Ecology and Historical Materialism

Studies in Marxism and Social Theory

by Jonathan Hughes, G.A. Cohen (Editor), John E. Roemer (Editor)

This book presents a systematic challenge to the widely-held view that Marxism is unable to deal adequately with environmental issues. Jonathan Hughes responds to criticisms of Marx's theory of history from environmental theorists, and offers an interpretation and reconstruction of key Marxian concepts, designed to show that the theory need not have harmful ecological consequences. He argues that the communist principle "to each according to his needs" must rest on a conception of needs that may be satisfied by a modest and ecologically-feasible expansion of productive output.

Genres: Nonfiction, Politics, Ecology

230 pages, Paperback

First published July 12, 1996

About the author

I have been a member of the Centre for Professional Ethics at Keele since it was founded in 2002, and was its Director between 2005 and 2009.
From 2012-2013 I was Faculty PGT Director for the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences.
Previously I was a Lecturer in Philosophy at Keele, Lecturer in Political Theory at Manchester and Research Fellow in Philosophy and Politics also at Manchester. I obtained a BA in Philosophy from the University of Bristol and a PhD in Political Theory from the University of Manchester. I also spent a few years outside academia, working in IT.

Reviews

[Brian · Rating 1 out of 5]

Could not finish it. The text was dogmatic. The author's characterization of "Malthusians" was based on flawed assumptions, out-dated theories, and strawmen. Then the author addresses critics of Marx not by presenting current evidence and data, but instead by appeal to authority. Marxism crosses a line from serious social scientific inquiry into religion when the texts of a dead man are held up as infallible. After the author claimed to have vanquished Malthus and sought to stretch dusty Marxist texts to fit modern problems, I stopped reading.

Historical materialism is a valid approach and one can learn from it. However, too many scholars who call themselves Marxists fail to address the failures of Marx, Engels and subsequent Marxists to have practical predictive power. Models need to be rigorously framed and tested with the most current available evidence. Too many political ecologists have a dogmatic ideology of politics and a limited theoretical view of ecology. Let's get out in the real world some more, shall we?