Social Sciences in China (Chinese Edition)

No. 10, 2021

 

The Dialectical Nature of Historical Laws: The Presentation of Marx’s Text

(Abstract)

 

Tang Zhengdong

 

Starting from the German Ideology, Marx and Engels considered the dialectical unity of the general laws of human historical development and the specific laws of the development of specific social forms as an integral part of historical materialism. In Capital, this theoretical feature is clearly demonstrated through the scientific methodology of critique of capitalism. Through this dialectical perspective, Marx and Engels surpassed other thinkers of their time in the interpretation of history. Emphasis on this point will not only help us to effectively divest ourselves of the theoretical efforts of contemporary foreign scholars to interpret historical materialism within the dualistic framework of general and specific laws, thus enabling us to grasp clearly the deeper connotations of historical materialism, and also help us to better understand the inheritance and development of historical materialism by the great practice of socialism with Chinese characteristics at the level of historical view and methodology.