Criticism And Reconstruction On "Digital Life" From The Perspective Of Historical Materialism

Regarding “production and reproduction of life reality”,historical materialism provides an important methodology for penetrating the generation,diagnosis and therapy of digital life.It requires that when we study human social life,we must face the reality of the “realistic individual”,and always focus our attention on social individuals,their social survival and social life,and the social production that meets the life needs of them.It is not only the empirical facts of the history,but also the starting point of criticism and reconstruction of life reality.Focusing on the theme of “production and reproduction of life reality”,Marx combined with the social living conditions of workers,and first of all,he developed a general consciousness of the contradiction between modern industry and modern poverty,between modern productive forces and social relations.Based on this general problem,he performed the philosophical critique of abstract life,the economic critique of capitalist production,and the social critique of the interchange of production and life purposes,mainly from the two core dimensions including modern metaphysics and capital.And he objectively analyzed the original relationship between survival technology,production practice and the progress of human civilization from the perspective of historical materialism.The history shows that each major breakthrough in survival technology will bring the progress of human civilization,but meanwhile,human beings will also suffer a sense of restraint from this historical progressive force.According to Marx’s theoretical logic,this difference in living circumstances lies in a certain mode of production or a specific social stage in different historical stages of mankind generally.By means of re-examination of the capitalist mode of production,through the criticism of modern metaphysics and capital,Marx clarified the root of deep alienation of the reality,thus restoring the basis and principles of industrial life reality,and finally realizing the progress of historical materialism from “conceptual reflection of cognitive subjects” to“material life practice of production subjects”.Taking the production mode of material life as the starting point,the dissertation explores the historical generation and development of digital life as a whole from the perspective of historical materialism,intervening the criticism of historical materialism on life reality with the western modernity,continuously reflecting on the western contemporary digital life criticism discourse,and combining the production and life practice trends in the digital age so as to provide a realistic theoretical perspective for the contemporary interpretation of historical materialism’s criticism on life reality.It actually involves two intrinsically related aspects,namely that exploring contemporary digital life issues from the historical materialist methodology,and interpretating Marxist lively views in the critical field of contemporary digital life.Based on the above,this dissertation launches a critique of capitalist “digital life”from four dimensions: physical productivity,spirituality,institution,and ethicality respectively.First of all,from the productive dimension of the body,the labor body is regarded as the source of the intersection of capital,technology and various ideologies,and the historical formation of the so-called body(subject)practices such as the enhanced body,the desired body,and the transparent body still stems from the general provisions of the capital production system on the production and reproduction of the body.Secondly,from the spiritual dimension,the neo-liberal ideology pervasive of the contemporary digital Enlightenment constitutes the survival illusion of the masses escaping from the reality,effectively obscuring the same violence of capital production relations on the other conceptual and practical connections.Thirdly,from the institutional dimension,the political-economic operation logic of Western capitalism presents economic coercion dominated by economic relations in the digital spatialtemporal relationship constructed by the “disembedding of big data”,and reflects the suppression on the minority class from the majority class in the digital public sphere as the power vacuum and the decline of action;Fourthly,from the ethical dimension,the logic of capital is still the core of all moral ethics,and the interests of capital are above moral ethics,so the criticism of modern Western ethics means making the significant break with the ethical concepts wrapped with the ideology of capital,and then penetrating the crisis of modern digital bioethics from the view of ideological criticism.Through the penetration on the above and between four dimensions,this dissertation argues that modern subjects are suffering from the existential dilemma of comprehensive regulation from “production technology” to “life technology”,that is,modern subjects are confronting the comprehensive regulation of technology,and life is an inevitably product of technology.In fact,the root of the emergence of“life technology” does not lie in technology itself,but in capitalism application of technology,and in the conflict between the “logic of production” aimed at capital appreciation and the“logic of life reality”,exactly referring to the complete reversal of “life of production” and“production of life”.The final goal of criticism on western “digital life” crisis is to reconstruct“better digital life” in China.In general,the “reconstruction” involves the following three dimensions of theoretical and practical construction.First of all,following the critical logic of historical materialism on life reality and the lofty goal’s realization of Marx’s Communism as Associations of Free Individuals,the theoretical“reconstruction” of contemporary “digital life” should take the “realistic digital individual” as the main subject and starting logic,“digital social relations” as the key content,and “common digital life” as the final goal.Specifically,the “realistic digital individual” is both a social individual and an element of society that uniting natural existence,social existence and spiritual existence,with social life fulfilling rich relationships,labor happiness and comprehensive development,pursuing “free individuals” as the common value.Therefore,it should be realized by the revolution movement from the fundamental social system and its corresponding reform in the mode of production.Secondly,from the broader critical discourse of the life world critique in the western postmodern context,the mainstream of modernity represented by Nietzsche,Heidegger,Habermas,and the mainstream reconstructed discourse dominated by the west contemporary digital life,although enriching the perspective and dimension of the theoretical reconstruction of real life,it has transformed towards a non-subject,centerless rational narrative due to the general rejection of the foundation of human material life,which eventually leads to nonradicalism and non-pioneer of socialism of the loss of voice rights in the aesthetic discourse.Therefore,providing a historical materialist life view for the critique of digital life,and clarifying the fundamental methodology significance of historical materialism on life reality critique,still perform the significant role of “reconstruction” in the current context of Western discourse hegemony with complex ideologies.Thirdly,based on the specific practice of Marxism in China and the inheritance of Chinese civilization,we should explore the construction of the Chinese road of “Better Digital Life”with world significance.Under the objective of realizing socialist modernization and the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation,the exploration of modern power opening the route of“Better Digital Life” in China signifies the “reconstruction” of itself.On one hand,it critically examines the contemporary digital life practice with the wisdom of cultural traditions,and thus to construct a new model of “possible life”.On the other hand,the Chinese civilization tradition is activated by the reform of relations of production and even the society as a whole so that the digital transformation of Chinese civilization tradition by innovation can become the continually spiritual force leading us towards a Better Digital Life.The above “reconstruction” originates from such a general thinking: in contemporary China,which is not only suffering from the development of digital life,but also suffering from the underdevelopment of digital life,the historical entry of the “social life-centered production”of historical materialism combined with the specific route of Chinese characteristic practice will absolutely bring the construction of Better Digital Life in China with the dual significance of changing China and changing the world.