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Moral Dimension Of Marx's Materialistic Conception Of History And Contemporary Perspective On It

Posted on:2011-03-07Degree:DoctorType:Dissertation
Country:ChinaCandidate:J H YuFull Text:PDF
GTID:1115360305472943Subject:History of development of Marxism
Abstract/Summary:PDF Full Text Request
Materialistic conception of history is the core of Marxist philosophy and the cornerstone of Marxist theory. It is also the main theoretical tool of our understanding and resolving the issue of human social development.Scientific dimension is the basic dimension of materialistic conception of history. However, the materialist conception of history is not "morally neutral" or "value-free" system of pure science. In fact, if we deeply reflect the starting point and the destination point of materialistic conception of history, and deeply analyze the profound meanings of Marx's critical spirit and practice view, We can easily find that materialistic conception of history is both "true" doctrine and "good" theory resorting to the realization of people's liberation, freedom and comprehensive development. Materialistic conception of history has rich and deep intrinsic moral dimension. Materialist conception of history takes no interest in the abstract and empty moral teachings and the establishment of formal ethics but rather implies the high moral ideals and values pursuit in the theoretical thinking of "realistic human" and "real world", in the objective and dispassionate analysis of the law of historical development of society and in the practical pursuit of social development goals. Thus, materialist conception of history is a theory of "great good". It is the highest state of moral ideal and value appeal. It can be said that unity of science Dimension and moral Dimension is its inherent characteristics.The moral dimension is inherent implication and implicit premise throughout the process of the creation and development of historical materialism, and it is value orientation of scientific dimension of materialistic conception of history. The moral dimension should become an important domain and new perspective in the study of materialistic conception of history.The study of moral dimension of Marx's materialistic conception of history has important theoretical significance for us to get rid of the one-sidedness in research methods to understand the materialistic conception of history only from the scientific dimension, and to expand the research fields of materialistic conception of history, and to deepen the study of Marxist ethics. It also has important practical significance in the guidance of China's socialist moral construction and in the deeply understanding the moral dimension of theory achievements of Marxism in China—theory of deng xiao ping, the Important Thought of Three Represents and Scientific Concept of Development. In the contemporary world, some phenomena such as poverty, injustice and lack of freedom Marx criticized still exists, which also determines that moral spirit of Marxism has been maintaining its exuberant vitality and vibrant innovation, and it is the need of the times and the need of practice for us to deeply grasp the moral spirit of materialistic conception of history.The correct understanding of the moral dimension of Marx's materialistic conception of history is the basic premise to correctly grasp Marxisit moral theory. It is also a effective path to reasonably solve the moral paradox of Marxism. Proceeding from the principle of moral interpretation, we are not only able to clearly find the evolution from abstract to science of the moral factor in Marx's thoughts and profoundly comprehending the way of development of Marx's moral ideas, but also able to deeply grasp the inherent unity of the scientific dimension and the moral dimension of materialistic conception of history so as to provide an important theoretical foundation for demonstrating to the unity of the scientificity and the morality of Marxism with materialistic conception of history as the cornerstone. This is just the crux to solve the moral paradox of Marxism. However, for more than a century, the moral dimension of materialistic conception of history has received little attention and research. In the west, from the orthodox Marxists to revisionists of Marxism, then to the Western Marxists and "Marxism-study" scholars, the most of them deny or reject the moral dimension in the contents and the basic spirit of historical materialism. At home, most scholars have followed the point of view of the former Soviet Union. They emphasize that materialistic conception of history is only the scientific system to reveal the laws of social development, while they ignore its intrinsic scientific dimension complement each other with another fundamental dimension-the moral dimension. So far, research on the moral dimension of historical materialism is still in a weak link. This is not only the deficiency in the study of materialistic conception of history but also the shortcoming of Marxist ethics; not only we can't accurately grasp the deep meaning and the intrinsic characteristics of materialistic conception of history, but also materialistic conception of history can't play a full guidance function and value in the socialist moral construction. For the above-mentioned reasons, it expands and deepens the research fields of materialistic conception of history, deepens the study of Marxist ethics and enriches moral theory of Marxism to take "moral dimension of Marx's materialistic conception of history" as the starting point and the breakthrough point, to reveal the deep meaning of the moral dimension of materialistic conception of history completely and systematically in theory and to open its "good"moral values in a shelter in "true" theory in the fields of Marxism research. It is also important to guide the socialist moral construction.Moral dimension of materialistic conception of history can be located in three aspects. First, materialistic conception of history contains