that Marxists wouldn't 'hate' nature, so I think loving nature can be communist. I certainly am a nature lover and actually have a hippie influence in me when it comes to authority, nature and natural drugs. I mean nature does give us what we need right? I also believe that you hold your own beliefs and think for yourself. So if you want to be a nature lover and a Marxist then you should go right head. Even incorporate ways to make Marxism more nature loving.

[graymouser]

Marx's view of nature was very much based on the material and not on any spiritual sense. If you want to get a good understanding of the interconnections in Marx's thought between nature and human society, and human activity, you should really read John Bellamy Foster's book Marx's Ecology. Foster has been a leader in showing the links between Marxism and ecology, and helping to build an ecosocialist critique of capitalism.

[MarxSchmarx]

Marx ... rejects the notion that ... natural history and human history can be seen as separate entities

Basically I think you are correct. In western thought a notion of a "nature" distinct from human society is deeply engrained, going back to the Greeks and prominent for example in the Bible.

Indeed arguably the project of historical materialism and probably scientific socialism turns on the fact that Marx probably joins Darwin as the thinker most responsible for articulating the view that man is just another organism, and that the human experience can be studied scientifically and systematically much in the way the subject matter of geology say can be studied.

[mikelepore]

"Nature is man's inorganic body -- that is to say, nature insofar as it is not the human body. Man lives from nature -- i.e., nature is his body -- and he must maintain a continuing dialogue with it is he is not to die. To say that man's physical and mental life is linked to nature simply means that nature is linked to itself, for man is a part of nature."

-- Karl Marx, from the "Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844"