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Systems Theory and Complexity: a Potential Tool for Radical Analysis Or the Emerging Social Paradigm for the Internationalised Market Economy?
DEMOCRACY & NATURE: The International Journal of INCLUSIVE DEMOCRACY Vol. 6, No. 3 (November 2000) Systems theory and complexity: a potential tool for radical analysis or the emerging social paradigm for the internationalised market economy? TAKIS FOTOPOULOS Abstract: The aim of this paper is to critically assess the claims of systems theory and complexity in the analysis of social change and particularly to examine the view that ―if certain conditions are met― both could potentially be useful tools for radical analysis. The conclusion drawn from this analysis is that, although systems theory and complexity are useful tools in the natural sciences in which they offer many useful insights, they are much less useful in social sciences and indeed are incompatible, both from the epistemological point of view and that of their content, with a radical analysis aiming to systemic change towards an inclusive democracy. Introduction It was almost inevitable that the present demise of Marxism would bring about a revised form of functionalism/evolutionism, which had almost eclipsed in the sixties and the seventies, particularly in areas like the sociology of development where it had been replaced by neo-Marxist and dependency theories. The new version of functionalism/evolutionism is much more sophisticated than the original Parsonian functionalist paradigm and incorporates recent developments in “hard” sciences to produce a new “general” theory of social systems. A primary example of such an attempt is Niklas Luhmann’s Social Systems[1] which we -
Social Ecology and Communalism
Murray Bookchin Bookchin Murray $ 12,95 / £ xx,xx Social Ecology and Communalism Replace this text Murray Bookchin ocial cology Social Ecology and Communalism and Communalism Social Ecology S E and Communalism AK Press Social Ecology and Communalism Murray Bookchin Social Ecology and Communalism Bookchin, Murray Social Ecology and Communalism Library of Congress Control Number 2006933557 ISBN 978-1-904859-49-9 Published by AK Press © Eirik Eiglad and Murray Bookchin 2006 AK Press 674–A 23rd St. Oakland, CA 94612 USA www.akpress.org [email protected] AK Press UK PO Box 12766 Edinburgh, EH8 9YE Scotland (0131) 555–5165 www.akuk.com [email protected] Design and layout by Eirik Eiglad Contents An Introduction to Social Ecology and Communalism 7 What is Social Ecology? 19 Radical Politics in an Era of Advanced Capitalism 53 The Role of Social Ecology in a Period of Reaction 68 The Communalist Project 77 After Murray Bookchin 117 An Introduction to Social Ecology and Communalism We are standing at a crucial crossroads. Not only does the age- old “social question” concerning the exploitation of human labor remain unresolved, but the plundering of natural resources has reached a point where humanity is also forced to politically deal with an “ecological question.” Today, we have to make conscious choices about what direction society should take, to properly meet these challenges. At the same time, we see that our very ability to make the necessary choices are being undermined by an incessant centralization of economic and political power. Not only is there a process of centralization in most modern nation states that divests humanity of any control over social affairs, but power is also gradually being transferred to transnational institutions. -
Harbinger, a Journal of Social Ecology
a journal of social ecology Harbinger What is Social Ecology? VOL. 3, NO. 1 SPRING 2003 Harbinger - SPRING 2003 { 1 } Harbinger, a Journal of Social Ecology, publishes analysis relevant to the growing social ecology movement and news of the activities of the Institute for Social Ecology (ISE). It is our intention to explore the theory and practice needed to help create an ecological society, and to cultivate a generous intellectual outlook that can inform the principle of hope. Just as the outlook proposed by social ecology is concerned with both what is and what ought to be, so too is Harbinger and we will explore the tensions between the two. The central questions we address in the pages of Harbinger regard the process with which we must engage to create an ecological society, a society free of hierarchy and domination in all of its forms. A harbinger is a messenger, or a sign indicating that a major event or change is coming. It was the name given to the journal published by Emerson, the Alcotts, Thoreau and other New England transcendentalists associated with Brook Farm in the 19th century. The name was revived in the early 1980s by the ISE for our literary and philosophical journal. In its current incarnation Harbinger will continue the tradition of critically examining theory and practice, attempt to bring you stimulating work by talented authors, and, in addition, update you on the important work of the ISE. Our intention is to publish twice a year and we invite your comments and contributions. While Harbinger will entertain many points of view, our primary focus will be on a clarification and expansion of those ideas and practices that contribute to social ecology. -
Takis Fotopoulos[1]
