Totality As Historical Direction

‘Totality’ is the central concept of Lukacs’ philosophical thinking,which means both dialectical method from Epistemological view and historical process itself from Ontological view.According to the analysis towards the theoretical connotation and ideological evolution of Totality,it is possible for us to realize a philosophical overview from the overall height of Historical Materialism.Finally,we are able to achieve a general understanding about new historical conditions and tasks that Marxist philosophy is facing in the contemporary era.This paper is divided into three parts: introduction,main body and conclusion.The introduction part explains the main reason for choosing Totality as the core intermediary of our philosophical overview.The main body part can be divided into three chapters: The first chapter discusses the unique characterization method and theoretical image of Totality as a whole,which lays the foundation for further study.The second chapter concentrate on the inner development of Lukacs’ discussion towards Totality,which is divided into three stages according to the representative works of Lukacs: the ‘Art-Life’ Totality in The theory of novel period,the ‘Social-Historical’ Totality in History and Class Consciousness period,and the deepening of reality foundation in On the Ontology of Social Existence period.These three parts have systematically discussed the historical concern and important turn of Totality.The third chapter develops itself from the perspective of historical-structural principle in Historical Materialism.It mainly discusses the theoretical contributions and limitations of two different Totality view,namely,the Historicism Totality view represented by Lukacs and the Structuralism Totality view represented by Althusser.Besides,this chapter also discusses whether the historical and structural elements can achieve a dialectical synthesis within the Totality concept itself.It can be concluded into one question: How can ‘The Totality of diversity and identity’ become possible? Thus revealed the contemporary significance of Totality.The conclusion part is based on Totality of diversity and identity.On the one hand,this part start from a dialectical analysis of contemporary society’s historical conditions.On the other hand,this part sheds light on Contemporary Proletariat’s possible strategy and ethics on revolutionary practice.