Nature,Society And History: Research On Marx's Theory Of The Mode Of Production

This paper attempts to explain and research on Marx's theory of the mode of production,and for achieving this general aim,this explanation will be carried out from three aspects: the natural significance,the social significance and the historical significance of the mode of production.As a key concept in Marx's theory,"mode of production" has always been attached importance by Marxist researchers and has been interpreted from different perspectives,but the realistic meaning of this concept has also been more or less concealed in the interpretation of different positions.The ground is covered.The introduction of the thesis deals with these existing studies and leads to our research ideas.The second international scholars mostly try to interpret the mode of production based on positivism,but this interpretation cannot respond to the criticism from Korsch,that is,if the change of the mode of production is reduced to the formula of historical development,then the subjectivity of revolution will disappear in such dogma and formula,and it will eventually make Marx's doctrine into a non-critical and nonrevolutionary collection of empirical facts.Facing the above problem,Althusser tries to present a combination of objective facts and practical activities through a complex and variable relationship structure,and finally believes that the relationship in the certain production,or the relationship of production under a certain mode of production,was the realistic fact itself.However,this assertion still cannot explain how the structure of production relations that eliminates subjectivity constantly shapes new relations.To get out of the dilemma of the above research,this paper holds that the key to clarifying the Research on Marx's theory of the mode of production is to carry out further research based on the realistic basis established by Marx who asserts that all theoretical issues are on this basis.As he says,"all mysteries that lead theory to mysticism can be reasonably solved in human practice and the understanding of this practice." Therefore,the research on the realistic meaning of Marx's mode of production will also be based on "human practice and understanding of this practice",that is,Marx's subsequent expression of "the production process of human life".Based on the above analysis,this paper further argues that the mode of production can not be attributed to abstract economic facts,but must be regarded as a realistic description of the living personal production life.On the one hand,the realistic mode of production defines the definite premise of the life of the individual in production.This shows the perceptual certainty and objective reality of the mode of production.In Marx's view,"Nature" symbolizes the limitation of the realistic production process and this limitation originates from the instinctual following of the previous mode of production.But this of limitation is dialectical,that is to say,the limitation itself does not require the complete stillness of the production process,but its practical purpose is to promote the further production process;Therefore,on the other hand,the limitation and certainty of the mode of production cannot be independent of the living production process,that is,the realistic significance of the mode of production must be clarified in a dynamic production process.In Marx's view,life and its production are manifested as object-oriented activities,whereas in the process of human life production and their object-oriented activities,the individuals who produce their own lives connect the universal objective relations and social relations to the production activities of the individual himself through his "social organ",that is,consciousness activities,to realize the comprehensiveness of his production.Here,"society" signifies the universality and comprehensiveness of the realistic production of the individuals.The different expressions of the mode of production asserted above are not opposed abstract attributes,but jointly explain the dialectical meaning of life and reality of the production process itself,and this realistic production process that limits itself and transcends itself is finally presented in the actual history of human beings.Therefore,the realistic history cannot be regarded as just a collection of abstract facts,but also as the realistic mode of duction condensed in the production process.The key to fulfill the historical task of philosophy,"serving for the history",which was put forward by Marx is to clarify the realistic history as a mode of production and explain the comprehensive and universal productive power and life of human beings.Based on the internal logical relationship of the concept of mode of production,the main body of this paper will be divided into three parts,and expounds the realistic significance of the mode of production from three aspects: nature,society,and history.The first part explains the natural significance of the mode of production,that is,the perceptual certainty of this concept.In Marx's exposition,all theories and concepts must take "the practice and the understanding of this practice" as the final interpretative principle.Therefore,nature cannot be regarded as an abstract natural thing only understood in the "intuitive form",but must be understood as a form of the production process or perceptual activity,which means that nature should be regarded as the dialectical concept which constantly producing itself and enriching itself;Furthermore,Marx believed that the production of nature lies in its "object-oriented activities",which means the nature is fundamentally different from the abstract object created by thought,whereas in its objective activity,nature is related to "the nature outside itself",whereby it exists as a living natural existence;But for humans,"man is not only a natural being but also a natural being of human." That is to say,nature not only relates to the human being as a natural being but also different from human nature.As "a natural being",human beings,like all the natural beings,are in their object-oriented activities,so they have natural life.whereas it also makes people awe at their natural instincts and only follow the established