Research On Thompson's Thoughts On Philosophy Of History From The Perspective Of The British New Left After World War ?

This paper introduces Edward Palmer Thompson's historical philosophy thoughts, and probes into the formation and primary content of his theoretical system the under the background of the academic cultures of the British New Left after World War II. Thompson's thoughts on historical philosophy merges in critical period of Stalin, completing itself in the mature movement of British New Left. Thompson always adheres to the basic principles and methodology of historical materialism in the process of studying social history. In the meantime, he employs the cultural approaches in the study of social history to restore the historical dominant position of the working class with the discovery of they being revolutionary. The author analyzes Thompson's historical ideas and specific historical practice in the hope of a systematic and objective understanding and evaluation of Thompson's philosophy of history.This paper consists of four chapters. The first chapter briefly introduces Thompson's life and academic course, and at the same time elaborates the significance of the topic. Thompson's academic research at home and abroad has been commented and summarized systematically, so as to further establish the direction of the research.Chapter two mainly introduces and analyzes the social and historical background of Thompson's philosophy of history. Thompson's personal growth experience, his academic background of British Communist Party historians' group and the influence of the new left movement play a crucial role in the formation of Thompson's thoughts. Under such a background, Thompson preliminarily premises the historical view of historical philosophy-- socialist humanism.Chapter three focuses on the main connotation of Thompson's philosophy of history, including the following three aspects: the theoretical foundation-- historical view of socialist humanism, the core theory--class dynamics theory, and the theoretical practice--cultural studies. Thompson's historical view of class reveals the importance of culture. His cultural studies enriches the class theory. Under the guidance of the historical view of social humanism, cultural study and the class theory effectively promote the research on contemporary culture and western Marxist theory. The above three aspects and related concepts have become an integral and interrelated part of Thompson's philosophy of history.On the level of academic evaluation, chapter four analyzes and summarizes the main contents of Thompson's philosophy of history. The author attempts to grasp a more accurate understanding of his philosophy of history, and the objective evaluation is formed in order to deepen the cognition and understanding of the historical position of Thompson's historical thoughts on philosophy.