"Reality Of The Individual":the Beginning Of Historical Materialism And Its Impact

In the developmental history of Marx's thinking, The German Ideology is undoubtedly a monumental master works, and is also widely considered as the landmark work for the formation of historical materialism by academics. In The German Ideology, many viewpoints and theories were first established and discussed. Among them, the most fundamental characteristics was that the dialectical relation between productive forces and production relations was stated for the first time.All of these theories were based on the acknowledge of "reality of the individual" namely the person who was engaged in materical production activities or laboring, as their theories precondition. As an important works which marked the maturation of Marx's thinking, the Ideology placed an important role in our understanding of Marx's real human thought. Through the study of "reality of the individual" in The German Ideology, the misunderstandings to Marx's hominology Thought by western Marxism can be better understanded.Marx's human thought is not an preach for humanitarianism, or nothingness, or a continuation and development of western individualism. Marx confirmed objective coordinates for the history by "reality of the individual" and moved towards to historical materialism. Based on the text study of The German Ideology, the author uses text interpretation method and genetic perspective to conduct discussion from the following four parts:the thinking origin and formation process of "reality of the individual", ideological content and methodologies, the studies on individual by western Marxism, and contemporary value of "reality of the individual".In chapter one--- the source and the process of "reality of individual". The studies on existence of human beings were abundant in ancient Greece. From the view of "Man is the measure for the world" to the acclamation of human nature in Renaissance, then to emphasis on human activity in the German classical philosophy, they laid a solid foundation for Marx's study on human beings. what's more, it is worth to notice that Marx's "reality of individual" was put forward based on the critical inheritance of the young Hegelians (Feuerbach, Powell, Stirner).The concept of "reality of the individual" was put forward through a process. Originally, Marx developed his "spirit of the individual" concept into "the unity of the people and the citizens of individual" concept. Then he continuously developed it from "species individual" to "reality of the individual" which leaded to the precondition of historical materialism. Thought "reality of the individual" Marx began to reveal human society and the law of the development of human history scientifically.In chapter two, the author analyzes the basic content of "reality of the individual" in The German Ideology. From the three perspectives: living personal existence, material living conditions of people in reality, and activates of people in reality, the thesis tries to analyze the basica content. By discussion of methodology to"reality of the individual" in Ideology, the research methods of the unity of object and subject and the unity of history and logic were a groundbreaking perspective in Marx's Ideology.In chapter three, the focus of western Marxism which was the problem of "people" in Marxist philosophy is discussed. They claimed that Marx is humane. The thesis focuses on the analyses of the early western Marxism, Existentialism School, Frankfurt School, and explains their understanding on Marx's individual category, and puts forward their own understanding of individual in reality.In chapter four Marx's contemporary issues are discussed. "reality of the individual" put forward in The German Ideology made Marx find a right way to discover history of human society, and open the door to historical materialism, which had important theoretical significance. Besides, "reality of the individual" has theoretical runny to the socialist modernization, and has theoretical enlightenment to build a people-centered harmonious society.The innovation of this paper lies in that it is a theoretical carding of "reality of the individual" on the base of the thinking development of Marx. The present study is a systematic elaboration of the ideological origin, the process of formation, the basic contents, and the research methods of "reality of the individual", the study also distinguishes "reality of the individual" with the concept of the individual advocated by Weston Marxists. But in view of the fact that the most authoritative historical research version The German Ideologyâ…¡is not jet officially published, our research on "reality of the individual" faces some troubles. However, "reality of the individual" is the beginning of historical materialism, which needs to be researched from the theoretical root, meanwhile, the clarification of the theory is closely related to the contemporaneity of historical materialism.