Humanized Nature

Philosophical category corresponding to “nature in itself”. The part of nature already changed by human practical activity and imprinted with the stamp of subjective will. The thoughts about humanized nature were first put forth by Marx in his Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844. In his exposition on estranged labor, Marx expressed the idea that man dynamically changes the objective world. He regarded the creation of the world of objects and the reshaping of the inorganic world through practice as the essential feature that distinguishes man from animal, holding that animal only produces itself, while man reproduces the natural world. Thus, he put forth: “The nature which develops in human history—the genesis of human society—is man’s real nature; hence nature as it develops through industry, even though in an estranged form, is true anthropological nature.” This is the very difference between humanized nature and nature in itself. The basis for the transformation of nature in itself into humanized nature is human practice, first and foremost the activity in material production. Man constantly transforms nature through labor and conducts material exchange (metabolism) with the nature. It is through this material exchange (metabolism) between man and nature that the nature in itself is changed into humanized nature.

Men’s practical activity is social and historical activity. In order to produce, they enter into definite connections and relations to one another, and only within these mutual connections and social relations does their influence upon nature operate—i.e., does production take place. The humanization of nature is achieved within the society, which makes the humanized nature inevitably imprinted with the stamp of society. Humanized nature is historically developed and dynamically flows in human practice and human society. Marx said that the entire history of the world is “the emergence of nature for man”. From the primitive barbaric age of man living a savage life and slash-and-burn cultivation to the modern age of high technology and information technology has manifested itself in the deepening reshaping of nature by man and the increasing capacity of man to control nature. However, today’s increasingly severe ecological crisis and environmental problems compel us to reflect on the relation of man to nature and to correctly deal with the question of the humanization of nature. The ecological crisis and environmental question can only be truly solved by an in-depth adjustment of human mode of production, mode of life and value idea, and by realizing the harmony between man and nature.