The Development of Ideological and Political Education Category

[a]School of Political Science and Public Administration， Southwest University， Chongqing， China.

*Corresponding author.

Supported by 2014 Chongqing Social Sciences Planning Project for Doctors “Ideological and Political Education Category” （2014BS003）; 2014 Southwest University Basic Scientific Research Project “Ideological and Political Education Category Theory Research” （SWU1409424）.

Received 2 April 2015; accepted 5 June 2015

Published online 26 July 2015

Abstract

The development of ideological and political education category is about the study of the development of ideological and political education category and its system construction. The ideological and political education category is always developing and evolving. Observing and studying the developmental motive power， state， and direction of this subject category from a developing perspective is the problem that the research of ideological and political education category sought to resolve.

Key words： Ideological and political education; Category; Development

Li， C. S. （2015）. The Development of Ideological and Political Education Category. Higher Education of Social Science， 9（1）， <Page>-0. Available from： URL： http：///index.php/hess/article/view/7327

DOI： http：///10.3968/7327

INTRODUCTION

The development of ideological and political education category refers to the emerging， forming， changing motor process and state of category based on adapting to the ideological and political practice. Seeing from the perspective of development， fortifying the consciousness of category construction， recognizing and solving the problems in ideological and political education category development and construction is of great importance for the academical ideal of ideological and political education subject which aims at “climbing mountains” and “heaven enter land”.

1. THE MOTIVE POWER OF IDEOLOGICAL AND POLITICAL EDUCATION CATEGORY DEVELOPMENT

The motive power of ideological and political education category development refers to the basic force which pushes forward subject and its change. It lies in ideological and political education practice. It is the basic force which pushes the subject category forward.

1.1 Ideological and Political Education Practice Puts Forward New Study Tasks for Recognizing Ideological and Political Education Category Continuously

Marxism holds that： The primary cause of development lies in the unification and conflict between the contradictory sides. As the abstract thinking result， ideological and political education category must have its own contradiction and development. But its developmental motive power lies in ideological and political education practice. As what was said by Marx， the change of category must be based on the change of existent society and real life. As the basic notion in subject， seeing from its origin， the ideological and political education category comes from practice reason. It is the result of education practice which was abstracted and thought in the human mind. Ideological and political education practice is the practical basis of its development. In the process of practice， people recognize and grasp it through summing up experience and sublimating theory. Moreover， with the advancement of ideological and political education practice and the development of people’s thinking level and recognizing ability， category is also under the process of developing， changing and updating. Under the drive of ideological and political education practice activity， subject category needs to develop itself to get the possibilities to adapt to the changes in the outside environment. The result is either the emergence of new substance which adapts to the needs of practice development， or being obsoleted in this process. Gradually， it will change to adapt to the time needs in number， scale， type， characteristic， structure and function. And it will reflect the state and process from low level to high level， from simple to complex and from old to new substance. Thus， ideological and political education category does not stand still and refuse to change， its obtaining and developing both come from the according to ideological and political education practice. Moreover， it will get new connotation and explanation from the drive of practice. Because of the ideological and political education which exists in the more complex and changing situation with fierce social reforming and developing， we must do things based on the development of reality， and strengthen the subject category theory study.

1.2 Obtaining Self-Developmental Power Continuously From Ideological and Political Education Practice

The vitality of ideological and political education category is decided by whether it could serve education practice continuously more than if it is from ideological and political education practice. The value and pursuit of ideological and political education category is not in cognition or theory， but conscious practical pursuit. From the setting up of this subject， people have achieved much in their attention and study of the subject’s category， which is reflected not only in the expansion of number and scale， but also in the continuous enhancement of series sequence and scientificalness which are from simple to complex， low level to high level. Because of its nature as an important logical tool in subject theory thinking， ideological and political education category not only exerts great motivating， deepening， and directive influence on the whole subject theoretical system， but also provides scientific thinking drive and feasible method support for people to solve practical educational practice problems in this process. It propels the smooth procession of educational practice further. But every advancement and change of educational practice activity will result in the according theory abstract and logical generalization， and this will lead to the emergence of new ideological and political education category. The new category will undoubtedly be used in educational practice activity to solve new problems. This cycle will promote the continuous evolution and replacement of category. Thus， this thesis holds that as an important logical tool in subject theory thinking， though ideological and political education category has abstract characteristics， the power of its existence and continuous development lies in whether it can serve the ideological and political education practice effectively in the end. Its emergence and development not only come from the practical problems in ideological and political education practice， but also it could get its own developmental vitality only through going back to ideological and political education practice and serving practice. It can get its vitality which keeps its development in the process of serving practice through keeping pace with time on the basis of solving the practical problem and summarizing practical experience.

