Chapter One: Confucianism and Nature

Abstract

Environmental writers have sought to retrieve ecological wisdom from traditional Chinese thought to critique anthropocentrism, but the rediscoveries remain a disembodied discourse and ignore the relationships among humans: the political, social, and economic structures and power relations rooted in repressive hierarchy and class and gender oppression. This chapter targets political, social, and productive relations as the crucial areas for diagnosing the ills of ecological degradation. Rather than a question of how humanity as a whole stands against nature, the chapter contends that the all-too-human power relations in economy, hierarchy, and oppression are the real culprits for environmental disasters. Humanity's domination of nature is necessarily linked to the domination of other humans and of inner human nature. This perspective illuminates Kang Youwei's ecological visions in his writings about the great world community. Kang regarded nature as the foundation for culture and civilization, valorized the public principles of common goods and equality over private property, and linked women to a vital, regenerative nature. Kang heralded the eco-socialist notions of public economy, fair distribution of wealth, and wise uses of natural resources.