Basic Question of Philosophy

The question concerning the relation of thinking and being. Engels said: “the great basic question of all philosophy, especially of modern philosophy, is that concerning the relation of thinking and being.” In the pair of categories of thinking and being, being refers to the objective material world, including nature and human society, while thinking refers to consciousness and spirit corresponding to matter. As the basic question of philosophy, the question concerning the relation of thinking and being includes two sides: the first is the question of which is original, thinking or being; the second is the question of the identity of thinking and being.

The different answers given to the first side of the question concerning the relation of thinking and being are the sole criteria for dividing the two basic philosophical schools of materialism and idealism. Those philosophers who regard being as primary and thinking as secondary belong to materialism; those philosophers who regard thinking as primary and hold that being derives from thinking belong to idealism. Engels said: “The answers which the philosophers gave to this question split them into two great camps. Those who asserted the primacy of spirit to nature and, therefore, in the last instance, assumed world creation in some form or other [...] comprised the camp of idealism. The others, who regarded nature as primary, belong to the various schools of materialism.” In the history of philosophy, dualism treated thinking and being as two separate origins, wavering between materialism and idealism, and ultimately reverted to idealism. There is no truly independent third school.

Engels said: “But the question of the relation of thinking and being had yet another side: in what relation do our thoughts about the world surrounding us stand to this world itself? Is our thinking capable of the cognition of the real world? Are we able in our ideas and notions of the real world to produce a correct reflection of reality? In philosophical language this question is called the question of identity of thinking and being.” The vast majority of philosophers have answered this question in the affirmative. Among them were both materialist and idealist philosophers. There were also philosophers who answered this question in the negative. They denied the possibility to know the world and are known as agnostics.

The two sides of the basic question of philosophy are interconnected, but they differ in their position and role. Among them, the first side is the primary and basic side, and the second is the subordinate one. The answer to the question of which is primary, thinking or being, determines the line and direction of philosophy, which is also the premise and basis for the solution of the second side of the question. Only when the first side of the question is correctly solved can the second side of the question be scientifically solved. And the correct answer to the second side of the question is also indispensable to ensure that the principle of materialism is carried through consistently.