Since ancient times, the idea that man can conquer nature has been deeply rooted in the hearts of China people. People always get the information they need to survive by conquering nature.
The harmony between man and nature is one of the basic characteristics of a harmonious socialist society. To realize the harmony between man and nature, we must correctly understand the relationship between man and nature. 1In the middle of the 9th century, Engels made an in-depth study and extensive exposition on the relationship between man and nature. Today, his basic views are not only correct, but also some words have become classic remarks, which is of great practical significance for us to correctly understand and deal with the relationship between man and nature.
First, man and nature are unified.
Since ancient times, there has been a view that man is opposed to nature. Especially in modern society, people's ability to transform nature has been rapidly enhanced, and they often put themselves on the opposite side of nature and claim to conquer and conquer nature. In view of this view, Engels clearly pointed out; We, together with our body, blood and brain, belong to and coexist in nature. With the great progress of natural science, "it is more and more possible for us to learn to recognize and control at least the distant natural consequences caused by our most common production behaviors." But the more this happens, people not only feel again, but also realize their unity with nature, the less likely they are to hold absurd and anti-natural views on the opposition between spirit and matter, man and nature, soul and body ... "In Engels' view, man is not a person outside nature, but a product and component of nature. What he said about the integration of man and nature means that man himself has the property of being a product of nature, always belonging to nature and relying on nature.
In fact, as a biological species, human beings are indeed a part of nature, and human life activities always follow the laws of nature. In the long-term evolution of nature, human beings have formed intelligence beyond other species and established an extremely complex and rigorous social organization system. Although compared with other living things and inanimate substances, human beings have many different characteristics, especially high initiative and creativity, but human beings themselves are the result of long-term evolution of nature, and have always maintained the exchange of materials, energy and information with nature. Without human beings, nature still exists, that is, nature does not depend on human beings; But human beings can only survive in a certain natural environment, which means that human beings always rely on nature.
Understanding the unity of man and nature is helpful to correctly locate the relationship between man and nature. Although people have great independence compared with other things, people don't live outside nature, let alone put themselves above nature, otherwise it will be difficult to achieve harmony between man and nature. We should see that the harmonious coexistence between man and nature is actually that man, as a part of nature, lives in harmony with the surrounding environment. It is true that in order to survive and develop, human beings need to transform and utilize nature in a certain range. However, because man and nature are integrated, any transformation of nature will directly or indirectly affect man himself, so nature can never be regarded as an object that can be transformed at will. A part of nature can be better used by human beings through transformation, while the other part can only be used by human beings if it keeps its original appearance and avoids being transformed and destroyed by human beings. There should be a self-restraint in the scope, manner and degree of human transformation of nature.
Second, understand and correctly apply the laws of nature.
Engels believes that man is superior to all other creatures because he "can understand and correctly apply the laws of nature." "We learn to understand the laws of nature more correctly day by day, and learn to understand the near or far consequences caused by our habitual process of intervening in nature." Understanding and correctly applying the laws of nature is the source of human strength and the most essential difference between human beings and other creatures.
Judging from the definition and explanation of productivity in some social science textbooks and reference books in China, most of them define productivity as people's ability to use and transform nature. In fact, using nature is the instinct of all living things, and many higher animals can even transform nature within a certain range. For example, otters build dams and bees build nests. As far as its objective effect is concerned, it is also a transformation of nature. Although the ability of these animals to transform nature can't be compared with people, so that they are considered to be completely instinctive, they have changed the original appearance of nature within the scope of their activities and made nature better used by them. So strictly speaking, using and transforming nature is not the essential difference between man and other creatures. Only by understanding and correctly applying the laws of nature to transform and utilize nature is the essential difference between man and other creatures. In primitive society, people only used nature in their own activities, including collecting wild fruits and rounding up prey, and then gradually understood and applied the laws of nature in their work. When primitive people picked up stones to attack their prey, they only used nature; When he grinds stones into specific shapes for better use, he transforms nature; As for reclaiming wasteland to grow crops and domesticate animals, it includes the understanding and application of natural laws. If primitive people stay in the state of using nature and don't know the laws of nature at all, they are no essential difference from other animals. People can be distinguished from other animals because they have gradually formed the ability to understand and apply the laws of nature through long-term labor. In modern society, people have made great achievements in understanding the laws of nature, and gradually formed a wide range of science and technology. Only by constantly understanding and correctly applying the laws of nature can we transform nature scientifically rather than blindly, so as to make rational and effective use of nature and reduce or even eliminate waste and pollution.
In reality, people often only pay attention to the near cause caused by production behavior, but lack understanding of the far cause; Only when the far-reaching consequences become quite serious after accumulation will they attract attention and eventually cause huge losses, even difficult to control and recover. This problem has been exposed in modern society, such as deforestation in some places in Europe and Asia, which leads to soil erosion and natural disasters. Engels paid far-sighted attention to this problem and warned people to learn to foresee and control the far-reaching consequences of intervention in production behavior. Reminiscent of a series of environmental problems facing the world today and review Engels' teaching and warning, people should be enlightened and aware.
