THE THEORETICAL FOUNDATIONS OF SOCIALIST ECOCIVILIZATIONAL PROGRESS

The quest to create an ecological civilization has been promoted for the most part by eco-Marxists committed to creating some form of eco-socialism. It is suggested in this paper that what is meant by all these terms is problematic, but they can be clarified by defining them through concepts deriving from ecology, and as such, the quest for ecological civilization can be seen as the quest to develop and realize an ‘ecological culture’, taking ecology as the root metaphor for comprehending the whole of reality. It is argued that the concept of ecopoiesis, deriving from ecology, provides a bridge between the natural sciences and the humanities, providing the basis for the reformulation of the social sciences and political philosophy required to create a new world order, an order that is committed to augmenting the life of the biosphere and human communities at all levels, while facilitating the comprehension of humanity as part of nature required to achieve this. In the immediate future, this project involves defending the United Nations and upholding the rule of law internationally, integrating the quest for a multipolar world-order with the quest for a global ecological civilization.