A Study On The Ecological Thought Of The Conditions Of The Working Class In England

Engel’s "The Conditions of the Working Class in England"(hereinafter referred to as "The conditions")has described a vivid picture of British society in the mid-19 th century.With the point of historical materialism,Engel has revealed the relationship between human and nature by talking and analyzing Britain under the industrial revolution.Therefore,this paper takes the book as central resource and connects other classic works around that time.Basing on worldwide writers’ research,this paper also sorts out Engel’ realistic and theoretical context of this work.In addition this,this paper discusses the ecological thought in that work also.The main points of this paper are as follows.First of all,the ecological thought in The conditions is produced under certain realistic background and theoretical origin.From the realistic background,it is rooted in the destruction of the capitalist mode of production to the natural environment,resulting in a serious ecological crisis.From the perspective of theoretical origin,Engels absorbed and sublated the ecological thoughts of German classical philosophers.On the one hand,he directly attacked Schelling’s "pantheism" natural philosophy;on the other hand,he absorbed the reasonable elements of Hegel’s natural philosophy and Feuerbach’s natural philosophy.In addition,Engels took the ecological thought of German classical philosophers as a "weapon" and stood in the position of historical materialism,strongly criticized pantheism under the cover of "German mysticism" and Malthusian population theory under the dispersion of crude and barbaric system.Secondly,Engels not only analyzes human,nature and the relationship between human and nature under the industrial revolution,but also analyzes the causes and solutions of capitalist ecological problems.In Engels’ view,people in the industrial revolution were working machines dominated by accidents,and they were naturally databases for providing raw materials;Man and nature are in a state of alienation,and they are in opposition to each other and getting worse under the "alienated labor".The reason for this situation is that the British society at that time took the capital pursuing the value of multiplication as the idol,based on the capitalist private ownership established on the basis of a few people getting rich,and the bad living habits of Irish residents in the history of British society,which caused the serious ecological crisis in Britain at that time.But the ecological thought of The conditions is not only epistemology,but also methodology.Engels provides us with the path direction and value reference in dealing with the ecological environment problems.On the one hand,we should adjust the material transformation between man and nature reasonably,that is,we should use science and technology correctly;On the other hand,we should consciously improve the relationship between people,that is,to pursue communism.Finally,the ecological thought in The conditions has distinct characteristics and contemporary value.Engels studied "this road" through in-depth social investigation,based on "on-the-spot investigation and material analysis",based on the investigation of "realistic man and nature",and aimed at the transformation of "ugly reality",which made the ecological thought of The conditions have strong reality.At the same time,as one of the early classic representative works of Engels’ ecological thought,The conditions has laid a theoretical foundation for Engels’ ecological thought,and also provided theoretical enlightenment for people to understand and deal with the relationship between man and nature.As an important part of Marx’s theory,the ecological thought in The conditions is of great practical significance to the construction of socialist ecological civilization and the treatment of contemporary global ecological problems.