Kai Nielsen ’s Understanding And Interpretation Of Marx’s Moral Outlook

Since the 1970s,Western Marxists have been arguing for a long time about whether Marx’s ideological system has a moral dimension.On the basis of argument,philosopher Kai Nielsen makes a comprehensive and systematic interpretation of Marx’s moral outlook.First of all,standing in the position of historical materialism,Nielsen dialectically absorbed the rational views of non moral and moral schools,deeply explored the connotation of Marx’s moral concept,and fully affirmed that Marx’s ideological system has moral dimension.Secondly,Nielsen deeply analyzes the relationship between morality and ideology.He believes that morality as ideology is not necessarily distorted and false,and Marx’s moral criticism of capitalist ideology is not a denial of normative morality.In Nielsen’s view,Marx’s moral concept has two dimensions,that is,Marx not only criticizes capitalist morality with ideological characteristics,but also affirms proletarian morality with normative role.Thirdly,from the perspective of moral contextualism,Nielsen pointed out that the rational basis of moral judgment depends on the objective situation and people’s needs in a specific period,rather than people’s subjective beliefs;social moral judgment can be objective and reasonable.On this basis,Nielsen criticized moral relativism and eternal moral truth,explained the belief of moral progress,and proved that historical materialism can be reasonably compatible with morality.Marx’s moral view is the unity of scientificity and morality.Finally,Nielsen clarified other scholars’ misunderstanding of Marx’s justice thought,constructed a moral theoretical system of pursuing substantive equality,and specifically defended and developed Marx’s moral concept.Nielsen’s understanding and interpretation of Marx’s moral outlook provides effective and feasible research ideas and methods for people to study Marx’s moral outlook more deeply and comprehensively,and helps people to grasp Marx’s moral outlook more comprehensively and accurately.In addition,Nielsen’s research results have important enlightenment significance for people to deeply understand and practice the socialist core values including equality and freedom,and improve the socialist moral system.Of course,Nielsen’s moral contextualism is not thorough,and the realization path of his radical egalitarianism is Utopian.He fails to discuss how to build and improve the realistic moral system from the perspective of practice,which makes his research achievements have certain limitations.