Historical Materialist Survey Of "Hume’s Problem"

The “Hume Problem” originated from a debate on the origin of morality in the field of moral philosophy in the 17 th century.It was named after Hume’s first description of the problem in his book “A Theory of Human Nature”(1741).Hume described it as:people cannot explain the transition from factual judgment with “yes” or “no” as the relative word to value judgment with “should” or “should not” as the relative word.This is the dualistic distinction between factual knowledge and value knowledge.The proposal of “Hume’s Problem” has had a profound impact on the overall development of Western philosophy.In the field of epistemology,especially with the development of empiricism and rationalism in modern Europe,people changed their belief about knowledge as the unity of the subjective and objective to one of purely subjective construction.In other words,they now treat all knowledge(including theoretical knowledge and practical knowledge)as a purely logical movement within the thinking process.The “Hume problem” not only gave rise to the long-term disputes over the relationship between “is” and “should”,between truth and value in the history of Western philosophy,but also further extended to the field of historical philosophy,resulting in the numerous disagreements over the relationship between historical view and values,between objective practice and value ideals,to the extent that they have caused people to question the scientific nature of historical materialism.However,as far as historical materialism is concerned,the “Hume problem” is the dualistic relationship,which it put forward to between factual knowledge and value knowledge,between truth and value,between historical outlook and values,and between objective practice and value ideals,has been unified by historical materialism,specifically through the scientific revelation of the historical development process and its laws and trends promoted by human practical activities.Therefore,a historical materialist examination of the “Hume’s Problem” from the theoretical point of view will not only help promote practical solutions to disputes in the history of philosophy,but also help advance the study of historical materialism and its scientific interpretation.Through the analysis and assessment of the research status of "Hume’s Problem",it is found that the crux of the “Hume’s Problem” that has not been solved so far lies in the fact that people have not been able to correctly understand and grasp the theoretical essence of this problem,as most of them still follow Hume’s cognitive approach to this problem,which limits their understanding and knowledge of the “Hume’s problem”within the abstract spiritual realm,thus ignoring the profoundness of the “Hume’s problem” that can be raised.Root cause.This requires us to return to the theoretical perspective of historical materialism as “the science of human beings in reality and their historical development” to further analyze and study the problem.Throughout the history of philosophical development,the proposal of the “Hume problem” has led to the dichotomy between fact and value,which separates the unified thinking and existence in traditional epistemology,and forms a cognitive approach different from traditional philosophy,producing a huge theoretical effect in history.After Hume,Kant,Hegel,and Feuerbach actually constructed their own epistemologies on this basis.At the same time,influenced by the cognitive theory formed by the “Hume’s problem”,the scientific nature of historical materialism has been questioned and attacked quite often.Therefore,it is very necessary to return to the theoretical perspective of historical materialism to examine the “Hume’s problem”.From the perspective of historical materialism,the “Hume’s problem” can actually be answered scientifically on the basis of the theory of practice of historical materialism.As the “Hume’s problem” is transformed from an epistemological problem to a practical problem under the framework of historical materialist theory,three successive problems in the development of historical materialism have been produced: the first is the transformation of practice in the foundational period of historical materialism,that is,the unity of “is” and “should” being transformed into human practical activities;the second is the historical transformation during the initial establishment period of historical materialism,that is,the unity of “is” and “should” being transformed into the process of historical development.The third is the social transformation in the period of deepening and perfecting historical materialism,that is,into the unification of “is”and “should” in the practice of communism.The transformation of “Hume’s Problem” from the perspective of historical materialism into the theory of practice is rooted in Marx’s inheritance and development of German classical philosophy,and is specifically expressed as an answer to the problem of the relationship between “actual man” and “true man”.In the view of Marx and Engels,“actual man” is the factual basis of “true man”,while the latter is the value goal of the former,while the two are unified in the social and historical development of reality.On the basis of the theory of practice,historical materialism further transforms the“Hume’s problem” into the unity of “is” and “should” in the process of historical development for analysis and understanding.In the initial establishment period of historical materialism,the historical transformation of “Hume’s Problem” was rooted in Marx’s thorough reckoning of the young Hegelian philosophy,and it was specifically expressed as an answer to the problem of the relationship between“historical law” and “path choice”.In the view of Marx and Engels,the law of history contains the factors of the choice of subject value,and the realization of the choice of subject value needs to follow the law of history,while the two are unified in the objective process of actual human and material production.Based on the analysis of the changing process of social forms,especially the contradiction movement of capitalist social forms,historical materialism further focuses the solution of “Hume’s Problem” on the analysis and assessment of the unity of “is” and “should” in the communist movement.In the period of deepening and perfecting historical materialism,the social transformation of “Hume’s problem” was rooted in Marx’s thorough criticism of various wrong socialist thoughts and idealist economics,and it was specifically manifested in the scientific analysis of the relationship between “capitalism” and “communism”.In the view of Marx and Engels,“capitalism” provides a real field for the appearance of “communism”,and the selfdenial of capital logic is the internal driving force for the transition from “capitalism”to “ communism”,while the two are unified in the realities of the contradictory movement of the capitalist society.Apparently,the historical materialist examination of “Hume’s Problem” has its distinct contemporary value and significance.A historical materialist examination of the “Hume’s problem” not only helps to clarify the essence of the problem under discussion and the basic ideas for scientific solution,but also for deepens the scientific understanding of "people" and their dual activities,and promotes in-depth research and scientific interpretation of historical materialism,while challenging people’s views and douts on historical materialism.Meanwhile,it systematically promotes the scientific interpretation of the relationship between the "movement" and "ideal" of communism,which has very important academic value and practical significance.Such scientific questioning hold truly important academic value and practical significance.In a nutshell,historical materialism scientifically solves the “Hume’s problem”,that is,the relationship between “is” and “should”,between factual knowledge and value knowledge,between truth and value,between historical outlook and values,and between objective practice and value ideals.Such relationships are thus unified into reality through the scientific revelation of the objective practice movement of the individual,its historical development and its objective laws,thus reducing it to a practical theory problem.Therefore,to break the shackles of the epistemological understanding of the “Hume’s Problem” in the past,to return to historical materialism to examine and analyze it in practice,to clarify the theoretical essence of the “Hume’s Problem”,and clarify people’s never-ending debates over the “Hume’s Problem”,to deepen and promote people’s scientific understanding and interpretation of historical materialism,is a major theoretical issue that urgently needs to be discussed extensively and deeply by the academic community.This article seeks to provide a tentative view on the basic ideas and research directions of the issue,hoping to lay some foundation for future research.