Social Ecology, Eco- Communitarianism and Inclusive Democracy Takis Fotopoulos[1] Social Ecology and Inclusive Democracy John Clark’s critique of the politics of social ecology has no direct bearing on the Inclusive Democracy project ―only to the extent that the latter constitutes a synthesis of, among other traditions, some elements of libertarian municipalism. Readers of this journal are, anyway, well aware of the fact that the project of inclusive democracy represents a synthesis as well as a transcendence of the two major historical traditions, the socialist and the democratic ones, as well as of the radical currents in the new social movements (the open in browser PRO version Are you a developer? Try out the HTML to PDF API pdfcrowd.com feminist and particularly the ecological, of which social ecology is the most important radical component). Therefore, John Clark’s exclusive reliance on Murray Bookchin’s work on democracy in order to carry out an outright attack against direct democracy, ignoring, in the process, the work of Castoriadis and of this journal on the matter, seems —superficially at least— to be bizarre. However, this significant omission could easily be explained if one notes that what is from Clark’s viewpoint ‘one of the greatest strengths of Bookchin's politics’, is also, from a democratic perspective, the greatest weakness of this politics. Thus, according to Clark: One of the greatest strengths of Bookchin's politics is its grounding in ethics and the philosophy of nature (...) For Bookchin, politics is ultimately grounded in the process of evolutionary unfolding and self- realisation that has been taking place over the natural and social history of this planet. -
ABSTRACT Title of Dissertation: for the END IS a LIMIT
ABSTRACT Title of Dissertation: FOR THE END IS A LIMIT: THE QUESTION CONCERNING THE ENVIRONMENT Ozguc Orhan, Doctor of Philosophy, 2007 Dissertation Directed By: Professor Charles E. Butterworth Department of Government and Politics Professor Ken Conca Department of Government and Politics This dissertation argues that Aristotle’s philosophy of praxis (i.e., ethics and politics) can contribute to our understanding of the contemporary question concerning the environment. Thinking seriously about the environment today calls for resisting the temptation to jump to conclusions about Aristotle’s irrelevance to the environment on historicist grounds of incommensurability or the fact that Aristotle did not write specifically on environmental issues as we know them. It is true that environmental problems are basically twentieth-century phenomena, but the larger normative discourses in which the terms “environmental” and “ecological” and their cognates are situated should be approached philosophically, namely, as cross-cultural and trans-historical phenomena that touch human experience at a deeper level. The philosophical perspective exploring the discursive meaning behind contemporary environmental praxis can reveal to us that certain aspects of Aristotle’s thought are relevant, or can be adapted, to the ends of environmentalists concerned with developmental problems. I argue that Aristotle’s views are already accepted and adopted in political theory and the praxis of the environment in many respects. In the first half of the dissertation, I -
Social Ecology and the Non-Western World
Speech delivered at the conference “Challenging Capitalist Modernity II: Dissecting Capitalist Modernity–Building Democratic Confederalism”, 3–5 April 2015, Hamburg. Texts of the conference are published at http://networkaq.net/2015/speeches 2.5 Federico Venturini Social Ecology and the non-Western World Murray Bookchin was the founder of the social ecology, a philosophical perspective whose political project is called libertarian municipalism or Communalism. Recently there has been a revival of interest in this project, due to its influence on the socio-political organization in Rojava, a Kurdish self-managed region in the Syrian state. This should not be a surprise because Bookchin's works influenced Abdul Öcalan for a more than a decade, a key Kurdish leader who developed a political project called Democratic Confederalism. We should all welcome this renewed interest in social ecology and take lessons from the Rojava experience. Bookchin's analyses have always been more focussed on North-American or European experiences and so libertarian municipalism draws from these traditions. Moreover, Bookchin, who was writing in a Cold war scenario, was suspicious of the limits of national movements struggling for independence. The aim of this paper is to develop and enlarge Bookchin's analysis, including experiences and traditions from different cultures and movements, and their interrelations on a global scale. First, it explores social ecology perspective in non- Western contexts. Second, it will introduce new tools to deal with inter-national relations based on world system theory. Third, it will suggests that new experiences coming from non-Western regions can strength social ecology understanding and practices. -
The Necessity of Dialectical Naturalism: Marcuse, Bookchin and Dialectics in the Midst of Ecological Crises
