The Research On Marx's Theory Of Social Existence

The concept social existence is first put forward and used by Marx in the western philosophy history. The revolution of the term contains the revolutionary change realized by Marx's philosophy. Therefore, it has important theoretical meaning to comprehend the revolutionary change on the level of ontology initiated by Marx's philosophy by connecting the ontological tradition of the western philosophy, and realizing the perspective of the significance horizon,which can't be transcended, constructed by Marx's theory of social existence. The whole dissertation is divided into four parts and unfolded centering on the bringing forward, founding, connotation and meaning of the social existence theory.In the first chapter, through the interpretation of some important philosophers'ontology in the history, we can find that although there is much concrete difference among their claims, they show the similar basic position: turn the reality into entity by suspending it, and then make the entity conceptualized through logic analysis. Such conceptualized entity constitutes the tiptop unity of the whole world, and is the basis and reason of all kinds of the concrete beings. Thus, the traditional ontology beginning with great passion to answer the question about being ends in a loss of the real one: human being and his real-life world,which leads into the final theoretical predicament. This is the theoretical background of Marx's theory of social existence. To transcend the traditional metaphysics simple subversion is far from enough. It requires the thorough transformation of the question frame. Marx firstly pulls the attention of philosophy from the abstract being beyond people back to the concrete human being, which realizes the complete transformation of the subject. Secondly, he brings forward the theory of social existence on the basis of practical dialectics,which constructs the thorough conversion of the logic. Thus, Marx avoids the fate of questioning, discovering and losing the traditional ontology can't escape when it faces the human existence full of contradiction.Marx's theory of social existence experiences three stages: emergence, formation and accomplishment. The theory emerging in the Economic and Philosophy Manuscripts of 1844, through the establishment of historical materialism in the German Ideology gets fully used in the Capital and its manuscripts. Accordingly, the concept social existence has three advancements: it is the summary of social life in the Economic and Philosophy Manuscripts of 1844; by virtue of the logic transformation of the historical materialism in the German Ideology, it becomes the theoretical results of Marx and Engels'analysis on the social life: the social relation of production, the core relation in people's social life; it isn't used comparatively with social consciousness any more in the Capital. Instead, it becomes the theoretical instrument together with natural existence to analyze the commodity and people under the capitalist society. The concept social existence comparatively with social consciousness represents the social relation of production formed in the process of the material production, while the social existence comparatively with natural existence means the pure economical existence of the commodity, which is embodied into some beings under the capitalist economic relations such as exchange value, money and capital.(Chapter 2)Therefore, Marx's social existence has generalized meaning and narrow one. The generalized social existence is the pronoun of social life, which is the human being's special way of existence. After analyzing its content, character, structure and direction of development, Marx gets the narrow sense of social existence. He points out the basic content of social life is material life, of which the core content is material production. The productive relation produced in the process of material production determines the basic color of social life.As we know, Marx's philosophy is practical materialism, and his view of practice is the primary principle, so the discussion on the relation between the theory of social existence and view of practice relates to the latter's theoretical status in the whole Marxism. On one hand, it becomes possible to rationally interpreting the theory on the basis of materialism only after practice is regarded as the core category. In one word, practical ontology is the basis of social existence theory. On the other hand, the latter is a continuation and deepening of the former. Social existence theory continues the revolutionary change from the conceptual thinking mode to practical mode leaded by Marx: turn the entity thinking mode into relation mode of modern philosophy.The establishment of social existence theory rationally resolves the problem of human's existence. In the view of natural ontology, human is boiled down to natural being, and is no more than a form of the nature. Meanwhile the spiritual ontology thinks of human as a spiritual or rational being. Marx grasps the social existence is the human's unique way of existing, and finds the unified basis of the dualistic existence of people.The theory also solves the problem about the dualistic existence of the world. Marx points out the realistic world we get material and energy from is social and historic nature in everywhere and at every time.Social existence determines social consciousness is the general principle of Marx's historical epistemology, which emphasizes we should look for and reflect the premise of the consciousness from people's real historical process. Put the principle into the view of ontology, we can get the following conclusions: firstly, natural being is always social nature; secondly, spiritual being is always social one, too. In other words, consciousness is always social consciousness; thirdly, social existence as human's unique way of existing is the integration of the two kinds of existence. (Chapter 3)Lucacs's ontology of social existence, Heidegger's fundamental ontology and Sartre's phenomenological ontology not only have theoretical resources we can absorb but also show some miss we should reflect.Lukacs reinterpreting Marx's ideological system from the existence, reconstructing his basic philosophy thoughts from the ontology has positive contributions. But he understands Marx's historical principle from the perspective of genetic principle and process property, and concludes that Nature has the external priority position no matter to human's practice or to the social entities as a whole. Thus, while he advances, he retreats to the standpoint of old materialism.Heidegger chooses to inquire the meaning of being from the Dasein. He proposes with great smart that Dasein's way of existing is Mitsein. But he talks about human's Mistein on the congenital level and ignores its concrete manifestation in the empirical world: family, society, nation or other communities. Therefore he mainly follows the path of care, dread and death in man's existence and pays more attention to describe and explain man's irrational existence condition, instead of continuing the thoughts about Mitsein to explore the meaning of the being. That Sartre uses his existentialism to complement Marxism shows he insists Marx's proposal that ontology should concentrate on human being. But he finally deviates from the basic direction Marx insists, for he doesn't analyze human's existence from the aspect of social existence, and reduces human being to being-for-itself, which equals to consciousness. He thinks man's subjectivity is the starting point of man's thoughts, action and even the whole life. He misses the real basis of man's existence. Consequently, his existentialism can't be the realistic solicitude for people but a kind of emotional care.We can see now how deep rationality and comprehensive explanatory power one kind of philosophy may have depends on in what degree it masters human's way of existence and the relation between human and the world. Why we think Marx's theory of social existence has deeper rationality and more comprehensive explanatory power is that it deeply reveals man's unique way of existence and the special relation between human and the world, which consequently offers the whole horizon that can't be transcended. (Chapter 4) In a word, the real meaning of Marx's theory of social existence lies neither in that it proposes a concrete philosophical view: social existence determines social consciousness, nor it perfects or updates one old philosophical system, but in that it implicates a brand-new philosophical idea, proposes a completely new thinking mode and methodology, and thus realizes the total revolution of philosophy, which becomes"the only philosophy that can't be transcended in our age"not only as a splendid sunrise in the western philosophy history, but also as the horizon that can't be transcended by modern philosophy.