The Generation Of History And Man

This thesis holds that man and history are united. The course of historical development is the course of self-generation of man through his own activities. The formation and development of Western historical philosophy is the process of gradual revelation of this unity of man and history. Marx not only inherited the dialectical tradition of Western historical philosophy but also revealed its reasonable core through critique of German classical philosophy,the interpretation of human nature and its form of existence. It is on this basis that Marx constructed his unique theory of historical philosophy. He not only terminated dialectical tradition of historical philosophy but also created the analytic and critical historical philosophy. From an analysis of the human nature and its form of existence,Marx elaborated the nature of history,the mechanism of historical development,and the stages of historical development at the metaphysical level. Nonetheless,Marx did not stop at an abstract interpretation of human history. Rather,he invariably combined it with an analysis of reality,for history as a representation of human activities themselves. Only through a concrete analysis of the actual circumstances of human society in every age can we really understand and grasp the history in each age. Therefore,there has always been a dual logic in Marx's theory of historical philosophy. On the one hand ,there is the theory of three-stage development of man and his actual analysis of human history,on the other hand,i.e. an analysis of the evolutional theory of the five major formations and his theory of oriental society. It is in this unified historical theory that Marx proved the generation of man and history.