Reflection on the Sinicization of Marxist Philosophy

Abstract. The sinicization of marxist philosophy is a historical progress with both brilliant achievements and failure lessons. Constantly promoting the sinicization of Marxist philosophy and building the Marxist philosophy with Chinese characters and styles are not only the need of social development practice in contemporary China and the requirement of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation in theory, but also the need of the development of contemporary Marxist philosophy at the same time. Thus, we must be firmly against the dogmatism based on metaphysics as the philosophical basis and adhere to make theoretical innovation which should focus on the new development of contemporary Chinese practice on the research paradigm combined with the basic theory of Marxist philosophy and Chinese reality .

Key words: Marxist philosophy ; The sinicization of Marxist philosophy ; Dogmatism; Research paradigm; Theoretical innovation

INTRODUCTION

The sinicization of Marxist philosophy is to combine Marxist philosophy with Chinese concrete reality, and study it by using the stand, viewpoint and method of Marxist philosophy, then enrich and expand Marxist philosophy by studying the China's concrete practice. Reviewing the difficulties in the way of the sinicization of Marxist philosophy, summing up the lessons we learned from that, and establishing the research paradigm of the sinicization of Marxist philosophy are of great significance to promote the development of the sinicization of Marxist philosophy and revive the great cause of the Chinese nation based on the new practice.

Ⅰ.The Historical Process of Reality about the Sinicization of Marxist Philosophy

In the light of the historical process of reality, the theoretical crystallization about the sinicization of Marxist philosophy is a successful story which combines the Marxist philosophy with Chinese concrete practice. Mao Zedong’s Thought, Deng Xiaoping’s Theory, the important thoughts of "Three Represents" and the Scientific Outlook on Development are the four main achievements of it.

In October 1938, the proposition of the sinicization of Marxist philosophy was put forward for the first time by Chairman Mao: if Communist Party members who have become a great part of the Chinese nation and been closely connected with this nation talk about the Marxist without Chinese characteristics, they just talk about the abstract and empty Marxist. Therefore, making Marxism materialization and taking Chinese characters in all of its respects means that we apply Marxist philosophy based on our own settings, which has been the urging problem that our Party have to deal with. We must abandon the foreign stereotyped writing, do not mention the empty and abstract dogma, never do it, and advocate the fresh and lively Chinese styles which are very popular among Chinese people to replace it.”[1] The philosophical thought of Mao Zedong is widely considered an outstanding theoretical achievement which integrates Marxist philosophy with China's realities. Mao Zedong dialectically integrated the essence of Chinese traditional philosophy, expounded the materialist dialectics of some profound truth in Chinese ancient literature and folk idiom stories and also changed the Chinese ancient philosophical heritage on the content of the theory at the same time in the process of the sinicization of Marxist philosophy. The philosophical thought of Mao has made great contribution to the sinicization of Marxist philosophy which is mainly embodied in the following three aspects: the theory explanation of On Practice and On Contradiction, the ideological line of seeking truth from facts and the dialectics in practical work. What must be pointed out is that Mao Zedong blazed a trail in Marxist philosophy with Chinese Characteristics morphology during the process of Chinese Marxist philosophy movement. Mao Zedong philosophy thought is the most representative theoretical result of the sinicization of Marxist philosophy. Chairman Mao turned the Marxist philosophy into the philosophy of the masses, the philosophy of cognition and the philosophy of methods. According to Marx, philosophy is a kind of method, and it is the world outlook and the methodology guiding proletariat struggle for their own interests to establish an ideal society. In Mao’s eyes, philosophy is also a form of standpoint, viewpoint and method. He carried out this in his revolutionary practice, made new creation and development of it by combining the new practice and new experience which led the Chinese revolution and formed the distinct Chinese characteristics.

We can define that Deng Xiaoping’s Theory is the combination of the Marxist philosophy and the practice of the Chinese socialist modernization construction if we explain Mao Zedong’s Thought is the product of Marxist philosophy combined with China's revolutionary practice. Deng Xiaoping combined Marxism with China's socialist modernization construction, put forward the idea of “Walk our own way and build socialism with Chinese characteristics” on the basis of fully grasping the situation, and created the theory of socialist initial stage through the summary of practical experience in reforming and opening up.[2] The theory of socialism with Chinese characteristic, established by Deng Xiaoping, the general designer of the reform and opening-up and modernization construction in China, has greatly promoted our modernization construction. It not only scientifically reveals the dialectical relationship between Emancipating People's Mind and Seeking Truth From Facts, but also brilliantly sums up the era subject of Peace and Development. The application and development of Marxist philosophy in the contemporary China are embodied in Deng’s various expositions which reflect the development and application of Marxist philosophy in contemporary China, including the exposition about Seeking Truth from Facts and Emancipating the Mind, the exposition of primary stage of socialism, socialist basic task, the essence of socialism and the socialist society development momentum, and the exposition about “addressing both material and spiritual civilization simultaneously without any letup”. The subsequent Central Leading Collective exerted the basic principle of Marxian philosophy on the Party building in the new period and the new practice of Chinese contemporary development. They put forward the important thought of "Three Represents" and the Scientific Outlook on Development which mark a new stage of the sinicization of Marxist philosophy.

