China Social Science Review

No.1, 2023

 

The Social Epistemology of the Metaverse: A Critical Examination Based on Historical Materialism

(Abstract)

 

Lan Jiang

 

In recent years,the metaverse has become a burning topic. However, study of the metaverse has concentrated more on the dichotomy between the virtual and the real and has been analyzed on the basis of dualistic metaphysics. A social epistemological understanding of the metaverse requires a return to and a renewed scrutiny of Marx’s historical materialism in the context of the social production and interaction of real human beings. At the same time, the social epistemology of the metaverse requires new actors, actors who do not engage in monitoring and control or consumption, but who comprise both non-entities and entities and who, like events, bring to the user a metaverse world that cannot be known.