scientific dimension of moral criticism. Creation of materialistic conception of history marks the transformation of the perspective of Marxist critical theory. That is, the abstract moral criticique on the basis of "moral evaluation of priority " turned on historical evaluation and critical criticique on the basis of "historical evaluation of priority ".However, materialistic conception of history doesn't cancel moral critique in the transformation of critical perspective.It makes moral critique to be based on economic critique and historical evaluation and realizes the organic unity of morality, scientificity and dialectic of critique. Second, it contains the dimension of moral practice beyond the moral Utopia. Materialistic conception of history disdains empty moralization. It requires to achieve moral ideal and value goal in actual material production practice, human survival practice and practice of proletarian revolution. Thus, it contains profound quality of moral practice. It is not only scientific view of history but also philosophy of moral practice beyond moral utopia. Third, it contains deep-felt dimension of ultimate concern.People's liberation and the free and comprehensive development is the ultimate concern of materialistic conception of history.It is not only a ultimate value concern but also a ultimate moral concern and implies profound happiness meaning. Ultimate concern of historical materialism organically combine itself with historical concern, real concern and class concern. So,the ultimate concern is most scientific in human history. The three dimensions are important performance and deep meanings of the moral dimension of historical materialism in theory. They can play a important guiding function in contemporary China's persistenting the unity of moral critique, economic criticique and historical evaluation, practicing the moral ideal and promoting the moral progress, and exploring the real path of ultimate concern.Contemporary theoretical achievement of Marxism in China—Scientific Concept of Development is the inheritance and development of the theory of materialistic conception of history and Marxism. The proposing of Scientific Concept of Development has profound moral rationality and moral necessity. It implies people-oriented moral orientation and the internal moral pursuit of social justice, social harmony and ecological ethics. It demonstrates the dual significance of economy and morality and the inherent unity of truth and good. In-depth theoretical perspective and analysis of the moral dimension of Scientific Concept of Development is the contemporary needs pursuing Scientific Concept of Development in modern times and it is also further theoretical extension of the study of moral dimension of materialistic conception of history and practical perspective. The research not only makes people more deeply understand the development and concrete manifestation of the moral dimension of material istic conception of history in contemporary China, but also helps to enhance the attractiveness, cohesion and moral appeal of the socialist mainstream ideology.There is a one-sidedness that scientificity and morality (humanity) of materialistic conception of history are split in contemporary western scholars'studies. On the one hand, some Western Marxists and scholars have one-sided emphasis on the scientific dimension of materialistic conception of history to ignore or even deny its moral dimension. This makes them unable to fully and accurately grasp the deep meaning and basic theoretical dimension of materialistic conception of history;on the other hand, a considerable number of Western Marxists and Marxist researchers have abandoned the scientific nature of materialistic conception of history and abstractly think about intrinsic moral theory and the humanitarian of Marxism, and even integrate materialistic conception of history and Marxism with it as the cornerstone into the humanitarian.They humanize materialistic conception of history and Marxism with materialistic conception of history as the cornerstone. As a result, not only they abandon the scientific dimension of materialistic conception of history, but also their understanding of the moral dimension of it is also a distortion rather than a real grasp.In the Western "Analytical Marxism", Wood and other scholars, as the theorists of Marxist "immoralism", have refused to recognize the justice dimension of materialistic conception of history.They obviously misunderstand materialistic conception of history. Hussami and other scholars, as the theorists of Marxist"moralism", believe that Marx's critique of capitalism is based on the position of justice or morality and Marx's moral critique is a critique of justice. This point of view separates from materialistic conception of history to abstractly talk about the justice dimension of Marx's ideology. It is caught in the the quagmire of historical idealism and is not correct understanding of Marx's moral theory. Kai Nielsen, as one of the representative men of Marxist "moral ism", proceeding from the historical materialism, not only affirms the value and status of historical materialism in the Marxist theoretical system but also confirms the scientific nature of historical materialism to a certain extent with his own unique wisdom and profound grasp of historical materialism. And on this basis, he objectively illustrates the relationship between historical materialism and morality (justice, equality). Nielsen's research methods and ideas not only make a theoretical contribution for insisting on the research on the unity of the scientific dimension and the moral dimension of historical materialism but also provides a viable research path to solve the moral paradox of Marxism. His research is also an enlightenment to the building of conception of justice and equality in contemporary China.
Keywords/Search Tags:materialistic conception of history, moral dimension, contemporary perspective, Scientific Concept of Development
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