2. THE STATE OF IDEOLOGICAL AND POLITICAL EDUCATION CATEGORY DEVELOPMENT

The state of ideological and political education category development refers to the overall developmental state and the changing trend of ideological and political education category. Under the promotion of ideological and political educational practice， ideological and political education category abandons the old and takes the new， sublates self， and shows well-organized， advanced， scientific overall developmental state， which are reflected as follows.

2.1 The Expansion of Promotive Quantity and Essence Innovation in Self Sublation

As the sensible product of educational practice， ideological and political education category is always changing with the change of practice. On the basis of education practice， ideological and political education category emerges， renovates， evolves continuously in the process of serving education practice， and causes discarding and changing which adapts to the needs of practice and environment. Essentially， the process of its discarding and changing is the process of self sublating. It promotes the expansion of its number， scale and the enrichment， innovation of its essence through continuous self sublating. On the one hand： number and scale expand ceaselessly. In the history of the development of scientific thinking， ideological and political education category comes from nonbeing into being， from little to much. Although the changing process of number and scale shows the characteristics of gradualness and stage， and although some category was sublated consciously， some category get improvement and perfection， its number and scale expands and change with more power and speed under the promotion of ideological and political education practice and the search of people’s wisdom. On the other hand： the ceaseless enrichment and renovation of content. As the sensible recognition and abstract of some stage in ideological and political education practice， ideological and political education category must have its definite meaning. In the meanwhile of its obtaining recognition and explaining， its influence and restraint get strengthening with the development of practice and the daily deepening of people’s search. Some new explanations about them continuously emerge and enrich the original content， which makes the stipulation of the essence of ideological politics and education category change and renovates ceaselessly， and even subvert and reconstruct the original essence stipulation which leads to new content and stipulation. Thus， from the overall view， in the process of its self sublation， ideological and political education category shows the change and renovation realization in number， scale， essence， character， structure and function continuously.

2.2 Promoting the Category Structure to Become More Systematic and Scientific From Simple to Complex

Development was usually reflected in “the changing process that things are from low level to high level， from old essence to new essence in scale， structure， degree， essence and so on.” （Feng， 2001）. To observe and study the emergence， forming and proceeding developmental process of ideological and political education category from the perspective of development， we can see that just as other things， ideological and political education category gradually realizes the changing process of self sublation， self regulation， discarding the old and obtaining the new， from simple to complex， from low level to high level， from chaos to order， from maladjustment to adjustment， from tradition to modern， from experience to science under the driving of practice. In this process， some unsuitable invalid categorys are discarded， some are kept because of the renovation and refreshment of their content. Some new， more scientific and modern categorys are produced because of the search of people’s wisdom. Consequently， the types of ideological and political education category become richer， the relationship between every category becomes closer and more stable， the logic among categorys are more clear and well-organized. The former categorys are the basis and starting point of the later ones， there will be no clarification of the later without the clarification of the former. The former categorys are simple and one-sided， only the more complete and accurate later categorys could give the former the most complete explanation， the later is also the reason of the former. So， many complex， specific ideological and political education categorys are not anarchic and listed randomly， they are always in a correlated， interacting and interdependent relationship. Lateral and vertical combinational relationship are reflected on the whole. Then well-organized， logical and well-bedded internal structure is formed. In the process that people gradually deepens their recognition and search for the internal relationship of ideological and political education category， its structure which is formed by many ideological and political education category logic tends to become more systematic. People’s construction and even the forming of scientific system about ideological and political education category will become more rule-based.