The Necessity of Dialectical Naturalism: Marcuse, Bookchin, and Dialectics in the Midst of Ecological Crises Author Brincat, Shannon, Gerber, Damian Published 2015 Journal Title Antipode Version Accepted Manuscript (AM) DOI https://doi.org/10.1111/anti.12140 Copyright Statement © 2015 Antipode Foundation. This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: The Necessity of Dialectical Naturalism: Marcuse, Bookchin, and Dialectics in the Midst of Ecological Crises, Antipode, Volume 47, Issue 4, September 2015, Pages 871–893, which has been published in final form at 10.1111/anti.12140. This article may be used for non- commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Self-Archiving (http:// olabout.wiley.com/WileyCDA/Section/id-828039.html) Downloaded from http://hdl.handle.net/10072/124939 Griffith Research Online https://research-repository.griffith.edu.au The Necessity of Dialectical Naturalism: Marcuse, Bookchin and dialectics in the midst of ecological crises “… the environmental crisis involves a crisis of the imagination the amelioration of which depends on finding better ways of imagining nature and humanity’s relation to it.” - Lawrence Buell (1995: 2) Introduction Central to dialectics is its account of totality, the historical (temporal), environmental (spatial) and social (cultural) whole. For it is in this totality – that expansive concept of the whole and all its parts – that the complex interactions, tensions and contradictions that generate transformation, take place. As such, how dialectical approaches understand and conceive of the totality takes on acute ontological significance and function. Dialectical analysis, then, requires the utmost precision to ensure its ontological postulates (interconnectivity, contradiction, negation, sublation, flux, amongst others) are directly reflected in how it accounts for the temporal, spatial and cultural context in which transformations take place. -
Thesis Rethinking Deep Ecology
THESIS RETHINKING DEEP ECOLOGY: FROM CRITIQUE TO SYNTHESIS Submitted by Chelsea L. Welker Department of Political Science In partial fulfillment of the requirements For the Degree of Master of Arts Colorado State University Fort Collins, Colorado Summer 2013 Master’s Committee: Advisor: Bradley J. Macdonald Dimitris Stevis Paul Trembath ABSTRACT RETHINKING DEEP ECOLOGY: FROM CRITIQUE TO SYNTHESIS Deep ecology represents a strain of radical ecopolitical theory that has, over the past forty years, engaged in various debates with other strains of radical ecopolitical thought. Though deep ecology has attempted to defend itself against many critiques from this field, my analysis aims to reassess deep ecology’s responses (or its silences) related to some of these charges. My goal is to adequately respond to these critiques that have been made against deep ecology, particularly the critiques that have arose from social ecology and from perspectives concerned with the Global South. At the same time, I utilize these critiques and my own responses to them to rethink deep ecology’s role in the transformation of contemporary societies toward greater ecological sustainability. I add to this debate amongst radical ecopolitical theories by outlining the most important critiques that have been made at deep ecology from the above fields, in addition to formulating more adequate responses from the perspective of deep ecology. Moreover, I explicitly concern my analysis with how this re-envisioned deep ecology can constitute a viable political theory and play a vital role in the radical transformation of political societies for the benefit of both nature and human beings. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT ........................................................................ -
Of Social Ecology
104 RET}IINKING ECOFEMINIST POLMICS clearly are, we wiII pay dearly for the loss of rational poli activity. A mystical tendency that indulges our fantasiesand st renders us captive to a commodified society may eventually, spite its good intentions, help to deprive us of our freedom individuals and to diminish our activism as social beings' Chapter 5 Historically, the Left has always tried to appeal to the best people, to their highest moral and intellectual selves'Mind, cri initttittg, and intellectuality are precious human attributes cannot be surrendered without leading to easily manipulated ceral reactions evoked by magic, rituals, and ultimately " Dialectics in the Ethics sive leaders" for ends other than freedom. As the Senecawriter Mohawk has forthrightly put it, "[t seems like every time say they'll do the thinking for you, they fuck you over"'I w of Social Ecology responsible people, doing the best thinking, not somebody v dreamed something."" As the forms of our domination increasinglysophisticated, it behoovesus to boldly "dare to know, in Kant's phrase, rather than to play childish games of "truth As a dialectical philosophy, social ecology arguesthat hu- dare." manity must be understood os the history of humanity, and that nature must be understood as the history of nature. ]ust so, it also arguesthat sciencemust be understood as tle history of science.It advancesthe view that there is much to be gained from examining the role that previous cosmologistsplayed in the developmentof our own in considering the problem of nature and humanity's relationship to each other, and that earlier peoples in Western culture have asked important questions tlat our present-day sci- enceignores. -
Through a Green Gaze: Tentative Indicators of a Green 'Text'
