Research On Marx's Critical Thoughts Of Modernity Society Based On "British Practice"

For a long time,Marx's discourse of modernity has been stuck in German classical philosophy,but it is one-sided to interpret Marx's thought of modernity only from the criticism and transcendence of Hegel and Feuerbach.The shortcoming of this research approach is that Marx's criticism of modernity based on German classical philosophy is only the criticism in the field of social consciousness and neglects the criticism in the field of social existence.The German classical philosophy provided the methodological revelation for Marx's modernity critique and could not be the realistic basis of Marx's modernity critique.Taking "British Practice" as the starting point,this paper examines the issue of modernity in Marx's theory of social criticism in order to overcome the one-sidedness of studying Marx's thought of modernity based on German classical philosophy,realize the organic combination of criticism of social consciousness and criticism of social existence,further expand the research horizon of Marx's thought of modernity,and show the integrity,scientific and practicality of Marx's critique of the modernity society.In Marx's context,the critique of the modernity society is not only a critique of social consciousness including political law consciousness,morals,philosophy,but also a social existence based on the mode of society.As for the logical approach of Marx's critique of the modernity society,its modernity social critique has undergone a logical turn from the critique of consciousness of society to the critique of social existence,and the "material benefit" is the intrinsic source of stimulating this turn.Marx's critique of the modernity society began with Hegel's criticism of legal philosophy and focused on the relationship between law,man and state,while the backward social reality in Germany could not be regarded as the realistic basis for Marx's criticism of legal philosophy,and the perplexity of "material benefit" finally prompted Marx to look for the answer to the problem beyond the confines of German classical philosophy to "British Practice"."British Practice" clearly shows the historical generation,internal crisis and historical trend of modernity society,and objectively reflects that modernity society is a historical development process from self-affirmation to self-denial and self-transcendence.Marx's critique of the modernity society based on "British Practice" not only reveals the real source of surplus value,but also lays the tone of historical materialism which determines social consciousness.This paper aims to reveal the material source of modern social alienation by Marx's critical Analysis of "British Practice",to clarify the general law of modernity social development and to reconstruct the modernity society.Marx's critique of the modernity society based on "British Practice" consists of four parts which are the critique of social dynamic mechanism,the critique of social operating mechanism,the critique of social ideology and the construction of new modernity society.The alienation of the modernity society focuses on opposition between the industrial civilization and the human beings,the social operating mechanism based on capital increment,class consciousness of liberalism.Through revealing the essence of technology,social operating mechanism and social ideology,Marx's critique of the modernity society is aimed to search actual method of overcoming the alienation of modernity society,eventually realizing the final destination that capitalism modernity society is replaced by the socialist modernity society.In the first place,through analysing "British Practice",the critique of social dynamic mechanism of the modernity society is aimed to reveal the internal contradiction of the production of modernity society that the industrial civilization hinders human development.Although the British Industrial Revolution creates unprecedented achievements of human material civilization,it makes an age of alienation.The industrial civilization is firstly criticized by British enlightenment thinkers.But their critiques of the industrial civilization only remain in the level of experience,unable to reveal the essence of industrial social alienation.In Marx's opinion,the reason why the industry makes the working class fall into existential crisis,moral crisis and family crisis is the capitalism application of machine,not machine itself.Therefore,changing social system will be the inevitable choice that the industry will return to become the essential power of human beings.Next,from the aspects of law,democracy,market,colonization and capital,the critique of the modernity society on social operating mechanism is aimed to analyse the internal system of the modernity society,fully exposing that the fundamental purpose of the modernity society on all of system design is to realize the interests of the capitalist class.The legal mechanism is a political weapon of the capitalist class used for class oppression,and its first responsibility is to protect the capitalist class to free exploit the working class legally.In the modernity society,the democratic mechanism manifests dictatorship of minority to majority.Because of establishing on right-money trade,the democracy the privilege of the capitalist class is not true.The market provides necessary living space for unlimited increment of capital.The market mechanism results in centralization of the capital which makes the production of the modernity society be more inclined to socialized production,denying capitalist production.Colonial mechanism is an important mean of which is carried on primitive accumulation of capital by the British capitalist class through the whole of the the modernity society.In the modernity society,capitalist mechanism is a leading mechanism,and realization of unlimited increment of capital is the final destination of the modernity society running.However,the internal contradiction will deny the modernity society itself.Thirdly,from the aspects of the personal consciousness,national consciousness,moral consciousness,the critique of the modernity society on ideology is aimed to reveal the essence of liberal class consciousness,manifesting the social material root of the emergence of liberalism.Individualism is an essential manifestation of liberal personal consciousness,so the person is alienated as "the atomized person",not the real person any more.And its root is capitalist private ownership.Concentrating on the opposition between the country and the civil society,liberal national consciousness is aimed to remove the national social function as a public administration,emphasizing the national class function as the instrument of class rule,and its essential purpose is to maintain the liberalism economic policy.Marx's perishing of the state says that returning of national sociality is the inevitable trend of historical development,and the perishing of the state is to remove the national class nature,retaining national functions of providing public services and productions.The paradox of Freedom and quality is the result that the liberalism corrodes the social morality,and the fetishism as the essential character of culture of the modernity society completely exposes the social materialized reality that the modernity society is ruled by the material and characterized by the material.Finally,based on the critique of the technology,social operating mechanism,social ideology,the prescription which is aimed to construct the socialist modernity society to surpass the old modernity society is given by Marx to clean up the evil of the modernity society.From the origin of the theory,the theoretical research and the practical attempt of pioneers of British socialism which are the direct source of Marx's scientific socialism which uses the achievements of the British utopian socialists and the British working class for reference.On the transcendence of the modernity society,Marx thinks that the essential power of exceeding the modernity society is inside the modernity society,originating from the contradiction of the capitalist mode of production,not the power from the outside.Therefore,surpassing the modernity society is to surpass the capitalist mode of production,not modernity itself.The transcendence of the actual method is to construct the socialist modernity society,realizing the unity between the scientific socialism and modernity.Marx's reference to German classical philosophy,especially the critical absorption of Hegel's dialectics,has laid a methodological foundation for the Critique of modernity society.But Marx's modernity social critique is not limited to the social consciousness critique,but turns the attention focus to the society reality,turns to the most modernity characteristic "British practice".Only "British practice" can dispel the problem of Marx's "material benefit",only "British practice" can show the historical formation and historical trend of modernity society,only "British practice" can provide realistic basis for Marx's Critique of Modernity society.