The General Theory of Eco-Social Science

A comprehensive theory suggesting broad and even radical societal changes to make way for the coming ecological civilization.

There is nothing small about author Jin’s original thinking on where the world is, or at least should be, heading. His analysis is dauntingly all encompassing and abounds with references to everything from biology, ecology, physiology, and economics to sociology, philosophy, political science, management, and ancient Chinese culture. At its root is Jin’s assertion that industrial civilization, like agricultural civilization before it, is at an end and that the time of ecologism, when “human social activity should conform to and satisfy the duties and obligations given to man by nature,” is now at hand. He introduces the concept of what he calls eco-entities to describe all manner of organic and inorganic combinations and how they coalesce and achieve internal balance as companies or corporations in the unfolding new global environment. These eco-entities will be at the core of what’s coming next. Think Apple. Subtheories about what the author calls eco-resources, eco-economics, and eco-currency are fleshed out together with a doctrine for an ecologically correct society in which the rule of law is put aside in favor of rule by “organicism.” At its upper reaches, Jin’s theory is monist and envisions an overriding eco-entity comprising innumerable eco-entity subsets. These are not easy concepts for the lay reader to glean. Indeed, this book, the first English translation of a text that claims to have had profound influence in China, must be approached with all the intellectual aplomb a reader can muster. For all his emphasis on ecology, which is defined as the science of the relationship between organisms and their environment, Jin is far from being a rabid environmentalist. His arguments are more about recognizing the best way to run the planet and less about the necessity of an ecological response to environmental insults that some say the planet cannot much longer absorb without catastrophic results.

Difficult to decipher but arguably worth the effort.