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HoumrilHawkins

could musten with the declining fortunes of the national Green parties in Europe, an effective confederal municipalist Green movement in the u.s. could demonstrate an alternative way forward.

WHAT IS SOCTAL ECOLOGY?


by

lohn Clark

Social Ecology is a comprehensive holistic conception of the self, society,

and naturei. It is, indeed, the first ecological pHlosophy to present a developed approach to all the central issues of theory and practice. It sets out from the basic ecological principle of organic uni$ in dfuersity, affirming that the good of the whole can be realized only through the rich individuality and complec< interrelationship of the parts, and it applies this fundamental insight to all realms of erperience. ln affirming such a holistic approach, Social Ecology rejects the dualism that has plagued Western civilization since its beginning;s: a dualism that sets spirit against mattet soul against body, humanity against nature, subjectivity against ofiectivity, and reason against feelings; a dualism that is intimately related to the social divisions that are so certral to the history of civilization ruler versus ded, rich versus poo4 urban versus rural,
versus the dominated.

"civilized" versui "savagef'male versus femalq in short, the dominant


ln opposition to this dualism, Social Ecology proposes a principle of
ecological wlnleness,

which Bookchin defines as 'a dynamic unity of diversity" in which "balance and harmony are achieved by wer-changing differentiation." As a result, "stability is a function not of simplicity and

Iahn Cla* teadta philosophy at Loyola Uniousity in New Orlwn* Author $ many books and essays induding The Anarchist Momenh Reflections on Culture, Nature and Pon er (Blsck Rose Book, 7997) and most recently Renewing the Earth, an edited. allection o! essays inhonour of Munay Book&in (Green Ptint). This es*y was lirst published in 7988 in n special numbu o/Telos
dealing with "A Neoo Vision of the Worlil."

92

JolmClatk

Wlrali$Smial EcoW?

93

homogeneity but of courplodg and variet5r."l The entire course of evolution is seen as a pnocss aiming at increasing this diversification. Thus, there is an evenincreasing richness of diversity, not only in the sense of biological variety and interrelatedness, but also in the sense of richness of
oslue,

sequent stages. As result, there is an important sense in which a being consists tarfety of its bwn history. As Bookchin ocpr.esses this idea, "radical social ecololy-reads...continuity and connectedness in all its gradations,

In nature, ali

stages

of such development are incorporated in the sub-

Accordingly, wolution.should be looked upon as a process of planetary derrelopment havng ditectirxness, and involving the pro6ressive mlolding of potmtiality. $ocial Ecolory thus forms part of a long teleological tradition *tending from the ancient Greeks to the most advanced ?llth-century process philosophies. Yet Bookchin reiects the term "teleology" because of its deterministic connotations and ie association with a hierarchical worldview that looks to some transcendent source of order and movement There is no predetermined, necessary path of evolution and woild or history. The unfolding of potentiality is best describ"d ts "'tendency nisus,' rather than "the 'sure win' of classical teleology."" This directionality of nature is much like the kind of immanent teleology discovered by the early lhoist philosophers. They o<plained that each being has its own internal Tao, "way," or shiving toward its own particular good. Yet reality as a whole (or that part of it that was most vividly ocperienced, living Nafure, the biosphere) has a mor.e universal "way' that

mediations,-and mommts of development By absorbing them into the large and contoctual whole we call ecolory, it Eeasures the wisdom of the cell and of the body, the natural history of the mind and its tt"u.t rry.F that Social Ecolory comprehends, in a way that the tradition never has, in and in nature rooted as be understood mind, like all phenomena, must history. If natural history is the history of the emergence of life, consciousness, and the self-conscious mind, it is correspondingly the history of the development otfreeitotn, social Ecolory sees freedom as essentially rneaning seli-detetmination. In this sense, it is found to some degree at all levels of"u"iog, from the self-organizing and self-stabilizing tendencies of the to atom, tirougtr the growth and metabolic activities of living organisms,

the complot self-realization Proclilies of persons, societies, ecosystang

form is and tne biosphere itself. For Blokchin, "freedom in its most nascent in. an specifically such, as of life in the directiveness

c61 urlfold only through the harmonious realization of all individual goods.' It is in this sense that the antire process of development of life and mind is a movement toward the attainment of value. For Bookchin, "the universe beas witness to an ever striving developing - not merely moving substanct, whose most dynamic and creative athibute is its

