Philosophical Exploration and Expression of Chinese Road

The Sinicization of Marxist philosophy in the past hundred years is fundamentally to explore and answer "where is China going", that is, the central question of modern China. The study of Marxist philosophy in China has continuously solved and explored the major problems of this era in different historical periods, and the Chinese Marxist philosophy constructed by it has thus become the philosophical expression of the Chinese road in different periods. The three articles published in this issue focus on the sinicization of Marxist philosophy and the philosophical expression of the Chinese road, hoping to trigger further discussion in the academic community.

In modern China, the central issue of the times has always been the question of "where is China going", that is, the question of what path China will take. The Sinicization of Marxist philosophy in the past hundred years is fundamentally to explore and answer this question. The Sinicization of Marxist philosophy is to combine Marxist philosophy with China's reality and constantly create and develop Chinese Marxist philosophy. As the theoretical achievement of the Sinicization of Marxist philosophy, Chinese Marxist philosophy is the philosophical expression of the Chinese road.

Preliminary Philosophical Expression of Chinese Road by Early Chinese Marxists

After the Opium War in 1840, the Western powers bombarded China's long-term closed door with strong ships and profits. The degree of China's colonial and semi-colonization continued to intensify, and the crisis of the Chinese nation became increasingly serious. The question of "where is China going" has become increasingly prominent. The central issue of the times. In order to save the disaster-ravaged Chinese nation and answer the question of "where is China going", China's advanced intellectuals learned from the West one after another, and finally found Marxism under the inspiration of the Russian October Revolution. As Mao Zedong said, since then, they have used "proletarian cosmology", that is, Marxist philosophy, "as a tool for observing the fate of the country", and came to the conclusion that they must "follow the path of the Russians. The so-called "taking the road of the Russians" is an answer to the question of "where is China going" from the overall direction. It is in terms of the nature of the Chinese road. It means that China must pass class struggle and class struggle like the Russian October Revolution. The realization of socialism through the proletarian revolution does not mean that the Russian road is copied in all aspects.

After the May Fourth Movement, the dissemination and research of Marxist philosophy by early Chinese Marxists reflected the distinctive characteristics of using Marxist philosophy "as a tool to observe the destiny of the country" and focusing on the philosophical exploration of the nature of Chinese roads. Li Dazhao believes that Marxism is "the theory of the original movement of world transformation" and "the guide star to save China", and emphasizes that historical materialism is the theoretical basis of the whole Marxism. Based on the basic principles of historical materialism, he pointed out that in order to solve various social problems in China at that time, we must first devote ourselves to the solution of economic problems, because "the solution of economic problems is a fundamental solution. Once the economic problem is solved, any political problem, legal problem, family system problem, women's liberation problem, and workers' liberation problem can be solved"; and to solve the economic problem, it is necessary to actively carry out class struggle and carry out social revolution like Russia. He said that if Marx's theory of class struggle is not applied, "if we do not use this theory as a tool for the actual movement of workers' unity, then the economic revolution will never be realized".

Qu Qiubai believes that Marxist philosophy is a philosophy to transform the world, and materialist dialectics is the weapon of Marxism to transform the world. He pointed out that in order to transform Chinese society, it is necessary to "use the methods of social science to try to dissect China's political economy and discuss actual movements." The fundamental method of social science is "mutual argumentative materialism". Qu Qiubai also attached great importance to the study and dissemination of the materialist view of history. He believes that Marx's historical materialism is a dialectical materialist view of history, which is a theory that explores the secrets of capitalist society and reveals the progress of human society. He also specifically used historical materialism to make a concrete and profound analysis of the nature of Chinese society and many problems of the Chinese revolution, and demonstrated the necessity and inevitability of China's socialist revolution.

