| Karl August Wittfogel(1896-1988)is a world-influential expert on Chinese and oriental studies in the 20th century,an early member of the Frankfurt School,and a famous controversial figure during the Cold War.In 1957,His famous work Oriental Despotism:a Comparative Study of Total Power published in the international academic circles,and the publication of the Chinese translation in 1989 quickly attracted attention in the Chinese academic circles in the 1990s.It has experienced a process from warm criticism to rapid cooling.Wittfogel is experienced and prolific,and Oriental Despotism is one of his masterpieces in his later years.In view of such a famous controversial figure,the introduction of this paper discusses in detail the reasons for choosing the topic,research status,research background,research tasks,research methods and innovative points on Wittfogel's historical orientation and academic evaluation.It mainly includes:first,it discusses Wittfogel's academic influence and academic controversy,and displays the research of his life works at home and abroad.Second,it discusses the research status and specific viewpoints of Wittfogel's thought in the academic circles at home and abroad.Third,it discusses the theoretical tradition and time background that influenced the development of Wittfogel's thought.That is,the relationship between the evolution pedigree of the concept of“oriental despotism”and his thought of“oriental despotism”,and the influence of social instability on his thought in the 20th century.Fourth,it discusses the core task of this article:to study the formation process and theoretical system of Wittfogel's oriental social thought,to explain his important texts on the Marxist theory,to appeal to jump out of the thinking mode of“western centralism”.With a high degree of road confidence to absorb and affirm objective argumentation,negate malicious slander,and open up new ideas and new fields for the study of Marxist oriental social theory.In the first chapter,it makes an overall analysis of the complete formation process and theoretical connotation of Wittfogel's oriental social thought.It mainly includes:first,in view of the fact that the domestic academic circles have never made a comprehensive discussion on Wittfogel's lifelong academic experience,this chapter will systematically sort out his long academic career.It focuses on his academic experience of the Frankfurt School as a Marxist scholar.Second,it analyzes the formation,transformation and content of Wittfogel's early oriental social thought.Starting with his early works before 1938,the concrete research is divided into three stages:the theory of Chinese revolution,the study of Marxist geography and the formation of oriental social theory.Among them,the formation of the oriental social theory not only marks the formation of Wittfogel's oriental social thought,it is also the starting point of the ideological turn in the middle and later period.Third,it analyzes the development,the highlight and the end of Wittfogel's oriental society thought in the middle and later period.Starting with Wittfogel's works in his middle and later years,it is divided into three stages:the theory of conquering the dynasty,the theory of hydraulic society and“after Oriental Despotism”.Among them,the influence of“after‘Oriental Despotism'”has been ignored by the academic circles,which deserves to be regarded.In the second chapter,it analyzes the writing process,conceptual connotation and theoretical influence of Oriental Despotism,which is the most concerned in the academic circles and the most controversial works with hydraulic society as the core.It mainly includes:first,Wittfogel's theory of hydraulic society is not only the core content of Oriental Despotism,but also the main theory of his“oriental despotism”thought.It takes“hydraulic”as the core to sort out the influence of Marx,Plekhanov and Weber's related thoughts on Wittfogel.Second,it explains the background of Oriental Despotism,analyzes the structure of theory of hydraulic society,and Wittfogel's understanding and interpretation between“oriental despotism”and“totalitarianism”.Third,it discusses the influence and threat of Oriental Despotism and its theory to the academic circles.Oriental Despotism not only brings the highlight of the international academic research on“oriental despotism”,but also aggravates the cultural cold war in the western academic circles.At the same time,it also brings the interdisciplinary study of hydraulic society and contributes to the formation of Marxist orientalism.Wittfogel's theory of hydraulic society contains two main lines of Marxist theory of social structure and world history.Taking two pairs of dialectical and unified social contradictions as the theoretical model,the third chapter interprets the social structure theory of hydraulic society in detail.It mainly includes:first,it discusses the economic foundation in the hydraulic society.It is divided into hydraulic productivity on the basis of nature,hydraulic production mode of special