already present org*ir*s a.tive effort to be itslelf and rCIlst anyecternal forces that vitiate itidentity." It is this,,germini freedo.' that develops along the path of evolution . and finally becomes the "uninhibited volition and self-consciousness' that is the goal of a fully developed human cou'munigr'6
rather than merely.as a mechanism of adaptation by individrral or-g:"it3: wi} or species. "Not only do species wolve conioindy *9 sytnglotil{tf with synchronicity each othen the ecosystem-as awhole*olves in mutual to relation in whole role of the species that comprise it and plays a broad the on depends freedom of its pits""7 Thus, the progressive unfolding o,irt"rr." of. syntbiotic Nowtian at all levels - as Kropotkin pointed out that almost ..rrtirry ago. According to Bookchin, ltcent research shows " ,,mutualistic between to relationships applies only not naturalism this complo< cellular species, but also morphologically - within and among in nature, so continuity of degree a shiking thereforg forms.l w" can see,

ItisimportanttoseethisplanetarywolutionasaholisticProcess'

increasing capacity

for

self-organization

into increasingly

complo<

forms.'a Life and mind are not random, chance occumences in a dead and unconacious universe. Rathel, there is a tendency within substance to produce life, consciousness, and self-consciousness; a tendenry to differentiate itseU, to issue in diversity and complexity in all realms of being.

1
2 3 4

Murray Bool<ctrin, The F*olo*u il Frcdom: The Fnagerce anil Dixoluthn atto, Gtiromia: Cheshir B#k;, t98t,'p. z. Murtav Bookchin. "Radical Social Eool6w! Ihrbinpq,No.3, o. 36.
$ee

ol

Hietadry, Pab

Jo[n CJral*, The Arutdrist ltlorrcnt: friltaltions oil Ctttturc, ttature, anit Pwa, Monbeal: Black Roee Books . l9&. ch. 7. Muryay Bookchin,'To;ard a Philosophy of Nature," in Michael Tobias (d'),Dep Ealogy' San Dlego, California: Avant Dooks, I9{4p.D.

:f ffi:ytLtf,lfl 7 -n""[iru", Md..o.6,


b

"9fi

rilH'f,H;3,,Ti*o*,.,",nc*,rnent,ttutv7eu,p.r.
of Nahte," p' 230'

"f"t"ord

a Philosophy

94

IolmClark

What i8 S(Eial

F.cologY?

that the free, mutualistic society towards which we aim is rooted in the
mostbasic levels of being. According to Social Ecology, this holistic, developmental understanding of organic systems and their evolution has enormous importance for ethics and politics. Indeed, only if the place of humanity in nature and natural processes is understood can yye adequately judge questions of value. We then see our own operience of valuing and seeking the good as part of the vast process of the emergence and development of value in nature. Value is achieved in the course of each being, according to its particular natutre, attaining its good to the greatest degree possible. Yet, fiom an ecological point of view, the realization of the planetary good is not merely the sum of all the particular good atfained by all beings. For the biosphere is a whole of which these beinp are parts, and, a commwity of.which they ar members The common planetary good can therefore be conceptualized only in a non-reductionist, holish'c manner, The essential place of humanity in the attainment of this good cannot be undercstimated. This is true in large part because of the technical capacity of humanity either to aid evolutionary developmmt through iudicious and restrained cooperation with nature or to put an end to the process through nuclear annihilation or degradation of the bioaphere. But, in a more fundamental sense, humanity's role in nature results from the fact that our species constihrtes the most richly developed rcalm of being to emerge thus far in the eirth's evolutionary self-realization. Iic say this is not to adopt an anthropwntrisn that makes humanity the final or even the only end of nature. Neither is it abiocenfiisrtt that would ignore wolutionary developments for the sake of biological egalitarianism. Ratlrer, itis uocenffic in the sense that it requires humanity to situate its good within the larger conto<t of the planetarygood, and to transform reason into planetary rwswt. As Bookchin states,'the greatest single role, of an ecological ethics is "to help us distinguish which of our qctions serve the thrust of natural evolution and whicli of them impede it "e Human society must therefore transform ibelf, and renew itself, using ecological wisdom, so that it becomes a social ecological system within a natural ecological system. It must be seen as "an ecosystem based on unity-in-diversity, spontaneity, and non-hierarchical rehdonships.,,l0 This

demands thaf a new ffibgitcd smsibility pervade all aspects of our social s<istence. Such a sensibility perceives "the balance and integrity of the biosphere as an end Lr itself,"" It also recognizes the inhinsic goodness of the self-realization Process (the Tao ot'way") of all the diverse beings that share our planetary ecocommunity. As the mentality of non-domination replaces the prevailing hierarchical outlook, there emerges "a new animism that respects the other for its own sake and respon4^s acliody in the form of a cteative, lovinp and supportive symbiosis."" The mutualism found throughout nature thereUyattains iti trigtrest development in a mutualistic system of values and perceptions." This n"* sensibility will give direction to the process of regenemtion that must take place at all levels: from nature, to the com-

