Political philosophy - Right, Left and Green

I find find myself compelled to defend political ecology as the philosophical basis of the Green Party, which worries me a lot, because it means (to me at least) that some Greens are losing the plot.

Put simply, political philosophy consists of the antithesis (that is, the opposite pair of) of individualism (which generates Toryism Liberalism and libertarianism) and socialism (which generates the multitude of socialist sects and Communism). These two are incompatible: their only relationship consists in struggle. Attempts to find a Middle Way or Third Way between them seem doomed to failure, because both LibDemmery and Blairism has no firm ground to stand on in order to bring the opposites into resolution.

"Things fall apart, the centre cannot hold

Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world"

I am not sure where anarchy stands on the individual-social axis. Never mind. Anarchists aren't sure either.

Which is why political ecology, which resolves both individual and society in a greater whole, our being-in-the-natural-world, is such a powerful philosophical force. It transcends the human centered dialectic (opposition) between individual and society, placing them both into a greater whole, rather as religion used to in the far off days when religion was (relatively) consensual. The great advantage of ecology/environment/planet as synthesis point is that it is rather more concrete and dare I say it, objective*, than the god(s) and beings of theology.

I decided not to put this on an email discussion list. This is the beginning of my separation from a bad addiction to email discussion lists. I hope.


*All the dare-saying was because the subjective-objective split was being questioned on the list also. Ah well. Getting old.