(p. 267) The specific features of the Marxist philosophy of dialectical materialism are its ability to explain clearly the class characteristic of all social consciousness (philosophy included), its open declaration of its proletarian character, and its resolute struggle with the idealist philosophy of the propertied classes; and moreover, these specific tasks are subordinate to the general task of overthrowing capitalism, organizing and establishing a proletarian dictatorship, and constructing a socialist society.
The tasks of philosophy during the current stage in China are subordinate to the general tasks of overthrowing imperialism and the semi-feudal system, the thorough achievement of bourgeois democracy, the establishment of a completely new Chinese democratic republic[2-178] and also to prepare through peaceful means[2-179] for the transformation to socialism and communism. Philosophical theory and political practice should be intimately connected.
[p. 189] 2. The Differences between Idealism and Materialism
What is the fundamental difference between idealism and materialism? It is the opposite answers that each provides to the basic question of philosophy, namely the question of the relationship between spirit and matter (the question of the relationship between consciousness and existence). Idealism considers the world to have its sole origins in spirit (consciousness, concepts, the subject), and matter (the natural world, society, the object) to be dependent on it. Materialism considers matter exists independently of spirit, and spirit to be dependent on it. A confusing variety of opinions on all questions grows from the opposite answers given to this basic question.
According to idealism, the world is either a synthesis of the entirety of consciousness, or the spiritual process created by our reason or the world’s reason; it regards the external material world as either a completely fabricated illusion or the material external trapping of spiritual elements. Idealism regards the knowledge of humankind as emanating spontaneously from the subject, and the product of spirit itself.
(p. 268) Materialism, on the other hand, considers the unity of the universe to derive from its materiality, and that spirit (consciousness) is one of the natural characteristics of matter which emerges only when matter has developed to a certain stage. Nature, matter and the objective world exist apart from spirit and are independent of it. Human knowledge is a reflection of the objective external world.
3. The Origins of the Emergence and Development of Idealism
What are the origins of the emergence and development of idealism, a philosophy which considers matter to be a product of spirit and which has inverted the position of the real world? [p. 190] As previously stated, the emergence of the earliest idealism was a product of the ignorance and confusion of a primitive and barbaric humankind. However, following the development of production, the division of manual and mental labour created the primary conditions under which idealism became a philosophical trend. The result of the development of society’s forces of production was the emergence of division of function, and with the development of this division of function were created persons who specialized in mental labour. But during periods when the forces of production were poor and undeveloped the degree of separation between the two remained incomplete. However, a major transformation occurred when classes appeared, private property emerged and exploitation became the basis of the existence of the dominant class; at that time mental labour became the prerogative of the dominant class and manual labour became the fate of the oppressed class. The dominant class began to observe the relationship between themselves and the oppressed class in an inverted fashion, perceiving that it was not the workers who provided the dominant class with the means of livelihood, but themselves who provided the workers with it. Because of this, they disdained manual labour and there emerged the idealist view. The elimination of the distinction between mental and manual labour is one of the conditions for the elimination of idealist philosophy.
Of the social origins of the development of idealist philosophy, the principal one was the conscious representation of ruling class interest by that philosophy. The dominance of idealist philosophy in all spheres of culture must be explained by reference to this. If there were no exploiting class idealism would lose its social basis. The final elimination of idealist philosophy must follow the elimination of classes and the establishment of communist society.
(p. 269) The reason why idealism has deepened, developed and had the capacity to struggle against materialism, must be sought in the process of knowledge of humankind. When humankind employs concepts to think, there exists the possibility of drifting into idealism. Humankind cannot but use concepts when thinking and this facilitates the division of our knowledge into two aspects; the one deals with individual and particular things, the other incorporates generalized concepts (such as the judgement that “Yan’an is a city”). The particular and the general are actually indivisibly connected, for to divide them is to depart from objective truth. Objective truth is expressed in the unity of the general and particular; without the particular, the general could not exist; and without the general, there could be no particular. To separate the general from the particular, that is, to treat the general as an objective entity and to regard the particular only as a form of existence of the general, is the method adopted by all idealists. All [p. 191] idealists substitute consciousness, spirit or concepts for objective entities which exist independently of human consciousness. Commencing from this premise, idealism stresses the dynamic role of human consciousness in social practice; it cannot point out the materialist truth that consciousness is limited by matter, maintaining instead that only consciousness is dynamic and that matter is nothing but an inert ensemble of objects. In addition, driven by inherent class characteristics, idealists utilize every possible means to exaggerate the dynamic role of consciousness, one-sidedly developing and limitlessly expanding it so that it becomes the dominant aspect of intelligence. They conceal the other aspect, leaving it subordinate. This artificially expanded role for consciousness is established as a general world view to the extent of transforming it into a god or an idol. Idealism in economics greatly overstates one non-essential aspect of exchange by elevating the principle of supply and demand to the extent that it becomes the basic principle of capitalism. Many people have observed the active role that science plays in the life of society; but they fail to realise this role is determined and limited by definite social relations of production, and come to the conclusion that science is the motive force of society. Idealist historians perceive heroes as the creators of history, idealist statesmen see politics as an omnipotent entity, idealist military strategists wage all-out war regardless of the costs, idealist revolutionaries advocate Blanquism, and there are those who advocate revival of the national character and restoration of the old morality;[2-180] all are the result of an excessive exaggeration of the dynamic role of the subjective. Our thought cannot reflect a phenomenon in its entirety at one stroke, but is constituted of knowledge which, in a dialectical process, approximates reality, and is lively and (p. 270) infinitely variegated. Idealism is founded on the specific properties of thought and has exaggerated this individual aspect; it is thus unable to achieve a correct reflection of this process and only succeeds in distorting it. Lenin said: “Human knowledge is not a straight line, but a curve. Any segment of this curve can be transformed into an independent, complete, straight line and this straight line may lead to confusion. Rectilinearity and one-sideness, to see the trees and not the wood, woodenness and petrification, subjectivism and subjective blindness – voilà the epistemological roots of idealism”. “Philosophical idealism is a one-sided, exaggeration of one of the fragments or aspects of knowledge until it becomes a deified absolute, divorced from matter, from nature. Idealism is thus a religious doctrine. This is very true.”[2-181]
2-181
This quote is an inverted and rather loose translation of a passage from Lenin’s “On the Question of Dialectics”, in V.I. Lenin,