Marx’s Theory Of Equality And Its Contemporary Meaning

Marx’s theory of equality and its contemporary meaning is the research theme of this dissertation. Its main content is about these three problems:the understanding of Marx’s conception of equality; the analysis of the contemporary challenge which Marx’s theory of equality is facing; the contemporary meaning in China of Marx’s theory of equality.This dissertation includes six chapters besides the introduction.Chapter one discusses the foundation of Marx’s theory of equality. It includes two sections. Section one discusses the foundation in reality and section two discusses the theoretic foundation, which includes the equality theory of ancient Greek based on the hierarchy, the equality theory in Middle Ages based on absolute divine authority, the equality theory in the Renaissance and the equality theory in the Enlightenment.Chapter two discusses the Marx’s criticizing on the Bourgeoisie’s and Petty Bourgeoisie’s theory of equality.Chapter three discusses the process in which Marx’s theory of equality forms. This chapter includes three sections. Section one discusses Marx’s theory of equality in the period of German-French Annals. Section two illustrates Marx’s theory of equality in the period of Paris Manuscripts. Section three illustrates the establishment of Marx’s theory of equality, which is described as "From each according to his ability, To each according to his needs".Chapter four discusses the essence of Marx’s theory of equality. This chapter includes two sections. Section one is about the essential rules of Marx’s theory of equality, which includes the class nature of Marx’s theory of equality and the meaning of equality. Although Marx has not defined equality and refused to critsize the inequality of the society from the moral foundation of justice and equality, we can also find the meaning of equality from Marx’s seeking for the origin of inequality and the persuit of the thorough equality, which includes that the origin of inequality is the alienation of people and the achievement of the thorough equality must be built on the base of the sublating of people’s alienation. Therefore we can give a conclusion that the achievement of the thorough equality and the achievement of communist are in the same way, in another word, the achievement of the thorough equality and the achievement of communist are the two sides of one progress. Section two is about the fundamental principles of Marx’s theory of equality, which includes the historical materialism and dialectics built on the base of the historical materialism. These two principles ensure the scintificalness of Marx’s theory of equality and the achievement of Marx’s theory of equality.Chapter five analyses the contemporary challenge which Marx’s theory of equality is facing. Among these challenges, the fieriest one is the doubt of the realization possibility of "From each according to his ability, To each according to his needs". This chapter will analyze the doubt itself and "From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs" to illustrates the possibility. This chapter includes four sections. Section one summarizes several types of the doubts. Section two and section three analyze the two most important doubts----"the theory of infinite needs" and "the theory of limited production", and then illustrate that these two doubts are unsustainable. Section four expounds the realization possibility of "From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs" and illustrates its meaning to Marx’s theory of equality.Chapter six discusses the contemporary meaning of Marx’s theory of equality. This chapter includes two sections. Section one analyzes the problems and their reasons in the process in which our country practices the equality of rights. In Section two, the problems of the gap between the rich and the poor in our country will be analyzed at the point of Marx’s theory of equality. And the analysis will reveal the contemporary meaning of Marx’s theory of equality.