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L. Wang
itself human body. Man lives on nature—means that nature is his body, with which
he must remain in continuous interchange if he is not to die. That man’s physical and
spiritual life is linked to nature means simply that nature is linked to itself, for man
is a part of nature.” Marx and Engels took human life and physical organization and
its relation with nature as the first premise for establishing historical materialism.
From that they analyzed in depth the emergence, development and evolution of the
way of social production, division of labor, ownership of property, class conflicts,
urban-rural relation, state politics, military struggles, ideas and ideology…
Millions or tens of millions ago, our ancestors came into being on earth and formed
a relation with nature subsequently. Human history has been unfolding along two
intertwined centerlines. Within the society, with man-man relation as the centerline
and the way of production as the axis, humans have completed the transformation
from collecting and hunting to farming and animal husbandry, and from agricultural
civilization to industrial civilization. They are now striding toward the information
and intelligent age at a fast pace. Within the biosphere, with the evolution of mannature relation as the centerline and the exploitation of natural resources and progress
of material civilization as the symbol, humans have gradually improved their skills
and enhanced their labor in scope, scale and intensity. In this process, they have
become more capable of disturbing and changing the earth’s ecosystem, achieved
total victory in competition against other species, and eventually acquired the superpower enough to destroy mother earth. This long history can be roughly divided into
four stages.
In the first stage, man, as a chance result of life evolution on earth, wandered around
for food like other animals most of the time, with no knowledge, skill or memory.
Then natural evolution provided it with a “window period” suitable for survival,
in which cosmic rays, sunshine, atmosphere, water, temperature, land, fauna, flora,
microorganisms and minerals, as well as other unknown natural conditions happened
to facilitate the survival of this common yet special primate. Since then man has kept
evolving and reproducing.
In the second stage, man stood out from multitudes of natural species, acquired
the ability to make and use tools, learned how to start fire manually, and began to
distinguish themselves from objects, have self-consciousness and personal will. They
therefore became “cultured animals,” which continuously reinforced their competitive edges over other species through cultural rather than physical evolution, and got
so outstanding that they became the ruling primate.
In the third stage, starting from around 10,000 years ago, man, with their knowledge about plants, animals, water and soil, and climate that they had accumulated
through long experience of collecting and hunting as well as corresponding tools
and skills, embarked on the “Agricultural Revolution” in multiple regions successively. They planted crops, bred animals, and began to obtain food, energy and
other living materials from nature through proactive intervention in it instead of
completely relying on its bestowment. From then on, man has kept changing the
world according to their own will and ideal while changing themselves as well,
leading to a fundamental change in the relation between man and nature.
L. Wang
itself human body. Man lives on nature—means that nature is his body, with which
he must remain in continuous interchange if he is not to die. That man’s physical and
spiritual life is linked to nature means simply that nature is linked to itself, for man
is a part of nature.” Marx and Engels took human life and physical organization and
its relation with nature as the first premise for establishing historical materialism.
From that they analyzed in depth the emergence, development and evolution of the
way of social production, division of labor, ownership of property, class conflicts,
urban-rural relation, state politics, military struggles, ideas and ideology…
Millions or tens of millions ago, our ancestors came into being on earth and formed
a relation with nature subsequently. Human history has been unfolding along two
intertwined centerlines. Within the society, with man-man relation as the centerline
and the way of production as the axis, humans have completed the transformation
from collecting and hunting to farming and animal husbandry, and from agricultural
civilization to industrial civilization. They are now striding toward the information
and intelligent age at a fast pace. Within the biosphere, with the evolution of mannature relation as the centerline and the exploitation of natural resources and progress
of material civilization as the symbol, humans have gradually improved their skills
and enhanced their labor in scope, scale and intensity. In this process, they have
become more capable of disturbing and changing the earth’s ecosystem, achieved
total victory in competition against other species, and eventually acquired the superpower enough to destroy mother earth. This long history can be roughly divided into
four stages.
In the first stage, man, as a chance result of life evolution on earth, wandered around
for food like other animals most of the time, with no knowledge, skill or memory.
Then natural evolution provided it with a “window period” suitable for survival,
in which cosmic rays, sunshine, atmosphere, water, temperature, land, fauna, flora,
microorganisms and minerals, as well as other unknown natural conditions happened
to facilitate the survival of this common yet special primate. Since then man has kept
evolving and reproducing.
In the second stage, man stood out from multitudes of natural species, acquired
the ability to make and use tools, learned how to start fire manually, and began to
distinguish themselves from objects, have self-consciousness and personal will. They
therefore became “cultured animals,” which continuously reinforced their competitive edges over other species through cultural rather than physical evolution, and got
so outstanding that they became the ruling primate.
In the third stage, starting from around 10,000 years ago, man, with their knowledge about plants, animals, water and soil, and climate that they had accumulated
through long experience of collecting and hunting as well as corresponding tools
and skills, embarked on the “Agricultural Revolution” in multiple regions successively. They planted crops, bred animals, and began to obtain food, energy and
other living materials from nature through proactive intervention in it instead of
completely relying on its bestowment. From then on, man has kept changing the
world according to their own will and ideal while changing themselves as well,
leading to a fundamental change in the relation between man and nature.