way of life and production.However,as "a natural being of human",human beings can be conscious of their life activities,therefore,man has the possibility of transcending instinctual one-sided production and is conscious of the full production of his social history.In this way,nature not only illustrates the life of the realistic mode of production of individuals but also signifies that this life was initially limited to one-sided instincts and limit its further production.For human production,this one-sidedness needs to be sublated to achieve comprehensive production and sociality of production.The second part further illustrates the social significance of the mode of production.Society is not the same as an abstract social organization or social structure,and its realistic significance also needs to be found in the process of production and life.On the one hand,people jump out of instinctual one-sided production because of being conscious of life activities,hence human production activities do not instinctively follow the energy intake relationship in nature,but consciously comprehend the life significance of all realistic production processes.Marx refers to this way of understanding as to the "organ of society";On the other hand,Marx also refers to the individual who understands the meaning of life as "social being",whereas it should be noted that the society and the life significance represented here are not abstractions beyond human's production activities,but the manifestation of human's all-round life.In short,society can be regarded as a way for people to realize universality,and it also signifies this universal realization,but the universality does not just mean a simple collection of many individuals but means the realization of universal life meaning resides in personal production activities and communication activities.Based on the above explanations,as far as the real society in which we live is concerned: As the "organ of society",society is represented by specific social norms or social organizations,but these specific form of society does not serve for special power or interests,but as a way for people to show their life in production activities;As "social being",the society represents the realization of all-round and universal life communication activities.Hence the study of the essence of a certain social form,that is,its actual mode of production,not only needs to explain the local characteristics of a society in a relatively abstract way,but also needs to explain the universal life meaning of each part with the help of a kind of "coherent" thinking principle,or in Marx's words,to rise from the abstract to the concrete.Marx's research on the mode of production in the real society has always been based on the thinking principle of "coherence",which enables his research to take into account the abstract analysis of local facts,as well as the specific explanation of the universal life implication contained in the local moments.It is precisely because of this method that Marx is not confined to the abstract concepts presented by bourgeois social theory,but clarifies that these abstract concepts are not based on the actual life of human beings,but on the strength of capital,so as to truly explain the abstract nature of bourgeois social theory and the inherent "non-sociality" of the capitalist mode of production.The third part explains the historical significance of the mode of production.Marx believes that philosophy should "serve for the history" because history has established "the truth of this world." According to the viewpoint of modern historicism,"history" can be reduced to accidental events,and these events are only based on individual subjective choices.In this way,history is only a collection of accidental opinions,thus losing the meaning of universal truth.Marx's view of history is different.According to his consistent view,the abstract dismantling of real history will no longer allow life to exist in history and history.In this way,history is no longer an expression of living production activities,but a rigid concept created by thinking.Therefore,the realistic interpretation of history must be based on realistic production activities.Marx believes that in the current living production activities,history condenses the results of all previous production activities,and as the "production mode" of current production activities,it not only limits the premise of current production but also provides universal significance for the current production.Firstly,History,as a mode of production that condenses in the present personal production and life,its initial performance is some certain and inevitable relationships of production.Whereas the production relationship is not a rigid fact,it has realistic significance only when it is created in the production process;Secondly,The one-sided production represented by animals only produces the existing relations of production repeatedly,but the production of human beings is a comprehensive production based on the realization of their life activities,which is only realized through consciousness,but the consciousness is in danger of being abstracted so that the consciousness activities which are originally used to obtain the universal meaning of life itself are mostly devalued as just the tool of universalizing the special interests of special individuals;Finally,For the human,the universality and comprehensiveness of him with true significance can not only be the material interests that have been universalized but should be the universal truth of life itself,and this universal truth is constantly confirmed in the history of life production activities with perceptual certainty of actual individuals.The history of establishing universal truth for productive activities is not beyond human beings,because history is only of realistic significance as it is the mode of production of productive activities.In conclusion,the natural significance of the mode of production shows its limitation,the social significance shows its universality,whereas the historical significance carries on the problems of from both nature and society,as the realistic mode of production,history has established a realistic truth compatible with perceptual limitation and universality.