Social Sciences in China Review

No.4, 2017

The Theory of Reification vs the Theory of “The Age of the World Picture”: Hiromatsu Wataru’s Response to Heidegger’s “Fallacy of Reification” (Abstract)

Wang Nanshi

Hiromatsu Wataru deduced the theory of reification through interpreting and expounding Marx’s theory of commodity fetishism. Stemming from Marx’s materialization of the relations of commodity production in capitalist society, this theory is profound and effective in explaining the social phenomena formed by the relations between subjects. However, it is improper to generalize it in a simplistic way to describe natural phenomena in society, which are formed by the relationship between subjects and objects. Hiromatsu, unaware of the limitations of this theory, applies it directly to criticize Heidegger’s theory of “involvement” (Bewandtnis) which is based on the analysis of the existentialism of “ready-to-hand” (Zuhandenheit) and “at hand” (Vorhanden), and he tries to replace the latter with his theory of reification. This critique reveals the issues in the application of Hiromatsu’s theory. Therefore, it is necessary to reflect on the effective scope of the theory of reification, which in turn involves the issue of methodology in the interpretation of Marxist philosophy. Although Hiromatsu criticizes Georg Lukács’ theory of materialization, he does not seem to have made too great a methodological departure from the general Hegelian approach based on which Lukács built up his theory of materialization.