Study On Marx’s Theory Of Social Organism

Marx believed that the human society is an "organism combined with all of the relations which are coexisting and interdependent". The social organism is an overall category that Marx used to describe the development and operation of the human society. It is a unified whole in which all the social elements and structures are connected and interacted with each other. Also, it is a dialectical process in which all of the social activities and relations are acting and changing. Marx’s theory of social organism is an important part of the Marxist theory, and it plays an important and valuable role in the system of historical materialism and Marxist theory. Based on studying the relevant researches and literatures made by Marxist classical writers, this thesis does a comprehensive and systematic study on Marx’s social organism theory such as its origins, formation and development process, main content, historical status, contemporary values and so on. It is hoped that by this study, the multi-level and multi-dimensional understandings will be gained in this area and also its charm and value will be revealed and highlighted.This thesis has two parts:the introduction and five chapters of the main body.In introduction, the theoretical values and practical significances of the topic are described. It gives a general overview of the domestic and international academic studies in this area, and it also introduces the main ideas, methodologies, research priorities, difficulties, innovations of this thesis.The main body of this thesis is divided into five chapters. The first chapter is the investigation and classification of the historical background and theoretical origins when Marx’s social organism theory was established. The great theory never generated or founded from a whim. It must have profound historical and theoretical origins, and reflect the characteristics and real needs of the times. First of all, this thesis analyzes the historical background of Marx’s social organism theory. That is,1), transformation of history into world history. The capitalist mode of production has achieved a great success, and thus people have realized that they are existing in a big world rather than in narrow regions. Everyone is in the various factors which are correlated and interacted in the world. The development of the reality needs people to observe the world and to study the society with an organically connected and overall viewpoint.2), the great development of the natural science. When Marx founded the era of historical materialism, it was just the time when the modern science developed itself from the analysis to the dialectical combination. Especially in1830s, the three big discoveries (the cell theory, conservation of energy conversion law and the theory of evolution) revealed the dialectical unity of the material world’s universal connections and development, dramatically changing the people’s world outlooks and methodologies.3) the fast development of humanities and social sciences. History, economics and philosophy have made a number of breakthroughs. The words like movement, evolutionary, order, process, commonly association, the law of development have become the keywords in this period. These three points are the historical reasons for the formations of Marxist social organism theory. Secondly, this chapter reviews and sorts the theoretical origins of Marxist social organism, mainly including the social organism thoughts established by the two great German classical philosophers Kant and Hegel, and the social organism theories put forward by Auguste Comte, the founder of modern sociology and Spencer.Chapter Two mainly examines the formation and development process of Marxist social organism theory and how it has innovated on the pervious thoughts. Based on study and analysis of Marx’s masterpiece, according to the specific discussions of the classical writers, this part gives a systematical sorting and analysis on the formation and development process of Marxist social organism. It is divided into three stages. First, the embryonic stage:it put forward the organism theory of national life first, and then found the material basis of society. Second, the formative stage:it firstly described the basic content of the social material basis, and eventually it gave the formal presentation of the social organism theory. Third, the stage of development:it investigated the capitalist productive relations and processes, analyzed the capitalist society, which was the most developed social organism, found out its structures and relationships, and put forward under what kinds of historical...