Mao Zedong Philosophic Thought And Its Chinese Characteristics

For the past decades Mao Zedong philosophic thought represented an organic synthesis of Max and Lenin's fundamental principles and Communist specific practice in China. Mao Zedong developed Max and Lenin's ideas and concepts about social movement and provided leadership in establishing a set of world outlook and methodology - the theory of knowledge. Mao Zedong' thought was so influential that Chinese Communists eventually used it to guide themselves and other people in all aspects of life: from social revolution to economic production and scientific research. Although Mao's paradigm is part of Max-Lenin's philosophic system, it is entirely localized understanding of the world. It incorporated rich experience of Chinese contemporary social movement and deep reflection of Chinese ancient philosophers. Therefore, in order to comprehend Mao's philosophic thought, we need to study Chinese characters that are closely related to Mao's philosophy.Mao's philosophy can be approached from many perspectives. This thesis focuses on three aspects. Firstly, Mao's philosophy absorbed its ingredients from three main sources: Max's philosophy that consisted of important part of its framework; Chinese traditional philosophies that equally contributed to its formation and implementation; contemporary practices (of social, economical and political) that provided rich evidence for the theoretical explanation towards the world and life.Secondly, Mao's philosophy provided a conceptual framework for understanding China's environment and phenomena. The framework emphasizes the systematical incorporation of Maxist principles with Chinese Communists' practice and their theoretical reflection. The reflection required practitioners to seek truth from facts. This later became a prevailing outlook towards the issues ofdevelopment and growth. Mao's methodological contribution inspired us thatMaxist universal truth has to be understood by correctly interpreting specific situations. The trinity of materialist epistemology, dialectics and historical overview typically embodied the Chinese feature of Mao's philosophic thinking.Thirdly, the format and outcome of Mao's philosophic reasoning is of vivid Chinese character. Its internal logic basically follows Maxist materialist-dialectics, but the expression and performance is full of local, national and common languages. This makes it easy for Chinese masses to understand and apply it to their daily life.The Chinese nature of Mao's philosophy has extensive and fundamental implications. The unique combination of its origins, content and format greatly enrich Maxist-Leninist theoretical system and expand Chinese national philosophies. It has become so popular a paradigm and pattern that the Chinese Communist Party often turn to it when they face new situations and solve new problems. The main argument of this thesis is that Mao's philosophy has become a theoretical tool used for the Chinese revolution and construction practices, which, in return, help to greatly sharpen it.