The reason why Li Da has spared no effort to study and spread Marxism is also to explore and answer the question of "where is China going. Li Da is convinced that historical materialism can not only help people understand and grasp the core of social organizations, but also point out the direction of social development and provide policies for people to transform society. Based on the basic principles of historical materialism, he pointed out that a correct understanding of Chinese society is the fundamental prerequisite for the transformation of Chinese society, and to correctly understand Chinese society, it is necessary to study the economic conditions of Chinese society in depth. To this end, he used historical materialism to make an in-depth study of modern Chinese economic history, and thus made an incisive analysis of the nature of Chinese society and a series of important issues of the Chinese revolution. He pointed out that Chinese society is a semi-colonial and semi-feudal society. The task of the Chinese revolution is to overthrow imperialism and eradicate feudal relics. The inevitable trend of the Chinese revolution is to reach the social revolution by the national revolution and the democratic revolution. Only when all the people rise up to overthrow imperialism, eradicate feudal forces, establish popular power, vigorously develop national capital, and thoroughly solve the land problem, will there be a new society of true freedom and equality.

The above shows that after the May 4th Movement, the early Chinese Marxists, in the process of spreading Marxist philosophy in close combination with China's reality and thus opening up the Sinicization of Marxist philosophy, have made a philosophical examination and exploration of the nature of the Chinese road and made a preliminary philosophical expression of the Chinese road.

The Philosophical Expression of Chinese Road in the Period of Democratic Revolution and the Early Founding of the People's Republic of China

The Sinicization of Marxist philosophy, initiated by the early Chinese Marxists, bore great theoretical fruits in the late 1930 s and formed Mao Zedong's philosophical thought. it has pushed the Chinese Marxists' solution to "where is China going" and the philosophical exploration of the Chinese road to a new stage.

"On Practice" and "On Contradiction" are the core texts of Mao Zedong's philosophical thought, and they are also the representative works of Mao Zedong's philosophical exploration of the Chinese road. The theoretical contribution of these two philosophical works does not lie in the elaboration of the basic views of Marxist philosophy, but in the use of Marxist philosophy to profoundly summarize the rich experience of Chinese revolutionary practice. Although the early Chinese Marxists have already opened the prelude to the Sinicization of Marxism, it is not a simple thing to realize the combination of Marxism and Chinese reality. It not only requires people to deeply understand the spiritual essence of Marxism, but also needs people to deeply understand and grasp the reality of China. However, in the course of the Chinese revolution in the 1920 s and 1930 s, there has always been subjectivism within the Communist Party of China that deviated from and hindered the integration of Marxism with China's reality, including dogmatism and empiricism. They have repeatedly caused the Chinese revolution Suffered major setbacks.

On Practice focuses on analyzing and revealing the epistemological roots of subjectivism in the Chinese revolution and the ways to overcome them. On the basis of a systematic discussion of the relationship between practice and knowledge, Mao Zedong pointed out: "Practice, knowledge, re-practice, re-knowledge, this form, the cycle of endless, and the content of each cycle of practice and knowledge, are relatively advanced to a higher level. This is the whole epistemology of dialectical materialism, this is the dialectical materialism of the unity of knowledge and action." Mao Zedong believes that all forms of subjectivism "are characterized by the separation of subjectivity and objectivity, and the separation of cognition and practice". In order to overcome the subjectivism in the Chinese revolution, we must fundamentally eliminate its epistemological roots: "our conclusion is the unity of subjectivity and objectivity, theory and practice, knowledge and action, and oppose all 'left' or right erroneous ideas that deviate from specific history."

On Contradiction, on the other hand, focuses on analyzing and revealing the methodological roots of subjectivism in the Chinese revolution. Mao Zedong systematically expounded the universality and particularity of contradictions and their dialectical relationship, emphasizing that "the truth of common individuality and absolute relative is the quintessence of the problem of contradictions in things, and not knowing it is tantamount to abandoning dialectics". Mao Zedong pointed out that in terms of cognitive methods, they did not understand the "common individuality and absolute relative truth" and deviated from the dialectical cognitive method of "special-general-special. "The Chinese Communists must learn this method in order to correctly analyze China's history and current situation and infer the future of the revolution".

