An Analysis On Marx’s Concept Of Species Essence

Concerning and researching on human beings is an eternal and old philosophical topic, and many philosophers have explored and discussed this issue. Marx had carried on the detailed analysis and demonstration on this issue. The study on this issue can be viewed as the origin and foothold of human theory of Marxist philosophy. “Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts in 1844” is Marx’s earlier study and discussion on human essence and human species essence. Through the in-depth analysis and verification, the author interpreted and revealed the theoretical origin and practical basis, meaning, main ideas contained and the value of Marx’s concept of “Species Essence” from a new theoretical thinking and perspective, and combining with contemporary Chinese practice of the scientific outlook on development and harmonious society building, expounded the connotation and practical significance of Marx’s concept of species essence, highlighted and revealed the theory tension and value of times, fully proved that Marx’s human essence theory still has strong vitality in the present moment.First of all, this paper analyzes the theoretical origin of Marx’s concept of “Species Essence”, and expounds the practical basis of the theory. The theoritical origin mainly comes from five thinker’s theory: Protagoras, Aristotle, Kant, Hegel and Feuerbach. These five thoughts origins are analyzed and expounded one by one in this paper. Then it analyzes Marx’s main ideas about human species essence, including species essence and human’s particularity, self-awareness, productive labor, self-realization which are the basic contents of Marx’s concept of species essence. And it further analyzes the three major species essence characteristics: universality and transcendentality, realistic categorical objectivity, free and conscious species being. Subsequently, the paper states the issueses on Marx’s theory about human’s social nature and the actualization of species essence.Based on the argument above, the paper analyzes the alienation and return of human species essence. It expounds the alienation issue from four aspects: labor product, labor activities, and people with their own categorical nature, people to people. Then it analyzes the manifestation pattern of alienation, the alienation causes of human species essence, and how Marx got the way and method to overcome alienation and return to human species essence. Finally, it points out the historical and realistic value of Marx’s concept of “Species Essence”: Marx’s theory “Human Species Essence” has been beyond predecessors, especially Hegel and Feuerbach. And it also points out that: Marx’s concept of species essence has provided a new theory and methodology basis to understand human and nature, people to people, human and society, which has the enlightenment significance to explore and solve the problem of human survival and development, and it is also more useful to establish important resources of new human science of socialism with Chinese characteristics. At practical level, thorough researching on Marx’s concept of species essence is conducive to better practice the scientific outlook on development, point out the direction of building a harmonious society and human liberation and it is conducive to scientifically understand the labor alienation phenomenon of contemporary capitalism.