Social Sciences in China (Chinese Edition)

No.10, 2014

 

Marx’s View of Reality and the Chinese Road

(Abstract)

 

Wu Xiaoming

 

In Hegel’s philosophy, the concept of reality is defined not only as the unity of nature and presence, but also as the process of unfolding, and thus has true historic significance. Marx’s view of reality and Hegel’s concept of reality have a very essential connection. In the course of its complex relationship with Feuerbach and Hegel, Marx’s view of reality gradually acquired its basic orientation through a kind of dual critique, ultimately obtaining its decisive foundation. The great reformist significance of Marx’s view of reality lies in this fact: it never relies on an absolute God or mystical “union of the subject and the object,” but goes through perception—perceptual activity—the world itself to grasp reality and the essential nature of reality. In the course of understanding the Chinese road, the Marxist view of reality requires that we resolutely guard against changing it into abstract principles of external reflection. External reflection can never bring true understanding of the Chinese road, because to a great extent it hides social reality and is in fact based on the premise of obliterating and castrating the substantive contents of and differences between societies. As the most concentrated and extensive modern expression of subjective thought, external reflection not only runs counter to the Marxist view of reality, but also represents, in fact, a retreat to the pre-Hegelian age.