On Engels' Contribution To Historical Materialism

Historical materialism,in the long-term interaction between theory and reality,although it has successfully realized the transition from private knowledge to public knowledge,it condenses a lot of cognition in the explanation from name to the concept deepening: people derive the dispute between "world outlook" and "conception of history" in the process of continuously discussing the real meaning of materialistic conception of history;When discussing the disciplinarynature of historical materialism and grasping the connotation and extension of historical materialism,a dispute between "historical view" and "empirical science" has been formed.To grasp historical materialism,One has to grasp history,and when discussingthe path of its formation,the differences between "promption theory" and "originality theory" have been conjured up.Among these differences,Engels occupiesthe highest position and has the greatest.To commemorate the 200 th anniversary of Engels' birth and to study Engels' contribution to historical materialism is of great theoretical significance for clarifying the above differences and resolving the opposition between dialectical materialism and historical materialism.It is of great practical significance for expanding the propaganda of Marxist theory,enhancing people's sense of identity with Marxism in the world,and coping with the increasingly severe ecological environment in the post-financial crisis era.This research takes Engels' contribution to historical materialism as the main line,uses logic and history,literature comparison and contradiction analysis methods,and on the basis of in-depth explanation of the unity of scientific and speculative nature of historical materialism,reveals the development path of historical materialism and the evolution of historical materialism from science to philosophy,and seeks to clarify various “problems about Engels” that have arisen since since Engels' death--Engels has only dialectics of nature without dialectics of society,only natural view without historical view,only nature without people,and even Engels misunderstood Marx and other erroneous views.In the evolution of historical materialism,Engels has made important contributions to the theoretical content,theoretical proof,theoretical realization and theoretical perfection of historical materialism.By analyzing Engels' social environment before and after the formation of historical materialism and his early ideological transformation,this paper expounds Engels' extensive theoretical description in the formation of historical materialism theory,and his contribution to the reinterpretation of historical materialism during the period of cooperation with Marx and even after Marx's death.On the one hand,it criticizes the "originality" of historical materialism;on the other hand,it shows Marx and Engels' proof process and naming process of historical materialism,so as to deepen the understanding of the basic characteristics of historical materialism.Practice is the only criterion for testing truth.The scientificity of historical materialism can only be ensured by continuously accepting the testof social practice.Engels' unique contribution in the process of materializinghistorical materialism and maintaining theory is to put theory into practice for self-examination.In the end,the paper expounds the contemporary value of historical materialism,and responds to the current " Marx's and Engels' Opposition","problems about Engels " and historical nihilism with Engels' great contribution to historical materialism.Specifically:The first part(except the introduction)discusses the connotation,elements and nature of historical materialism.Judging from the connotation and extension of historical materialism,people's narrow understanding of historical materialism has long been the source of Marx and Engels' opposing views.Only by breaking this narrow understanding can we provide logical proof for the consistency of Marx's and Engels' thoughts.Judging from the nature of historical materialism,Engels called Marx a scientist,while we currently call the theory founded by Marx philosophy,which is contrary to the common sense that "philosophy is not science".For a long time,people have been debating whether historical materialism is science or philosophy,which to a certain extent strengthens the heterogeneity of science and philosophy,but weakens the dialectical relationship between science and philosophy in two-way communication and benign generation.On the basis of clarifying the dialectical relationship between science and philosophy,this paper reveals that historical materialism is both science and philosophy,and is "philosophy of science" or "science of philosophy".The second part explores Engels' own ideological characteristics and changes before the formation of historical materialism.Historical materialism did not come into being suddenly in one move.As one of the founders of historical materialism,Engels' early thoughts were obviously influenced by family environment,geographical environment and social environment.Starting from the context of Engels' family and growth,it is the theoretical premise for clarifying Engels' contribution to the historical materialism to investigate the historical evolution of Engels' thought and its ideological trend before the theoretical transition of historical materialism.The theory developed by Engels in his early days from his unique living environment laid the foundation for the germination of his historical materialism and his subsequent academic cooperation with Marx.An investigation of Engels' growth environment and changes in his thoughts is