Ecology and Emancipation: Towards a Critical Ecological Theory in Herbert Marcuse
Keywords:
critical ecology, nature, radical social praxis, environmental crisis, ecosocialismAbstract
Over four decades after his death, Herbert Marcuse remains crucial for analyzing the ecological crisis through a critical lens. Though he never developed a systematic environmental theory, his critique of capitalist instrumental rationality–which reduces nature to an exploitable resource–remains relevant amid ecological collapse. Marcuse exposed how capitalism not only degrades the environment but also alienates individuals through consumerist false needs. His nascent ecological critique, alongside his call for the Great Refusal, inspires contemporary ecosocialist proposals to transcend the system. This article examines three dimensions: 1) Marcuse’s ecological foundations, focused on society-nature reconciliation; 2) possibilities for radical anti-capitalist praxis; and 3) dialogues with contemporary theorists like Reitz, Fraser, and Saito. His legacy proves the environmental crisis is structural, not technical, and that alternatives do exist.
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