As a real historical process, the sinicization of Marxist philosophy means that Marxist philosophy is applied to guide the practice of Chinese revolution, construction and reform which has already dealt with the basic problems appeared in the way of Chinese social development. Mao Zedong’s Thought solves the issues about what is the new-democratic revolution and how to carry on the new-democratic revolution; Deng Xiaoping's Theory answers the questions about what is socialism and how to build it ; the important thoughts of "Three Represents" works out the problems about what kind of Party to build and how to build it; and the Scientific Outlook on Development explains the issues about what is development, why we need development and how to develop. We started the career of the sinicization of Marxist philosophy based on Chinese traditional philosophy, especially the practice of socialism with Chinese characteristics. We dedicated to study and analyze the philosophical ideology, value orientation and mode of thinkings which are formed in the process of our socialistic practice, make it up from practice form to theory form and create a new form of Marxist philosophy with Chinese characteristics, Chinese styles through going deep into the historical process of Chinese national salvation, saving the nation from subjugation liberation and construction of modernization. This is the fact of the sinicization of Marxist philosophy.

Ⅱ. Dogmatism is the Accompanying Obstacle of the Sinicization of Marxist philosophy

In the difficult exploration process of the sinicization of Marxist philosophy, dogmatism is always closely associated with it, blocking the process of the sinicization of Marxist philosophy. In order to achieve the long-term goal of the China-Marxist philosophy, one of the important thing is to put the criticism and opposition to dogmatism as a major and long-term task to complete.

Since the birth of the Marxist philosophy, it has never stop fighting against dogmatism. The Chinese Marxism’s process in nearly hundreds years has been moved forward constantly in the fight against the dogmatism. Historical experience shows that the sinicization of Marxist philosophy will develop smoothly and can get great theoretical and practical achievements when we resolutely oppose dogmatism; otherwise, the sinicization of Marxist philosophy cause will be damaged or suffer serious setbacks if we get the fetters of dogmatism or sank into the mire of dogmatism. Today, we still face the task of opposing and overcoming doctrinairism in the career of promoting the sinicization of Marxist philosophy. Dogmatism is the accompanying obstacle of the process of the sinicization of Marxist philosophy, both of which are always be irreconcilable. The reasons why the both are irreconcilable are as follows. Firstly, dogmatism misguide reality with the theory. From the history of the Chinese revolution development process, dogmatism recognizes itself as well known about some typical Marxist statements and shows that it has profound theory or the appearance with rich theory of color, however, in fact, it fundamentally violates the true spirit of Marx's philosophy. The world view of Marxist philosophy is the method rather than doctrine.[3] Secondly, dogmatism kills the vivid personality with the abstract general . Dogmatism cannot understand the character of the unity of the nationality and cosmopolitan which is contained in the sinicization of Marxist philosophy because it views theory upper than reality and boosts the theory dominating the reality. Therefore, it will ignore the specific circumstances of each nation when subjecting Marxist philosophy. Thirdly, dogmatism has indulged in self-subjectivism. As a form of subjectivism, the prominent point of dogmatism is that doctrinaire are self-willed who want to make an action plan without further endeavor. As a result, it cause the bad effects to themselves even made themself struck on self-enclosed. Dogmatism caused the direct opposition of China-Marxist Philosophy for it severely deviated from the Marxist philosophy. This situation is not our imaginations or inference, but the real truth in the history of China. As the symbolic theory results of the sinicization of Marxist philosophy, Mao Zedong’s Thought, Deng Xiaoping’s Theory, the important thought of "Three Represents" and the Scientific Outlook on Development are all formed and developed in the fight against dogmatism and other erroneous ideas.

Today we are building socialism with Chinese characteristics. It is an unprecedented huge project, and it needs our long-term exploration in many respect. We still need to firmly oppose to dogmatism, consciously liberate our thinking and understanding from the bondage of those untimely conception, practice, and system in this process. Only in this way can we avoid big mistakes in the process of promoting the sinicization of Marxist philosophy.

Ⅲ.The Research Paradigm and Direction of the Sinicization of Marxist Philosophy

In the process of promoting the research of the sinicization of Marxist philosophy, academic circles put forward a new topic about how to understand the research paradigm of the sinicization of Marxist philosophy.

