A Study Of Marx’s Practical Rationality And Contemporary Construction

Originating from the phronesis proposed by Aristotle, practical rationality has been an important subject receiving attention from western philosophical circle since it was absorbed into Immanuel Kant’s Critical Philosophy. Classic Marxist writers attached great significance to this subject after the establishment of philosophy of practical materialism. However, traditional studies of the Marxist philosophy lopsidedly interpreted Marx’s statement that "human’s practice is a perceptual activity" as that "human’s practice is ONLY a perceptual activity", which led the practical rationality to a comparative marginalization in the field of Marxist philosophy. In the contemporary world, a great many of human’s practical activities, be they nature-remaking activities or social practices, to varying degrees, have produced effects which deviate from the purpose of practice and destroy human development, or gave rise to threats to the survival of mankind. To some extent, it suggests that perceptuality-oriented practical activities are blind, and only the practice with the guidance of practical rationality is the basic approach to a sustainable development of human society. As a result, studies on Marx’s practical rationality are theoretically meaningful to the development of Marxist philosophy, and, more than that, it attaches a certain practical significance to getting rid of irrational ideas in the contemporary world and attempts to reach civilization.Rationality is the subject in western philosophy, both old and new. It has been constantly discussed and reflected from the Ontology in ancient times to the debate between nominalism and empiricism in modern society, and from Kant’s "Copernican Revolution" to the distinction between humanistic philosophy and scientific philosophy. However, none but Marx’s practical rationality managed to surpass the traditional understanding of the reason in the west. This paper illustrates the ideological origin of Marx’s practical rationality by reviewing and comparing various Marx’s theories, then it analyzes the practical rationality in the rudimentary, development and establishment stages from the theoretical perspective of practice. The following synchronic and dynamic study of Marx’s practical rationality elaborates its meaning, characteristics and nature, and further illustrates the system that ensures its realization. Lastly, this paper discusses the realization of Marx’s practical rationality in contemporary human practice after the analysis of the current dilemma of human’s practice and rationality of it.According to the thoughts and the logical framework above, the main content of this paper is divided into five parts. Part one is about the origins of Marx’s practical rationality. Brief researches and reviews will be conducted on Plato’s, Aristotle’s and Descartes’s views on rationalism, and then, based on these, the rationalism of Classical German Philosophy and its effects on Marx will be elaborated. Part two is about the historical development of Marx’s practical rationality. Through studying Marx’s early view of reason, Hegel’s view of reason in his youth, and the reason based on practical materialism, this paper sets forth the rudiment, development and establishment of Marx’s practical rationality. Part three is about the fundamental ideas of Marx’s practical rationality, which are largely embodied in the forms of its true meaning, basic characteristics and essence. Part four is about the implementation mechanism of Marx’s practical rationality. In this part, studies on the implementation process and its form will be given respectively from the starting point of human in practice and human’s practice, and, based on this, the ultimate goal of the implementation of Marx’s practical rationality will be discussed. Part five is about the contemporary value of Marx’s practical value. The approaches of implementation of Marx’s practical rationality in the contemporary human practice, through the causation analysis of some hardship and impediments caused or confronted by human practice.Research methods used in this paper include text interpretation, historical retrospection and comparative analysis, all of which are innovative in the following points:it firstly discusses a topic that the ultimate goal of Marx’s practical rationality surpasses the instrumental reason, while the realization of interpersonal harmony, harmony between man and nature, as well as the all-round and free development of human, are the paramount embodiment of human value rationality. This paper to some extent realizes that Marx’s practical rationality must surpass both abstract reason and specific practice, and reach a high integrity of these two, in order to reflect human’s ultimate care towards itself.