“Until we become the architects of a society that is truly free and ecological, it will always seem that when the human brain is not adaptive, it is more often destructive than creative.” HumansSeemsBrainCreativeDestructiveArchitectEcologicalHuman BrainAdaptive Author:Murray Bookchin
“There's a sense in which Marx does contribute to the fund of human knowledge, and we can no more dismiss him than we can [George] Hegel or [Jean-Jacques] Rousseau or [Baruch] Spinoza or [Charles] Darwin; you don't have to be a Darwinian to appreciate Darwin's views, and I don't have to be a Marxist to appreciate what is valid in a number of [Karl] Marx's writings-and Marx would call that a form of simple commodity production rather than capitalism.” WritingHumansDoeFormSimpleViewsNumbersCapitalismAppreciateProductionsFundCommodityMarxistHegelHuman KnowledgeSpinozaJean Jacques RousseauJacques Rousseau Author:Murray Bookchin
“If anarcho-communism served to regiment the population in the name of libertarian unity, if it served in any way through collectivist measures to deny the rights of the individual instead of reconciling the rights of the individual with the collective, I would definitely stand completely on the side of the individualist who is trying to rescue above all that most precious thing that makes us human - consciousness and personality.” IfsWayTryingHumansNamesIndividualSidesConsciousnessRightsPersonalityUnityPopulationDenyLibertarianCommunismCollectivesRescueHuman ConsciousnessPrecious Things Author:Murray Bookchin
“I detest violence. I have a tremendous respect not only for human life but also for the animal life that I have to live with, and I believe that our destiny as human beings is to become nature-conscious as well as self-conscious, living in loving relationship and in balance and in harmony, not only with one another, but with the entire natural world.” WorldBelieveHumansWellsSelfI BelieveNaturalHuman BeingsAnimalDestinyViolenceBalanceConsciousHarmonyHuman LifeOur DestinyNatural WorldSelf ConsciousDetestAnimal LifeLoving Relationships Author:Murray Bookchin
“I will not call myself a pacifist for the very simple reason that if something like a [Francisco] Franco should arise in Spain again, or, for that matter, in America, and tried to take away whatever dwindling civil liberties and human rights we retain, I would resist them with a club if I had to. But my admiration for pacifism as an outlook and a sensibility is enormous. I just find that it gets me into contradictions, as it often gets many pacifists into contradictory positions and strategies.” IfsShouldHumansMatterReasonAmericaSimpleLibertyRightsPositionStrategyHuman RightsClubsEnormousAriseContradictionAdmirationSensibilitySpainOutlookContradictoryCivil LibertiesPacifistPacifismFrancoFrancisco Franco Author:Murray Bookchin
“Capitalism has created a situation called scarcity. And that scarcity is not natural, it's socially induced. Along with that sense of scarcity, or feeling of scarcity, is a feeling of economic insecurity. Along with that is a feeling of deprivation... And unless we can demonstrate that that feeling is not justified technologically, we will not be able to speak intelligently to the great majority of people and reorganize our economy so that we really know what needs are rational and human and what have been created, almost fetishisticaly, by the capitalist economy.” PeopleKnowsNeedsHumansHas BeensFeelingsAbleSpeakNaturalSituationEconomyEconomicCapitalismMajorityRationalInsecurityCapitalistJustifiedScarcityDeprivationCapitalist Economy Author:Murray Bookchin
“In The Ecology of Freedom, my critique of what is called civilization and industrial society is massive, and my attack upon [Karl] Marx's commitment to it as a necessary stage in human progress and the domination of nature is very sharp.” HumansProgressStageCivilizationCommitmentMassiveEcologyDominationCritiqueHuman Progress Author:Murray Bookchin
“I'm much more interested in developing human character in society. And I'm much more interested in the social conditions that foster commitment to ideals, a sense of solidarity, purposefulness, steadfastness, responsibility.” HumansCharacterSocialResponsibilityConditionsCommitmentIdealsDevelopingSolidaritySteadfastnessSocial ConditionsPurposefulness Author:Murray Bookchin
“Capitalism can no more be 'persuaded' to limit growth than a human being can be 'persuaded' to stop breathing. Attempts to 'green' capitalism, to make it 'ecological', are doomed by the very nature of the system as a system of endless growth.” HumansGrowthHuman BeingsLimitsCapitalismGreenEndlessBreathingAnarchyDoomedEcologicalMarket EconomyManipulativeMultinationals Author:Murray Bookchin
“To speak of ‘limits to growth’ under a capitalistic market economy is as meaningless as to speak of limits of warfare under a warrior society. The moral pieties, that are voiced today by many well-meaning environmentalists, are as naive as the moral pieties of multinationals are manipulative. Capitalism can no more be ‘persuaded’ to limit growth than a human being can be ‘persuaded’ to stop breathing. Attempts to ‘green’ capitalism, to make it ‘ecological’, are doomed by the very nature of the system as a system of endless growth.” HumansWellsTodaySpeakGrowthNatureHuman BeingsMoralEconomySocietyLimitsCapitalismGreenEnvironmentalBreatheEndlessWarriorBreathingMeaninglessWarfareDoomedEcologyPersuasionNaiveAttemptingPietyEcologicalEnvironmentalistMarket EconomyManipulativeMultinationalsNaivetyNaivete Author:Murray Bookchin
“As long as hierarchy persists, as long as domination organises humanity around a system of elites, the project of dominating nature will continue to exist and inevitably lead our planet to ecological extinction.” HumansLongEarthHumanityNatureExistencePlanetsProjectsPersistenceElitesContinuingPersistEcologyOrganizeDominationExtinctionHierarchyOur PlanetEcologicalInevitabilityDominating Author:Murray Bookchin
“In our own time we have seen domination spread over the social landscape to a point where it is beyond all human control. Compared to this stupendous mobilization of materials, of wealth, of human intellect, of human labor for the single goal of domination, all other recent human achievements pale to almost trivial significance. Our art, science, medicine, literature, music and charitable acts seem like mere droppings from a table on which gory feasts on the spoils of conquest have engaged the attention of a system whose appetite for rule is utterly unrestrained.” HumansArtSeemsLiteratureSocialGoalWealthAttentionMaterialsAchievementLaborTablesMedicineMereSpreadIntellectLandscapeEngagedSignificanceAppetitePaleConquestDominationSpoilDroppingCharitableMobilization Author:Murray Bookchin
“The plundering of the human spirit by the market place is paralleled by the plundering of the earth by capital.” HumansEarthSpiritCapitalismLibertarianHuman SpiritMarketplaceAnarchistPlunder Author:Murray Bookchin
“There are no hierarchies in nature other than those imposed by hierarchical modes of human thought, but rather differences merely in function between and within living things.” HumansDifferencesFunctionHierarchyLiving ThingsHuman Thought Author:Murray Bookchin