division of labor and hydraulic production relations of complex ownership.Second,it discusses the superstructure in hydraulic society.It is divided into totalitarian state machine with public management as the core,class identity of“official”and“people”,and“despotism of hydraulic agriculture”.Third,it discusses who dominates the hydraulic society,that is,whether the economic base or superstructure is the decisive force of the hydraulic society.It is divided into“politics determines economy”is a kind of misreading,hydraulic society is a super-economic mode of production,and it is interpreted by the theoretical reflection of“cultural Marxism”and“structuralist Marxism”.To explore whether Wittfogel's view of the social structure theory abides by the principles of Marxism.The fourth chapter interprets the theory of world history,which is another main line of the theory of hydraulic society.At the same time,it combs and responds to the different attitudes of Wittfogel and contemporary thinkers about the world,East and West and Chinese history and society.It mainly includes:first,the problem of“space”in hydraulic society.It is divided into“hydraulic society”is a kind of exploration from local historical view to world historical view,how to distinguish between hydraulic society and non-hydraulic society,and how to distinguish between“oriental despotism”and“western autocracy”.Second,the problem of“time”in hydraulic society.In the face of the dispute between historical single-line theory and historical multi-line theory,it analyzes the multi-line theory of hydraulic society in world history,that is,Wittfogel's attitude towards the theory of historical development form of Marxism.It is divided into Wittfogel's hydraulic society are questions of ancient or modern,single-line or multi-line,and progress or retrogression.Third,the historical contention between Wittfogel and contemporary thinkers.It is divided into the theoretical differences between Wittfogel and the historian Arnold Toynbee,the Chinese historian of science and technology Joseph Needham,and the philosopher and sociologist Herbert Marcuse in the Frankfurt School.As an expert on China,Wittfogel went to China for research in his early years,and his works in his later years caused great controversy in China after his death.In order to better respond to the existing research,the fifth chapter analyzes Wittfogel's experience and ideological transformation in China in the 1930s,and the criticism and acceptance of his works and ideas in China after his death.It mainly includes:first,based on Witffogel's journey to China from 1935 to 1937,it analyzes his experience in China and his thinking and transformation on China's modernization,as well as the introduction and academic influence of his works and ideas in the period of the Republic of China.Among them,the experience and thinking of“Journey to China”is an important reason for Witffogel's thought of oriental society from positive to negative.This point has not been covered by the academic circles before,which deserves to be concerned and considered.Second,it introduces the fierce repercussions caused by the publication of Oriental Despotism in China,summarizes the critical views of scholars,and reviews and reflects on the experience of Witffogel's text in China in the aftermath of the Cold War,as well as the impact and challenges to Chinese readers.Third,it analyzes the present situation and prospect of Wittfogel's research in China in the 21stcentury,that is,the domestic academic circles have experienced the process from cooling to warming,incomprehension to understanding towards Wittfogel research in the past 20 years.The conclusion makes a systematic explanation on the errors and roots,achievements and values,and its enlightenment to China of Wittfogel's oriental social thought.In a word,his inaccurate understanding and application of Marx's oriental social theory,the compulsion of western centralism,and the inability to transcend the western imagination of the east are the mistakes of his oriental social thought.However,we should not ignore Wittfogel's exploration of the theory of sinicization of Marxism,the promotion of the multi-line view of world history,and he objectively promoted the spread of Marx's theory in Europe and the United States and the construction of Marxist oriental social theory system.In the study of foreign theories,we should show our position on the theoretical bias of falsehood,but also refuse to generalize and follow in the footsteps of others.In the process of the modernization of China's system and capacity for governance,we should guard against the disadvantages of the development of western modernization and inherit the quintessence of Chinese excellent traditional culture.In the construction of Marxist research paradigm and academic discourse system with Chinese characteristics,it is necessary to sum up Chinese experience,summarize Chinese theory,tell Chinese stories,and promote international communication. |
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