Southern African Journal of Environmental Education, Vol. 26, 2009 Through a Green Gaze: Tentative Indicators of a Green ‘Text’ Sally Harper and Wilhelm Johann Jordaan, University of Pretoria, South Africa Abstract This paper1 seeks to re-claim for the idea ‘green’, something of the depth and range of its philosophical and ideological ideas at the time of its emergence and early formation from the 1960s to the 1990s, ideas which appear today to be largely unknown, forgotten or deliberately sidelined. It also seeks to provide for political, economic and environmental opinion-makers and decision-takers, a list of indicators by which to assess the green-ness of a ‘text’. The paper is also useful for educators wishing to examine the philosophical foundations of their practice and the texts that they use in educational work. Introduction to ‘Seeing Green’ ‘Seeing green’ as United Kingdom green politician Jonathon Porritt (1984) phrased it, has been around since the 1980s as a proposed solution to our growing environmental problems. Yet what has filtered through into the mass consciousness – or, from a more cynical point of view, what has been allowed to filter through into the consumer mass consciousness – is a rather impoverished version of it. For example, during the 2007 festive season, one popular women’s magazine, in its ‘Environment’ section, carried an article entitled ‘Dreaming of a Green Christmas – Gifts that Won’t Leave a Large Eco-footprint’. Readers are advised to ‘... think of items that shout ‘green’ – recycled goods and those that won’t end up in a landfill. Where possible, choose local products because imported goods have a larger carbon footprint’ (Rassool & Warren-Brown, 2007:56). -
Dialectical Naturalism
Dialectical Naturalism: Studies in Marxist Social Ontology Tim Hayslip Critical Sociology Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts Faculty of Graduate Studies, Brock University St. Catharines, ON 2021 Dedication To my brother Harry, whose life and death so profoundly affected the writing of this thesis. I’ll never think of the years during which I completed this project without thinking of you. To my family, without the love and support of whom I would have given up. To my supervisor Murray Smith and the broader Brock community for providing so many of the ‘antecedents’ of the thoughts I express in this work. Abstract This thesis develops the thought of Marxist philosopher Evald Ilyenkov. Ilyenkov is notable for his efforts to challenge Soviet orthodoxy by locating ‘ideality’ within a classically Marxist, materialist ontology. The main argument presented here is Ilyenkov’s interpretation of Marx is one that can be constructively employed in debates within contemporary sociology and social theory. Ilyenkov’s framework is developed over the first three chapters. The second half of the introduction critiques the orthodox interpretation of the famous base – superstructure metaphor, arguing that it should be understood as referring to both the natural processes through which the human species develops its understanding of the world and how these understandings evolve as humans transform the world. The second chapter concerns Ilyenkov’s description of the philosophical development that led from Kant’s ontological dualism which recognized the importance of an ‘intellectual war’ to the advancement of science through Fichte’s individualistic but dialectical ontology to Hegel’s dialectical- idealist monism. -
Social Ecology Pamphlet Emily Mcguire
Social ecology is a theory developed by co-founder of the Institute for Social Ecology, over the span of twenty-five or so books over his lifetime. Bookchin’s argument is drawing from In The Ecology of Freedom, Bookchin’s magnum opus, he writes, “our environmental dislocations are deeply rooted in an irrational, anti-ecological society…” he continues, “these problems originate in a hierarchical, class, and today, competitive capitalist system that nourishes a view of the natural world as a mere agglomeration of “resources” for human production and consumption.” Social ecologists seek a deeper analysis that unmasks the roots of environmental degradation, which has its origin in human hierarchies. In Remaking Society, Bookchin looks at how “the earliest social examples of status based on biological differences were essentially the age-groups to which one belonged.” The elderly, whose physical strength had increasingly diminished, were the most vulnerable and dependent on the goodwill of their tribe/community. They were also the first to be abandoned in times of material want and need. According to Bookchin, it is was the loss of biological power that elucidated the need for hierarchical social power. In a preliterate society, the elderly were the repositories of wisdom and held the most social knowledge. This made them “the architects par excellence of social life, of social power, and of its institutionalization along hierarchical lines.” Bookchin argues that in a harsh and insecure world of pre-literate societies, the community elders had “the most to gain from the institutionalization of society and the emergence of hierarchy.” Bookchin posits that tribal elders created the role of the shaman as a way to make themselves indispensable, as the shaman “professionalizes power.” According to Bookchin, “if the male hunter is a specialist in violence, and the woman food-gatherer a specialist in nature, the shaman is a specialist in fear.