Third, don't be too intoxicated with defeating nature.
Many documents quote Engels' assertion: "We should not be too intoxicated with our human victory over nature. Every time such a victory, nature will retaliate against us. Every victory did achieve our expected results at the beginning, but later and later it produced completely different and unexpected effects, which often eliminated the initial effect. " This famous assertion has become a classic statement about the relationship between man and nature.
It is understandable that modern people are proud of the achievements in transforming nature, but these achievements do not mean that human beings have defeated nature. The so-called victory or victory is usually relative to failure or failure. Since we want to achieve harmony between man and nature, we must change the long-established concept of conquering and defeating nature. The relationship between victory and defeat should not be artificially constructed between man and nature. In fact, all people's achievements in transforming nature are achieved under the premise of consciously or unconsciously following the laws of nature, and there is no reason to say that they have defeated nature. Moreover, these achievements often have a negative impact on nature and society, which will eventually lead to more or less natural retaliation. The situation of revenge in Mesopotamia, Greece, Asia Minor and some parts of Europe analyzed by Engels in those years is dwarfed by the situation in modern society. Because all countries in the world, especially a few developed countries, emit a large number of greenhouse gases and ozone-depleting chemicals, which leads to the enhancement of global greenhouse effect and the destruction of the ozone layer, endangering the survival and development of all mankind, and it is necessary to reduce the emissions of greenhouse gases and ozone-depleting substances through international agreements; Some pesticides and chemicals were praised as major inventions when they were just successfully developed, and they were widely used. Later, it was found that they would seriously harm people themselves and had to be banned. Some countries and regions implement the development model of "pollution first and then treatment", and all kinds of pollutants greatly exceed the environmental bearing limit, so they have to invest and consume huge manpower, material resources and financial resources to control pollution, which actually offsets the achievements of economic development to a great extent, and even outweighs the gains; In some places in China, deforestation led to land desertification, and finally had to return farmland to forests. There are countless examples of this.
The so-called natural revenge is personification. Nature operates according to objective laws, and there is no gift or revenge. However, because we humans claim to conquer and defeat nature, we often violate the objective laws and suffer losses as a result, which is regarded as natural revenge in our minds. No matter how you look at it, human beings need to calmly reflect on their own ideas and behaviors. Nature is infinitely vast and complex, and there are always unknown areas. Under certain historical conditions, human's ability to know, transform and use nature is limited. The laws of nature are objective and inevitable. No matter ancient or modern, human beings must follow the laws of nature, and those who violate the laws of nature will eventually suffer the consequences. Modern people don't need to go back to the past situation of reverence and blind worship of nature, but it is wise to remain modest and prudent in the face of nature, learn from nature with an open mind, and give full play to people's initiative and creativity on the premise of doing things according to the laws of nature.
Today, our life is better than ever, but we are also facing more serious ecological and environmental problems than ever. The depletion and destruction of the ozone layer, the decrease of biodiversity, the spread of acid rain, the decrease of forests, land desertification, air pollution and water pollution.
Many forests have been cut down, a lot of water has been polluted and wasted, and many wild animals have been hunted ... The sky above is not as blue as before, and the foot is no longer a pure land. How long will the clear water in the tap dry up? How many endangered animal friends are still struggling? Are humans smart or stupid?
In the relationship between man and nature, human beings have the initiative. When human behavior violates the laws of nature, resource consumption exceeds the carrying capacity of nature, and pollution discharge exceeds the environmental capacity, it will lead to the imbalance between man and nature, resulting in disharmony between man and nature.
Mother Nature, she is so generous! We are used to taking, and once this generous mother can't provide us with the resources for life, or our actions irritate her, she will give us color to see see! Then our end is only extinction! If human beings do not change the development mode in time and realize the harmonious development between man and nature, the earth may become a planet that is no longer suitable for human habitation. The survival of mankind depends on nature. Should we give her more care and love? We must treat nature equally and be integrated with nature! Marx once said: "The complete and essential unity between man and nature is the real resurrection of nature".
Speaking of the harmony between man and nature, for example, if we cut down a tree, we will plant a tree. We should try our best to make up for our previous mistakes. Be kind to everything around you, and don't hurt our good friend-animals. ...
Some people say that "human beings create and discover science and are eventually destroyed by science"! This sentence is not unreasonable. Think about it. Every day, we think about how to make better use of nature and experiment with it. This is a wonderful life. What about our descendants?
If you want to live on this beautiful earth for a long time, you have to get on well with friends around you, and you have to pay back what you owe others in the past. But it is absolutely not enough to rely on one person for this kind of thing. It is your responsibility. Finally, remember the theme of Earth Day: "Be kind to the earth-develop scientifically and build harmony together."