||This article may have too many red links. (April 2012)|
|Full name||Murray Bookchin|
|Born||January 14, 1921
New York City, New York
|Died||July 30, 2006
(Burlington, Vermont) (age 85)
|Era||20th / 21st-century philosophy|
|School||founder of social ecology|
|Main interests||Social ecology, libertarian municipalism, social hierarchy, dialectics, post-scarcity anarchism, libertarian socialism, communalism, ethics, history of popular revolutionary movements|
|Notable ideas||social ecology, libertarian municipalism, dialectical naturalism|
Murray Bookchin (January 14, 1921 – July 30, 2006) was an American libertarian socialist, political and social philosopher, speaker and writer. For much of his life he called himself an anarchist, although as early as 1995 he privately renounced his identification with the anarchist movement. A pioneer in the ecology movement, Bookchin was the founder of the social ecology movement within libertarian socialist and ecological thought. He was the author of two dozen books on politics, philosophy, history, and urban affairs as well as ecology.
Bookchin was a radical anti-capitalist and always asked the decentralisation of society. His writings on libertarian municipalism, a theory of face-to-face, grassroots democracy, had an influence on the Green Movement and anti-capitalist direct action groups such as Reclaim the Streets. His criticisms of "new age" Greens such as Charlene Spretnak contributed to the divisions in the American Green movement in the 1990s.
Libertarian municipalism[change | change source]
Bookchin was the first to use the term "Libertarian municipalism", to describe a system in which libertarian institutions of directly democratic assemblies would oppose and replace the State with a confederation of free municipalities. Libertarian municipalism intends to create a situation in which the two powers — the municipal confederations and the nation-state — cannot coexist.
Bibliography[change | change source]
Books[change | change source]
- Our Synthetic Environment 1962
- Post-Scarcity Anarchism (1971 and 2004) ISBN 1-904859-06-2.
- The Limits of the City (1973) ISBN 0-06-091013-5.
- The Spanish Anarchists: The Heroic Years (1977 and 1998) ISBN 1-873176-04-X.
- Toward an Ecological Society (1980) ISBN 0-919618-98-7.
- The Ecology of Freedom: The Emergence and Dissolution of Hierarchy (1982 and 2005) ISBN 1-904859-26-7.
- The Modern Crisis (1986) ISBN 0-86571-083-X.
- The Rise of Urbanization and the Decline of Citizenship (1987 and 1992)
- The Philosophy of Social Ecology: Essays on Dialectical Naturalism (1990 and 1996) Montreal: Black Rose Books.
- To Remember Spain (1994) ISBN 1-873176-87-2
- Re-Enchanting Humanity (1995) ISBN 0-304-32843-X.
- The Third Revolution. Popular Movements in the Revolutionary Era (1996-2003) London and New York: Continuum. ISBN 0-304-33594-0. (4 Volumes)
- Social Anarchism or Lifestyle Anarchism: An Unbridgeable Chasm (1997) ISBN 1-873176-83-X.
- The Politics of Social Ecology: Libertarian Municipalism (1997) Montreal: Black Rose Books. ISBN 1-55164-100-3.
- Anarchism, Marxism and the Future of the Left. Interviews and Essays, 1993-1998 (1999) Edinburgh and San Francisco: A.K. Press. ISBN 1-873176-35-X.
Articles[change | change source]
References[change | change source]
- Bookchin, Murray. The Ecology of Freedom. Oakland: AK Press, 2005. p.11
-  Small, Mike. ‘’Murray Bookchin: US political thinker whose ideas shaped the anti-globalisation movement’’. ‘’’The Guardian’’’ August 8 2006
- Bookchin, Murray. The Philosophy of Social Ecology: Essays on Dialectical Naturalism. Montreal: Black Rose Books, 1996. p.57-9
- Small, Mike. Murray Bookchin The Guardian August 8, 2006
-  Biehl, Janet. "Bookchin Breaks with Anarchism". Communalism October 2007: 1.
- John Muir Institute for Environmental Studies, University of New Mexico, Environmental Philosophy, Inc, University of Georgia, ‘‘'Environmental Ethics’’’ v.12 1990: 193.
- Libertarian Municipalism: An Overview
- Biehl, Janet (1997), The Murray Bookchin Reader (An Anthology). Cassell ISBN 0-304-33874-5.
- Marshall, P. (1992), "Murray Bookchin and the Ecology of Freedom", p. 602-622 in, Demanding The Impossible. Fontana Press. ISBN 0-00-686245-4.
- Bookchin, Murray (1999). Anarchism, Marxism and the Future of the Left. Stirling: AK Press.
Related pages[change | change source]
Other websites[change | change source]
- Murray Bookchin Archive at Anarchy Archives
- Institute for Social Ecology (ISE)
- Communalism: International Journal for a Rational Society
- Social Ecology London. English study/action group exploring Bookchin's ideas.
- Democratic Alternative. Scandinavian communalist organization based on Bookchin's ideas. In Svenska, Norsk, Espanol, English.
- My Graphics About Murray Bookchin: blog and archive of comic strip stories about Bookchin's life maintained by Janet Biehl.