Where Do Correct Ideas of Human Come From

In May 1963, when Mao Zedong reviewed the draft decision of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China “On Several Issues in Current Rural Work” (the first ten articles), he added a paragraph before the ten issues.

Selected Readings of Mao Zedong's Works (Edition B) published by China Youth Publishing House in 1964, Selected Readings of Mao Zedong's Works (Part Ⅱ) published by People’s Press in 1986, and Collected Works of Mao Zedong, Volume 8 published by People’s Press in 1999.

The article mainly includes the following contents:

(1) This paper expounds the basic principles of Marxist epistemology, and points out that the correct ideas of human beings come from social practice, and from it alone; they come from three kinds of social practice, the struggle for production, the class struggle and scientific experiment.

(2) This paper expounds the relationship between social existence and people's thoughts, and points out that people's social existence determines people's thoughts.

Once the correct ideas characteristic of the advanced class are grasped by the masses, these ideas turn into a material force which changes society and changes the world.

(3) This paper expounds two stages and two leaps in the process of human cognition: the first stage in the whole process of cognition, the stage leading from objective matter to subjective consciousness from existence to ideas.

Whether or not one’s consciousness or ideas (including theories, policies, plans or measures) do correctly reflect the laws of the objective external world is not yet proved at this stage, in which it is not yet possible to ascertain whether they are correct or not. Then comes the second stage in the process of cognition, the stage leading from consciousness back to matter, from ideas back to existence, in which the knowledge gained in the first stage is applied in social practice to ascertain whether the theories, policies, plans or measures meet with the anticipated success.

Man’s knowledge makes another leap through the test of practice.  This leap is more important than the previous one. For it is this leap alone that can prove the correctness or incorrectness of the first leap in cognition, i.e., of the ideas, theories, policies, plans or measures formulated in the course of reflecting the objective external world. There is no other way of testing truth. Furthermore, the one and only purpose of the proletariat in knowing the world is to change it.

(4) This paper sums up the epistemology of Marxism and points out that often, correct knowledge can be arrived at only after many repetitions of the process leading from matter to consciousness and then back to matter, that is, leading from practice to knowledge and then back to practice.

Such is the Marxist epistemology, the dialectical materialist epistemology.

Among our comrades there are many who do not yet understand this epistemology. It is therefore necessary to educate our comrades in the dialectical materialist epistemology, so that they can orientate their thinking correctly, become good at investigation and study and at summing up experience, overcome difficulties, commit fewer mistakes, do their work better, and struggle hard so as to build China into a great and powerful socialist country and help the broad masses of the oppressed and exploited throughout the world in fulfillment of our great internationalist duty.

This is an important document of Mao Zedong on Marxist epistemology, which complements and gives full play to his thought on the general law of cognition put forward in the theory of On Practice in 1937, and the thought of Marxism epistemology in 1943 "Some Questions Concerning Methods of Leadership”.