Hu Shengzhe Research On Ideology

Hu Sheng, a member of CPC, is one of the most famous scholars. He was born in the complex times of ideology conflict and was brought up in war times. He makes a lot of outstanding contribution to the spread of Marxism Philosophy, the study on modern history of China and on the history of Chinese Communist Party. His works of philosophy connect the theory of Marxism philosophy with practice in China. They are smooth and easy to understand, so they are popular among readers and have exerted great influence on the development of Marxism philosophy in modern China.Hu Sheng's academic career can be divided into three periods. In the first period of pre-1948, he worked actively on ideological struggle, and published a lot of philosophy works such as Life Outlook on New philosophy, the ABC of Dialectical materialism and How to Think, which influenced the society so much that earned him the name of"genius"and"writing specialist". In the second period of 1949-1979, his writing career was at its worst because he felt confused about the political situation. It seemed that he had lost his interest in writing and the creativity was disappearing.However, the last period, times after 1979, witnessed new beginning in his writing career. In that period, the political and cultural environment became better and Hu Sheng, in his later years, wrote a large number of influential works, forming the well-known"Hu Sheng Phenomenon".In 1920s and 1930s, hot dispute on life outlook started with Zhang Junmai's speech in Tsing Hua University in early 1923. To react to this dispute, Hu Sheng published a series of works such as A Review on the 12 Letters to the Young and Life Outlook on New Philosophy to elaborate his historical materialism. In these works, He Sheng also criticized the incorrect outlooks on life prevalent at that time. Hu Sheng holds the opinion that any thoughts on life must be based on dialectical materialism and all the youth should live an active life and set specific life goals to seek for freedom and to realize one's value.Rationalism has for long time been considered a glorious tradition in western philosophy. To Hu Sheng, rationalism has nothing to do with idealism and materialism and it is also not idealism…A culture is not born rational or irrational. It must be justified according to its stages. If it is in ascend stage, it is rational. Otherwise, it is irrational.The enemies of rationalism are intuitionism and dictatorialism, often connected with idealism. Rationalism has many forms, but the real rationalism is Marxism Rationalism. In Marxism Rationalism, all morals must be examined by reason. After being examined, the moral reason will become rational reason. Rationalism means scientific attitude, because it requires reasonable thought and a matter-of-fact attitude. It also requires freedom, as freedom is the premise for democracy. To fight for freedom for people, people's consciousness of freedom must be aroused first. Then, people can stand up to fight against despotism and obscurantist policy, to realize democracy through revolution. Democracy is the future of China, and is where the hope for national unity and revival lies.In all his life, Hu Sheng devotes himself to the popularization of Marxist Philosophy and he contributes a lot to it. The six philosophy works of his represent his great achievement. Among these influential works, Random Talk on Philosophy, the ABC of Dialectical Materialism, Thought Way and How to Think all mainly elaborate materialist dialectics. In the ABC of Dialectical Materialism, the rules for the main categories of dialectical materialism are illustrated in detail. As for Thought Way, this work puts more emphasis on viewpoint of universal relation of materialist dialectics. In the book Thought Way, Hu Sheng makes clear explanation of the overall viewpoint in thought way. In all, these works embody the gradual development of the writer's thought way.Hu Sheng holds that Historical Materialism is not philosophy, or we can say, his historical works represents his historical materialism. During the thoughts struggle, Hu Sheng gradually develops mass conception of history, arguing that people are real"heroes". He criticizes ancientry worship and he points out that the emerging class representing advanced culture and advanced productive forces will undoubtedly conquer the decadent class representing backward culture and backward productive forces. As times pass by, the ancient things have become"history". Therefore, under the current circumstances, we should learn a lesson from experience and grasp new forces to realize innovation. He bases historical segmentation of the modern history of China on Historical materialism and provides solid theoretical foundation for Chinese modern Marxism historian and CPC historian to study the modern history of China and the history of CPC, having great influence in academic circle.Hu Sheng elaborates the laws of historical research, investigates the dialectical relationship between the research on historical material and historical research, criticizes subjectivism and idealism and indicates the right direction for scientific research on social history.Hu Sheng, in his late years, writes a lot of works, in which he thinks over the relationship between Marxism and the reality in China, socialism and capitalism in modern history of China, the past, present and the future of classes and class struggle in China. Hu Sheng contributes a lot to the defending and furtherance of Marxism, to the spread and development of Deng Xiaoping Theory.Hu Sheng's academic achievement is in many aspects and his works are branded with politics. His academic thoughts are in accordance with CPC's revolution work. Although he denies the fact that his academic research has nothing to do with politics, it is widely affected by politics.The influence of politics is mostly positive, yet, the post-liberation political situation has brought him long-term puzzlement. Luckily, after the reform and opening-up, he adjusts himself to the new situation and retakes a scientific attitude towards research. From a modern research perspective, maybe some of Hu Sheng's philosophy seem over-traditional and is outside of the mainstream, yet we shouldn't doubt his contribution. It is unnecessary for us to require our predecessors be of the same level as us. What we need to do is learn from their achievement and find out their mistakes, so that we can further develop Marxism philosophy.