The Necessity of Dialectical Naturalism: Marcuse, Bookchin, and Dialectics in the Midst of Ecological Crises
Abstract
In the wake of ecological crises, there has been a resurgence of interest in the relation between dialectical thought and nature. The work of Herbert Marcuse and Murray Bookchin offers unique approaches to this question that remain highly relevant. In the first half of the article, we engage with Marcuse’s application of the dialectical method in which he gestured to the âvital needâ to push beyond the appearance of âthe realâ and yet lamented the loss of the ability for negative thinking to pierce the dominance of the âtechnical apparatusâ that tied humanity to this âradical falsityâ. Here, we suggest the need for a more holistic dialectical understanding of the social totalityâone that is directly located within, and takes as foundational, the environmental conditions of human society. In the second half, we examine Murray Bookchin’s conception of âdialectical naturalismâ as a more thorough engagement with the human/nature relation that surpasses Marcuse’s late engagements with ecologism. In particular, we offer critical reflections on the concept of ânatureâ in the contemporary ecology movement and illustrate how dialectical naturalism is capable of not only transcending dualistic conceptions of âman/natureâ but in expanding our awareness of the potentialities of history along what Bookchin terms the âlibertory pathwaysâ to a restorative relation between human âsecond natureâ and biological âfirst natureâ. We posit that systemic, interconnected and accelerating ecological crises form the objective and absolute contradiction of contemporary global social life that compels an awareness of the potentialities of an ecological society. Only through this awareness can we break through the reified âsolutionsâ that have often plagued the ecology movement, bringing about the urgent social and ecological transformation that our species requires for its liberation and long-term survival.