The Relationship Between Human Activities and the Laws of Social Historical Development (Modernity and Development)

Author: Liu Shuguang
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2002-01-01
Features: Addressing some issues in historical philosophy research within academia, this book is based on the original works and texts of the founders of Marxism. It studies and explores the relationship between human activity and the laws of social and historical development from the perspective of the dialectical unity of subject and object, proposing some unique insights. It clarifies that historical materialism is a scientific theory centered on the real human being and their historical development. Its profoundness lies in viewing the history of human self-creation through labor as identical with the history of changes in the mode of production. It offers a new interpretation of Marx's idea that "economic formations can be understood as a natural historical process" using the law of mutual transformation of quantity and quality. It analyzes the dual characteristics of dialectical historical determinism—its objectivity and the subject's freedom of choice. It points out that the social and historical process is merely the process of human activity, and that human beings and their activities are not means or tools for the implementation of some mysterious plan. The activity that is both law-abiding and purposeful is a feature that distinguishes human activity from the instinctual activity of animals, reflecting the essence and characteristics of the real human being.