Los Angeles Marx’s Species Being, Ecology and Feminism: Theorizing a Marxist-Humanist Alternative to Capitalism

Speaker: Heather A. Brown, author of MARX ON GENDER AND THE FAMILY

We live in an age of growing environmental catastrophe that threatens the very bases of human civilization (if not all life on the planet) as well as deepening gender oppression on many fronts. While the two topics do not seem closely related on first glance, the root of each problem is similar—the transformation of human beings and nature into objects for use and possession by some. As Marx notes, this process of alienation transforms humanity’s communal nature into its opposite—a selfish egoism which cares for nothing other than possession. However, at the same time that this is happening, there are also openings for a return to more communal and humane form of life. We will be exploring these possibilities for developing an ecologically sustainable, non-exploitative, non-sexist society using Marx’s notion of species being.

Events

Los Angeles Marx’s Species Being, Ecology and Feminism: Theorizing a Marxist-Humanist Alternative to Capitalism