Coincidence between Chinese Traditional Philosophy and MarxistPhilosophy

ShiYing

【Abstract】This paper discloses the theoretical basis and historical origin for extensive spread of Marxist philosophy in China from the aspects of the way the basic question of philosophy is concerned and answered in Marxist philosophy and Chinese traditional philosophy respectively， the influence of Chinese traditional philosophy upon the formation and development of Marxist philosophy， the understanding of the specific questions of philosophy in Marxist philosophy and Chinese traditional philosophy respectively， and the creative development for combination of Chinese traditional philosophy and Marxist philosophy by the Chinese Communist Party during practical exploration.

【Key words】Marxist philosophy; Chinese traditional philosophy; coincidence

The October Revolution of Russia in 1917 has driven Chinese advanced members to shift their focus from the west to the east and from bourgeois democratism to socialism. There has been continuous collision of thoughts between Chinese traditional philosophy and Marxist philosophy since the introduction of the latter to China and the last two hundred years have witnessed the sinofication of Marxist philosophy and the modernization of Chinese traditional philosophy through mutual promotion and fusion.

I. Consistency in the way the basic question of philosophy is concerned and answered

The basic question of philosophy is the most important question in the problem domain of philosophy and the question one will inevitably be faced with and must solve first in philosophy research. The question decides the characteristics and nature of the entire philosophy system and the solution thereto influences and determines the idea， principle and direction of other questions of philosophy. Engels clearly puts forward in his summary of development history of philosophy that “the basic question of philosophy， especially modern philosophy， is the relation between thinking and being”， and further points out that the basic question of philosophy contains two meanings， i.e. which of thinking and being is primary and whether there is identity of  thinking and being. Both Marxist philosophy and Chinese traditional philosophy are formed and developed in the course of answering the basic question of philosophy. Though Chinese traditional philosophy is different from western philosophy and Marxist philosophy in means and forms of expression， its essence and nature remain to be the exploration and inquiry of the relation between “thinking” and “being”， the basic question of philosophy. In the development history of over two thousand years of Chinese traditional philosophy， the basic question of philosophy has been answered with focus on different themes and in special forms of expression， including debate on heaven and man and that on name and reality from the pre-Qin period to the period of two Han dynasties， debate on existence and inexistence and that on shape and spirit from Wei and Jin dynasties to Sui and Tang dynasties， and debate on Li and Qi and that on mind and matter from Song and Yuan dynasties to Ming and Qing dynasties.

II. Influence of Chinese traditional philosophy upon formation and development of Marxist philosophy

Marxism is the quintessence of excellent thought achievements of all human beings over several thousand years. When founding Marxist philosophy， Marx and Engels drew on and assimilated the existing outstanding achievements of ideological research at that time， including a large amount of ideological essence from European traditional philosophy， especially German classical philosophy， and also some ideological essence from traditional philosophy of China and other countries. Joseph Needham， a renowned British historian of science， ever said， “dialectical materialism derives from China， is introduced to Europe by Jesuit missionaries and returns to China after scientized by Marxists”. As a matter of fact， Chinese traditional philosophy has caused indirect and even direct effect on the foundation of Marxist philosophy. Undoubtedly， German classic philosophy is the direct theoretical source of Marxist philosophy， but it borrows and absorbs the quintessence of Chinese traditional philosophy. The proposition of “Thesis-Antithesis-Synthesis” by Hegel who epitomized German classic philosophy derives from the philosophical thought of “unity of heaven and man” in ancient China. Feuerbachs humanistic thought draws on some ideas of Confucian philosophy. In his Theory of Happiness， he affirms Confucius idea of “never do to others what you would not like them to do to you” as “simple and straightaway but the best and the most authentic” among numerous moral principles and admonitions. Therefore， Marxist philosophy is indirectly affected by Chinese traditional philosophy when referring to German classic philosophy. In fact， Marx and Engels have carefully studied Chinese history and Chinese traditional philosophy in the course of founding Marxist philosophy. They wrote a series of articles related to China such as Chinese Revolution and the European Revolution， Russias Trade with China， Treaty between China and Britain and New War against China. Marx also clearly pointed out that socialism of China has something in common with that of Europe， just like Chinese philosophy with Hegelianism.

III. Similarity in Understanding of Specific Questions of Philosophy

As mentioned above， there is similarity between the materialist world view of Marxist philosophy and the materialist ideas of Chinese traditional philosophy. Besides， coincidence exists between the materialistic dialectics of Marxist philosophy and the simple dialectics of Chinese traditional philosophy. Dialectics is the essential feature of Marxist philosophy while Chinese traditional philosophy also contains a plenty of ideological contents of dialectics. For example， “Dao contains one Yin and one Yang” as stated in the Book of Changes reflects the unity of opposites of contradictory; “the reverse way is the momentum of the Dao” as stated in Laozi discloses the mutual transformation of two sides of a contradiction; Wei Yuan also believes that everything is a unity of contradiction and the two sides of the contradiction fight each other and develop in opposition directions.

Marxs view of practice has much in common with the “unity of knowledge and practice” in Chinese traditional philosophy. Marxism believes that practice is not only the most basic form of， but the most essential basis for the relation between human being and the world. Scientific practice view is the theoretical basis and core content of Marxist philosophy， the viewpoint of practice is the primary and the most basic viewpoint of Marxist philosophy and practice is the most important attribute of Marxist philosophy. Chinese traditional philosophy has always paid abundant attention to the importance of practice. It emphasizes the application of “knowledge” to “practice” when treating the relation between “knowledge” and “practice” and advocates “practice what you learnt”. Wang Shouren put forward the idea of “unity of knowledge and practice” on an individual level and from the perspective of ethical practice. He believes “practice is the beginning of knowledge and knowledge is the product of practice” and highlights the important position and role of “practice” in “unity of knowledge and practice”.

The ecological thought of Marxist philosophy has much in common with the harmonious thought of “unity of heaven and man” of Chinese traditional philosophy. In German Ideology， Marx criticizes Feuerbachs emotional and intuitive view of nature and establishes a dialectic view of nature sublating the predecessors research achievements： Human and nature depend on and interact with each other; human， nature and society form an organic whole. This is the extensive and profound ecological thought of Marxism. During exploration of the relation between human and nature， harmonious thoughts of “harmony in diversity” and “unity of heaven and man” are formed in the Chinese traditional philosophy. Mencius - Chin Hsin （Part I） states that “It flows abroad， above and beneath， like that of Heaven and Earth”; “Nature lives in symbiosis with me， and everything is with me as a whole” advocated by Zhuang Zi implies that human should live in harmony with nature; and the philosophy proposition of “unity of heaven and man” put forward by Zhang Zai pushes the speculation on the relation between human and nature to a new height.

References：

[1]Marx/Engels Collected Works： Volume 4[M]. Beijing： Peoples Publishing House，1995：223.

[2]Needham. Science and Civilization in China （Volume 3）[M]. Beijing： Science Press，1990.

[3]Zhang Yun. On Inheritance of Chinese Theories of Marxist Philosophy[J]. Journal of Graduate School of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences，1998，1.