munity, to ttre individual Person. Ttre renewal of nature is perhaps the most self-evident task today.for an ecological movement. According to social Ecology, it is necessary to create ecicommunities and ecotechnologies that can testore the balance between humanity and nature, and rcverse the process of degradation of the biosphere. Anecological communit5r will not attempt to dominate the environment, but rather will be a carefully integrated part of its ecooystem' Rather than continuing the qrstem of obsessive' uncontrolled

production and consumption, the community will practice true eco-!ryy:. ihe careful.attending to and application of 'the rules of the household." The extent to which humans have a desirable impact on the ecosystem can be decided only through careful analysis of both our ability to act on behalf of nature and the dehimental effece of our disturbing the
natural balances. A precondition for the achievement of harmony with nature is the attainment of harmony and balance within society itself, Mechanistic organization based on political and economic powermust be replaced by an Irganic community regulated through common ecological values and a commitnent to a common life. The post-scarcity society advocated by Bookchin does not transcend the "realm of necessity" through vastly increased production and consumption of commodities, nor by a more "equitabie" distibution of odsting material goods to "the masses'' A

10 Murmy Bookchin,fdufird aa |a;itigfun Soiety.Uontneal: Black

Bookchin, The Falo*tt dFreila n.

o.AZ

tl
Rose Books, 1980, p.69,

hid,o.B9. 72 tbid..b.?i&.

i5 Ei"[itri",

"me Radicatization of Nature,'p

15'

JohnAark

What is Social FtologY?

97

society does not fight addiction to harmful substances by even-handedly administering increased doses to each citizen Ratheq the ecocommunity will achiwe abundance through a critical analysis and reshaping of its system of needs. The dwelopment of an ecological sensibility will create an awareness of the imPortance of cultural and spiritual richness: that which comes from close human relationshiPs, from aesthetic enjoyment, from the unfolding of diverse human potentialities, from spontaneity, play, and all activities liberated from the deadening hand of productive and consumptive rationaliSr. The ecocom-

be retained at the level of the local community

perience. For this reason, a political form that is of crucial importance is the town or neighbourhood assembly. This assembly gives the citizenry an arerra in

the level of lived o<-

munity will seek treater simplicity, and reject the mystifying and dehumanizing economic, technical, and political systems that prevail in mass sociegr. It will highly value the comple<ity of developed personality, of subtle skills, of disciplined intelligence, of liberated imagination. In short, the greatest wealth of an ecocommunity will consist in the flowering of a ridrly elaborated libertarian and communitarian culture. The social forms that will emerge from such a culture will themselves embody the ecological ideal of unity-indiversity. A fundamental unitwill be the contmtme, a closely knit, small community based on love, friendsNp
shared values, and commihnent to a common life. It is founded on the most

its needs and aspirations.It creates a sphere in be developed and o<ercised. while it is conceiv' can citizmship which true and ecological cirlture can flourish through sensibility ecological able that a diversity or irnnity group6, cooperatives, collectives, and associations, the community assembly crlates a forum through which this muttiplicity

whichlo publicly formulate

can be

unifiedand coordinated, and allows each citizen to conceive vivid-

ly of the good of the whole community.

on Vfartiri3uUerwrote that "the whole fate of the human race" depen{B He commune.,," of the a will be "rebirth the question of whether there perc&rred clearly that if the world is ever to emertc from its self-destruc'U*ru path, it must become a universal community. And such a communit5r, he says, can consist only of a "community of communities'" If human become Ueings cannot delelop a deep sense of cornmunity - that is, an authentic in of living practice the actual tirrough &eizgs, coriunA

'

communityof-ftiendsandneighboun-thenthevastSulfsthatseParate
us from one another can neverbebridged'
as a of ttre self As Bookchin has formulated it, social Ecolo8y sees the self Hierarchical imagination and passion, harmonious slmthesis of reason, of the power has always demanded the repression of many dimensions 'r"n nr early as ihu odyury,we find odysseus, the paradigmatic mgdel of civilized mrn, vanquiihinp i. the forms of Circe, the Sircns' the Lotu+' and so o& the forces of nature' desire' the Eaters, Scylla and it ""yfJyt, And in Plato' the first great unconscious the primitive, ferninine,'the

