Discussion Of Historical Logic Evolution Of "Civil Society" Concept

Standing on the theory position of Marx’s Historical Materialism, and taking Marxistconcrete-abstract-concrete way of thinking as the research method, this paperinvestigates the classic writers’ texts, discusses the concept of “civil society” and therelationship between human individuals and groups, analyzes the classic expression andthe evolution of the concept of “civil society” before the birth of Marxist fromAristotle’s “polis” and Cicero’s “state” in ancient Greek and Roman period, medievaltheological thinkers’ idea of “state” and their social theory, to Ferguson’s “civilizedsociety” and Hegel’s “civil society” in the capitalist period. Marx’s concept of “civilsociety” neither came from “political ethical state”,“theological country” in the ancientsociety, nor came from Hegel’s “rational state”,“natural rights”. Marx’s logic was notthat “rationality of state” decided “civil society”, and he didn’t illustrate the produce andthe composing of “civil society” by “state rationality” or Adam Smith’s “economicman’s rationality”. Instead, Marx discovered that “state” and “civil society” were twoclosely related but different concepts after borrowing, querying and criticizing Hegel’sconcept of “civil society” and exploring the foundation and source of state. He thoughtthat “civil society”, which formed the foundation of state, decided the formation,composition and evolution logic of state, in stead of that “rationality of state” or“rational state” decided “state” and “civil society”. Then Marx further discussed thegeneration and evolution logic of capitalist society and capitalist state. He alsodiscussed the evolution logic of political legal superstructure and ideology by analyzingthe evolution logic of capitalist social existence-“realistic individual”, mode ofproduction and production relations. He illustrated the social consciousness and itsevolution by analyzing social existence of human and its evolution. Then he expressed class society, especially capitalist society, elaborated the emergence, evolution anddevelopment of social contradictions, and thus conceived future communist society withnew Historical Materialism concept, instead of the fuzzy concept of "civil society". Inhis later life, Marx found a large number of new materials about early human societycivilization that discovered by historians and archaeologists, which helped people toknow more about primitive society. Then he wrote the famous book AnthropologyNotes. This book told us that Marx began to rethink the evolution logic of “civilsociety” and the relationship between the state and society. On the basis of the aboveanalysis, this paper depicts the images of the theoretical research of “civil society”,makes a philosophical reflection on the research focus, and gives the prospect ofresearch trend.By clarifying the development of the concept of “civil society” and Marx’s conceptabout it, we can have a deeper understanding of the theoretical value and practicalsignificance of Marxism, and also the difficulty of China’s socialist construction, so thatwe can be well prepared and take active part in the great practice of socialism reformand opening up with Chinese characteristics under the guidance of Marxism.