In the 1940 s and 1950 s, Mao Zedong embodied the unified view of knowledge and practice of dialectical materialism systematically expounded in "On Practice" and "On Contradiction", especially the general formula of human cognition of "practice-cognition-practice" as the party's leadership method and working method, and successively put forward the "unity-criticism-unity" method of dealing with contradictions among the people and the materialism of "material-spirit-material, this paper expounds a set of Chinese Marxist philosophy and constructs a complete system of Mao Zedong's philosophical thought. Under the guidance of Mao Zedong's philosophical thought, the Chinese Communists represented by Mao Zedong successfully opened up the revolutionary road of encircling the city with the countryside and finally winning the victory of the whole country during the democratic revolution period, and successfully opened up the road of socialist transformation in the early days of the founding of the the People's Republic of China. It is in this sense that we say that Mao Zedong's philosophical thought is the philosophical expression of the Chinese road during the democratic revolution and the early days of the the People's Republic of China.

Contemporary Chinese Marxist Philosophy: Philosophical Expression of the Socialist Road with Chinese Characteristics

The successful convening of the Third Plenary Session of the Eleventh Central Committee of the Communist Party of China marked that Chinese society has entered a new historical period of reform and opening up, and also opened a new chapter in solving the problem of "where is China going" and exploring China's road with Marxist philosophy.

First of all, through the philosophical summary of the practical historical experience of China's socialist construction, it provides the fundamental ideological premise and philosophical methodology guidance for the opening and continuous expansion of the road of socialism with Chinese characteristics. From the discussion on the standard of truth in 1978 to the discussion on humanitarianism and alienation in the late 1970 s and early 1980 s, the discussion on productivity standards in the 1980 s and early 1990 s, the discussion on the reform of the philosophy textbook system in the middle and late 1980 s and the discussion on practical materialism triggered by it and continued to this day, the historical experience of China's socialist construction practice has been profoundly summarized from a philosophical perspective, they have continuously promoted the ideological liberation movement in the new era and played a vital philosophical leading role in the expansion of the road of socialism with Chinese characteristics.

Secondly, closely integrating the practice of socialism with Chinese characteristics requires the integration of various philosophical resources to continuously inject new philosophical concepts into the exploration of the road of socialism with Chinese characteristics. The study of Chinese Marxist philosophy in the new period promotes the Sinicization of Marxist philosophy with the spirit of the times of reform and opening up, focuses on the creative application and innovative development of Marxist philosophy, and pays attention to the creative transformation of the wisdom of Chinese traditional philosophy. efforts should be made to absorb various philosophical resources in the contemporary world, which has laid a solid theoretical foundation for the party's theoretical innovation and provided rich philosophical nourishment for the practice of socialism with Chinese characteristics. For example, the philosophical principles such as people-oriented, promoting the all-round development of people, and the subject of the people, which have been fully discussed in the study of Marxist philosophy, have been transformed into the ruling concept of the Communist Party of China to expand the road of socialism with Chinese characteristics through the party's theoretical innovation. And Marxist political philosophy concepts such as democracy, freedom, equality, justice, and the rule of law have also been refined as important contents of my country's socialist core values.

Finally, through the philosophical analysis of various major issues in the development of socialism with Chinese characteristics, the philosophical planning and philosophical construction of the path of socialism with Chinese characteristics are carried out. This is prominently reflected in the report of the 19th CPC National Congress on the promotion of the Sinicization of Marxist philosophy and Xi Jinping's thought of socialism with Chinese characteristics in the new era. The report of the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China used the basic principles of Marxist philosophy to analyze the current social reality of our country, and concluded that "the main contradiction in our society has been transformed into the contradiction between the people's growing needs for a better life and unbalanced and inadequate development". Scientific thesis, and based on this, put forward the major proposition that "socialism with Chinese characteristics has entered a new era, at the same time, it clearly explained the profound connotation of Xi Jinping's thought of socialism with Chinese characteristics in the new era with" eight clearness "and" fourteen persistence. It can be said that the report of the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China on the main contradictions of our society in the new era has carried out an overall philosophical planning and philosophical construction of the road of socialism with Chinese characteristics in the new era.

Source: People's Daily Online