Thomas Kuhn defined “Paradigm” as “usually refers to the generally accepted scientific achievements, which provides typical questions and answers for the community of practice over a period of time”.[4] In another words, paradigm means a set of beliefs, principles and standards, which are accepted and consciously jointed by researchers in the academic community. The real process of the sinicization of Marxist philosophy tells us that the sinicization of Marxist philosophy is developing the research of Marxist philosophy based on China’s actual conditions. The reason why we repeat “the sinicization of Marxist philosophy” now is to aim at the practice in contemporary China at the center of “what we are doing” again, and create an indigenous innovation theory which can guide the reform and development to this innovation practice. The contemporary form of the sinicization of Marxist philosophy is neither “Marxist philosophy in China” nor the past “Chinese Style”, but the Marxist philosophy which do a deep penetration to the practice of the Chinese contemporary development.[5] This is, in fact, the question of research paradigm that combines the basic theory of Marxist philosophy with Chinese concrete practice. Lessons from the past also enlighten us: when we adhere to such stipulation research paradigm of the sinicization of Marxist philosophy, the time that the sinicization of Marxist philosophy will achieve a rapid progress, otherwise, it will be in trouble.

In the research paradigm of the sinicization of Marxist philosophy, we must pay attention to deal with two problems: one is the problem of the relationship between the nationality and cosmopolitan. From the time of its birth, Marxist philosophy includes the whole human’s fate and future in its incomparably broad mind, reveals the harmony between people, society and nature in a super national value orientation, and points out the necessity and the possibility of common development. The sinicization of Marxist philosophy indicates that it is the theory form of China’s practice. “Sinicization” means nationalization. To integrate and promote the Chinese native philosophy culture with Marxist philosophy well, we must take the practical problems of China’s opening up and modernization construction as the center, focus on the application of Marxist philosophy, the theoretical thinking of the practical problems, and the new practice and development, make an excellent fusion of Marxist philosophy and the national spirit “emancipating the mind, seeking truth from facts” and traditional philosophy, and make it to be scientific. It is possible to make well realize the process of nationalization of Marxist philosophy, and we are able to construct a contemporary Chinese philosophy that not only can meet the requirement of contemporary Chinese society, but also can represent the direction of the Chinese future spirit by this way.

The second question is the tension question between technicality and reality. The crux of this problem is how to grasp the tension’s degree between technicality and reality because any emphasis on one side and blind to other side will separate the inner relation of them and then lead a detrimental effect to the sinicization of Marxist philosophy. Now many scholars cut off the internal-ship between Marxist philosophy and reality because of excessively emphasis on the theoretical of Marxist philosophy, with appearance of the academic, neutral and pure philosophical tendency; On the other hand, underlining Marxist philosophy in the respects of ideology or ideological field is easy to make Marxist philosophy “extensive ideology” and “non-philosophy”, the essence of which is to put the Marxist philosophy as an exaggeration and absolute some non-philosophy beyond philosophy so that Marxist philosophy loses its characteristic and the philosophy connotation and cannot to be called philosophy. We must against these two kinds of bias, be based on the reality and beyond the specific reality, advance the practical concern to the theoretical level of philosophy research, improve the academic content of Marxist philosophy research and academic standards, and reflect reality concern by academic pursuit.

CONCLUSION

In a word, the sinicization of Marxist philosophy is a historical process of continuous development. The road to the sinicization of Marxist philosophy is still long and hard, and more and more problems will be put forward along with the deepening of the practice. It means our theory innovation must focus on the actual problem of our reform, opening up and modernization construction, and what we are doing, the theory application of Marxist philosophy’s, and the new practice and development. Then, the lasting power will be achieved in the process of the sinicization of Marxist philosophy. The future directions of the sinicization of Marxist philosophy will be embodied in such stuffs, emancipating the mind, opposing to all forms of dogmatism, advancing with the times, making theoretical innovation in front of the new practice, and constantly promoting the theoretical innovation according to the new experience of the practice.

NOTES

[1] Selected Works of Mao Zedong [M]. Beijing: people's publishing house, 1991,Volume 2, p.545 (in Chinese)

[2] Chen Yujia,On Deng Xiaoping's Inheritance and Development of Mao Zedong's Development Periods of Chinese Society.Journal of Shangdong Youth Administrative Cadres College, 2005,(5) (in Chinese)

[3] Selected Works of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. Beijing: people's publishing house, 1995,Volume 4, p.742 (in Chinese)

[4] Thomas Kuhn ,The Structure of Scientific Revolution, Peking University Press,2003, p.4 (in Chinese)

[5] Ren Ping, The Innovation of Research Paradigm of Marxist Philosophy in Contemporary China, Philosophical Researches, 2012.(3) (in Chinese)