intimate "kinship," whether or not this kinship is also biological. In additiory cooperative institutions in all areas of social life will be formed: mufualistic associations for the care and education of childien, for production and distribrition, for cultural qeatio& for play and enjoyment, for reflection and spidtual renewal. Organization will be based not on the demands of pwuer, but rather on the xf-rmlization $ prsorc as free social beings Such a transformation requires vast changes in our conception of "the political" As Bookchin states it, "societ5r, conceived of as a diversified and self-dweloping ecoeystem based on complementarity, poses a very distinct notion of politicf that stresses'human scale, decentralization, non-hierarchy, communitarianism, and face-to-face interaction between citizens."" The ideal method of decision-making is consensus, which requires an outcome based on full recognition of the worth and competence of all involved in the process. But to the o<tent that this is impossible, the most participatory forms of democracy are necessary if the values of freedom and community are to be slmthesized in practice. Ultimate authority must
14 Bookchin,'Radical Socid Ecoloryi p.X3.

Suchapossibilitydependsonarmewalatthemostpersonallevel:that

ideologistofdomination,civilizedrationalityiso<dtedastheonlytruly the "manyhuman- part of the psyche, while desire is calumniated as


heade.d monster"

that destroys and devours all'

self is seen as an aspects attain a-mutually compatible developmenL The of self-transformation process whole, yet as a-whole in constant ani self-trans.rnd"r,.". The myth of the self as a completed totality, as a to facilitate hierarchical system with a "ruling part" is a fiction designed

SocialEcologyaffirmsarr-idealofamany-sidedself,inwhiclrdiverse

o.i*i.

15 Mattin Buber,

Paths

iillJtqia,Boeton:

Beacon Press, 1955' p' 136'

lohnCla*

adaptation to a system of domination. The self contains, on the one hand, its own individuality: its own internal letos, its striving toward a good that flows in large part from ib own nature. Yet the natuie of that good and the development toward it is incomprehensible apart from one's dialectical interaction with other persons, with the community, and with the rest of nature. The goal is thus the maximum realization of both individual unigueness and social being.

THE PITFALLS OF
PROMISCUITY: SOVIET POLITICS TODAY W f .FrankHaruisan

firis conception of self and society does not accept the myth that all tension and conflict can errer miraculously disappean Indee4 this delusion
is more typical of reactionary psydrologies of "adaptation." Instead it
must be recognized that personal gtowth takes place only through dialectical interaction within the self, and behueen the self and others. The interrelationship between reasory passion, and imagination will always be dynamic and tend toward discord. In recogaizing the inaritable multiplicity of the self, Social Ecglogy is in the hadition of the great utopian philosopher Fourier, who exhorted us never to deny or repress the vast diversity of human passions and interests; instead, all should be recognized, affirme{ and harmonized to the greatest degree possible so that the self can be as muc-h a compler unity-in-diversity aq are community and nature. Bookchin has aptly said that the creation of a tsue ecological community is, above all, c work$ mt.In the same spirit, we might say that the creation of the organic self, this comple< unity of multiplicity, is the most o<quisite work of art ever undertaken by humanity and nature.

During a visit to Moscow some months ago in fune, to "test the ai4" I was told on more than one occasion that the president of the USSR, Mikhail Gorbachev, is nothing more than a ln'hore.' The word is meant to sugtest that he is a political pragmatist, pursuing power, prepared to go into whatwet political bed is necessary for achiwing that goal Of course, Gorbachev used to have policy goals, summed up by the
terms glasrosl andpcrafiaika, the joint pulpose of which was to teintegrate

the communist Party of the soviet union (GPSU) with the population at large, since it was a ruling party which had lost all PurPose beyond th1 pelpetuaiion of its own privilegee Gorbachev righuy rccognized that-it irrd fot of .Uy and that the population was thoroughly alienated from its slosans and policies. fror," of ttrir is either original or new. without reiterating the evidence, it was clear a decade ago that the soviet regime suffered a crisis of confidence among the wider population. It was possible then to argue that
Ordinary people, not the mythical's6cialist man', tum away from politics Without oryanizrng and are as nicety idioeyncratic as they opt out of the or *re CPSU, System any opposition to the Soviet their own private pursue and design the gmnd theory and practice of

people

our Generationbmril, anilauthor of sarral book,,includingThe Modern state (Bluclc R ue Bwla, L983). He hrc pablisheil nurnerous stuiies af state wpitalism and its yotitiul lorms in Easteffi Ewope. xaiier ltnioqsity, ammfier $
the

VroJro* Aortif{,n b chair ol the Political

Science Derytt,?,ent

at St'

Ptancis-

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