Name: Marxism and Nature: From the Dialectics of Nature to Soviet Attempts to Change the Climate
Start: 2026-06-08T15:00:00+03:00
End: 2026-06-08T17:00:00+03:00
Location: Софийски университет "Св. Климент Охридски"

Marxism and Nature: From the Dialectics of Nature to Soviet Attempts to Change the Climate

Guest lecture by Dr. Mantas Antanas Davidavičius (Vytautas Magnus University, Kaunas, Lithuania) 🇱🇹 Sofia University Rectorate, auditorium 63 (South Wing, 3rd floor)
This lecture explores the relationship between Marxist thought and conceptions of nature in the Soviet Union, tracing the transformation of ecological ideas from classical Marxism to large-scale Soviet projects aimed at reshaping the natural environment. The lecture will examine how philosophical assumptions about humanity’s relationship with nature became translated into political and technological practices.
Particular attention will be given to the tensions between emancipatory visions of progress and attempts to subordinate nature to ideological goals. The lecture will also discuss how Soviet environmental policies and climate transformation projects reflected broader modernist ambitions to rationally reorganize both society and the natural world.