3. THE DIRECTION OF IDEOLOGICAL AND POLITICAL EDUCATION CATEGORY DEVELOPMENT

The direction of ideological and political education category development refers to the future developing and evolving the basic trend of ideological and political education category development. This is decided by its own developing power， and at the same time constrained by outside developing conditions， which is mainly reflected by the following three directions：

3.1 Constructive Developing Direction

Constructive developing direction refers to the developing direction which propels the logical construction among categorys and makes them systematic through the recognition of the logic among the categorys of ideological and political education. Constructive developing direction is the basic direction that subject category develops into higher level direction. Every human scientific theory is existed and developed through the construction of category and strict logical system. There will not have the famous Newton’s mechanical system without the existence and construction of mechanics category， and there will not have the great Marxist philosophy without the summarizing and construction of scientific philosophy category， economic category and politics category. “category is the panel point and soul of subjective theory framework. It plays an important role in the forming and developing of subject system.” （Yu， 2011） Studying and propelling the construction of ideological and political education category to make it systematic is the inevitable need when subject has developed into certain stage， and also the inside need of the self study and construction of subject. As the practical experience and the sensible abstract of fact， ideological and political education category is not the simple description and explanation of experience and fact. But the sensible summarizing of the essence and rule of it， which has a high level of abstraction， strict logic and predictability. In the present phase of the deepening of subject and the development of science， ideological and political education category is not limited to the abstracting of one single category and the explanation of implication. Its content structure， logic system are also an important task that people are resolved to solve. The construction of ideological and political education category and the forming of its system will not only influence the enrichment， perfection and scientificalness of subjective theory， but also the construction and development of subject theory system. Through the constructive development of category， the scientific progress of subject will be promoted further. Thus， it is important to promote the development of ideological and political education， improve the scientific degree of subject， strengthen the study of subject category and systematic construction.

3.2 Modernistic Developing Direction

Modernistic developing direction refers to the developing direction created on the basis of summarizing， abstracting and sublimating the modern experience， knowledge and notion， which follows the pace of time. It is the conscious pursuing direction of ideological and political education category， which is with the modern developing progress. Nowadays， our country is in the process of reforming and opening， of modernization construction. The development of economic society has fully reflected the modernization process in essence. The modernization of economic society will undoubtedly contain and result in the according modernity in politics， thinking and notions. Ideological and political education which is produced and expanded in the process of socialistic modernization will undoubtedly create according new changes and needs which can fit the development of opening and reforming and the socialistic modernization. This will make them adapt to and keep pace with economicdevelopment. The modernity development of ideological and political education needs the modernity of the development of ideological and political education category. As the subject theory frame， ideological and political education category must develop towards modernity. Only through this can it adapts to the needs of scientific development. The modern developing direction of ideological and political education category contains the space limitation of ideological and political education category development， and possesses strong developing tension and potential. This not only requires us to pay attention to and utilize the modern scientific knowledge and notion which is produced in the modern society development， show and put them in the refining and developing of ideological and political education category to promote the creation and expansion of modern ideological and political education category， but also needs us to keep close step with the extension of modern ideological and political education， to summarize the experience， methods， and theories in the ideological and political education field， and to transit， sublimate， update， replenish and enrich the modern connotation and meaning of ideological and political education category， and to improve the modernity development degree of ideological and political education category. The modernity developing direction of ideological and political education category will promote the updating， developing and evolution of subject category further， then cause and promote the modernity development and change of subject theory.

In a word， promoting the development and study of ideological and political education category needs us to learn carefully and use Marxism category theory properly first. On the basis of searching Marxism category carefully， we should grasp the theory of category， improve the ability of theory thinking， use the right ways to carry out the research and construction of ideological and political education category basic theories. Secondly， we must follow the new facts， new problems and new experience of ideological and political education development closely， stick to the scientific standing which requires the category research that theory and practice look after each other. We should abstract and create ideological and political education category scientifically to guarantee the accuracy and scientificalness that it expresses the essence and law of ideological and political education. And we also should promote the ideological and political education category to go back to practice to get checking and affirmation， and utilize the importance of it to the production and development of scientific theory scientifically to promote it to better serve ideological and political education practice. Only by this can we promote the ideological and political education category to move towards scientific front， and show more scientific sensible new essence and content， promote the scientific development of subject through the scientific development of ourselves.

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