| William Leiss was one of the very important ecological Marxists in 1970s. His book, the domination of nature (1972) was one of the representative works of Eco- logical Marxism. In this book, historical roots, philosophical connotation, and social significance of the idea of the domination of nature are discussed widely and deeply.The historical roots of the idea of the domination of nature are extremely complicated. Leiss'inquires these roots and evolutions from ancient myth fable, world view of religion, natural wizardry theory of the Renaissance, Bacon's philosophy and philosophies of 17th century and after. Later, Leiss discusses the theories of Max Scheler, Husserl, and Horkheimer. He pays more attention to studying the relation during domination of nature, science and technology, and social progress. Leiss denies two shallow views on environmental issues: environmental issues are the issues of economic costs; science and technology are the roots of environmental issues. He argues that the idea of the domination of nature, which is the basic contemporary ideology, is the most profound root of environmental issues. As ideology, the idea of the domination of nature ever took an important role in promoting social progress. However, with the historical development, its negative aspects have become clearer. The domination of nature departed from its initial goal that serves all mankind, has become a tool that safeguards special groups'interests. There is an inseparable link between domination of nature and domination of man. The struggle between man and nature, and the struggle among people have expanded from local to global. The struggles causing environmental crisis have become more and more intense. Facing the crisis, Leiss argues that we should pay more attention to ethical and moral progress, encourage everyone to develop themselves'critical abilities, and put the irrationality and destructiveness of human's desire under control. The idea of the domination of nature should be re-interpreted as the domination of the relation between man and nature reasonably.We can see that Leiss'views on the domination of nature are profound and meaningful. He reveals the root of environmental crisis and helps us to understand the essence of present environmental issues. It is also very important to develop everyone's critical ability. Of course, Leiss'views have obvious limitations, for example, the "prescription" for environmental crisis is not useful; his analysis of the capitalist system is not deep enough. After Leiss'research, we should pay attention to the ideological work, persist in criticizing contemporary capitalist system, reflect and solve environmental issues from social justice and international justice. |
