History and Will -- A Philosophical Perspective on Mao Zedong Thought

Author: (American) Wakeman, Fredrick Jr.
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-01-01
Features: Racing alongside history, determined to fight it, is to acknowledge it when the need to understand history arises. Mao Zedong knew himself as a revolutionary who defeated formidable enemies by setting up opposing forces, and as a wise chairman who aligned with the course of historical development. The belief in the laws of historical development provided a guiding principle for himself. However, the imposition of self-regulating demands created a necessity to compete with cosmic changes, i.e., to impose a fundamental purpose upon the universe. As Mao Zedong aptly put it in "On Contradiction": "The various sides of a contradiction cannot exist in isolation. If there were no opposing side to the contradiction, it would lose the conditions for its existence." Without will, there is no history; and without history, there is no will at all. — Wakeman, Fredrick Jr.
This is a magnificent work penned by a master. The author attempts to answer the question: "What ideas nourished a legendary figure?" Professor Wakeman traverses between Kant and Wang Yangming, constructing a knowledge bridge to understand Mao Zedong's thought within the vast ocean of intellectual history in both Eastern and Western cultures.