Social Sciences in China (Chinese Edition)

No.8, 2014

 

The Philosophical View of Reality as a Means of Changing the World

(Abstract)

 

Xia Ying and Cui Weihang

 

For Karl Marx, reflection on reality was never a purely theoretical issue; rather, it was a major question for the here and now. Marx’s view of reality carried forward and transcended that of Hegel. The key point of Hegel’s ideas in this respect lay in reconciling reason and reality through the logic of the identity of thought and being. Through his analysis of alienated labor, Marx discovered that thought and being are different in nature, thereby shattering the accord between reason and reality. He thus saved reality from the shadow kingdom of absolute spirit, highlighting a reality that was independent of thought. In his eyes, reality was the process existence of history and openness. He absorbed and transformed Hegel’s circular method of arguing in order to grasp reality. The ultimate aim of Marx’s idea of reality was not to explain reality but to change it, not through theoretical critiques but through real revolution.