helpful to reveal the essence of the current debate between "promotion theory" and "originality theory",and then it can be concluded that: historical materialism was not founded by Marx or Engels alone,but by both of them;it is untenable to think that Engels' s historical materialism only extends dialectical materialism from the natural field to the social field.The third part studies Engels' contribution to the construction of historical materialism itself.Engels' contribution to the theory of historical materialism is highlighted in three aspects.The first is to initially establish atheoretical prototype of historical materialism and lay a theoretical foundation for its academic cooperation with Marx.This is the continuation of criticism of "originality theory ".Second,,Engels played an extremely important role in the joint construction of historical materialism with Marx and completed the construction of the scientific form of historical materialism.It is mainly shown in that it directly participated in the construction of theoretical form and promptly reversed Marx's research thinking.Third,after Marx's death,Engels completed the transition of historical materialism from scientific form to philosophical theory form.Engels perfected the theory of historical materialism from different dimensions,realized the leap of historical materialism from scientific theory to philosophical theory,combed the generation history of Marxist philosophy while expanding the vitality of historical materialism,and increased the historical heaviness of historical materialism.Engels' combing of the history of Marxist philosophy,on the one hand,marks the completion of the philosophical form of historical materialism,on the other hand,indicateds the beginning of the study of the history of Marxist philosophy.The formation of the scientific form and philosophy form of historical materialism has the dual meaning of science and philosophical form of historical materialism criticizes the erroneous view that historical materialism is only one-way empirical science or philosophy,and further holds that historical materialism should maintain the necessary tension between science and philosophy.The fourth part discusses Engels' proof of historical materialism.Engels not only realized the logical self-consistency of historical materialism in theory,but also proved the realistic correspondence of historical materialism in practice.With the standpoint and vision of historical materialism,Engels predicted the important role of historical materialism in persuading,reforming and liberating people,giving historical materialism rationality and legitimacy.Engels also proved the "material power" of historical materialism from the aspects of materialist view of nature,military development,development of family history and perfection of political economy.Engels' proof of the material strength of historical materialism is at the same time a supplement,improvement and development to the content of historical materialism.The fifth partreveals Engels' expansion of historical materialism theory.The externalization or materialization of historical materialism is very important to get rid of dogmatism and highlight the revolutionary and practical nature of historical materialism.In this regrad,Engels also made great contributions.The transformation of historical materialism theory from private knowledge to public knowledge cannot be separate from public opinion propaganda.On the one hand,the construction of public opinion platform for public opinion propaganda is the prerequisite for historical materialism to“master the masses”;on the other hand,it is the key to the rise of historical materialism from "weapon of criticism" to "weapon of criticism" by educating the broad masses of the people and improving their theoretical level and cultural literacy.Therefore,it is necessary to select advanced elements to form party groups and establish their own theoretical propaganda platform.For this reason,Engels directly or indirectly participated in and guided the Communist League,the International Workers' Association and the Socialist International three proletarian political parties in his life,and and realized "the globalization of historical materialism" or "the globalization of historical materialism of the world" through a series of revolutionary events.The sixth part discusses the contemporary value of Engels' contribution to historical materialism.First of all,people's cognitive philosophization and ideological tendency towards historical materialism are obvious at present.This article emphasizes the scientific dimension of historical materialism research,which constitutes the innovative value of this article's research perspective.Secondly,the study of Engels' contribution to historical materialism can effectively respond to various misunderstandings of Engels in the current academic circles at home and abroad,refute the erroneous proposition of Marx and Engels' theory of "ideological split" and highlight the dialectical unity of Marx and Engels' historical materialism thought of "one becomes two" and "two become one",thus constituting the innovative value of the research content of this article.Finally,at the important momentwhen the academic circle commemorates the 200 th anniversary of Engels' birth,studying Engels' important contribution to historical materialism will help to dispel the tendency of "history nihilism" in Engels' research,highlight Engels' “leading role” in the establishment of Marxist theory,and criticize the erroneous practice of "value Marx and despise Engels" in the study of Marxism,thus constituting the practical value of the research content of this article.