Theory of the Science of Man

Marxist doctrine on the essence, worth and emancipation of man and the full and free development of man.

The science of man was an ancient discipline, and ancient thinkers have conducted in-depth thinking on “what is man” and other related questions. The humanitarian thought of the European Renaissance that is centered on man had a great influence on later generations. Enlightenment thinkers such as Voltaire, Locke, Rousseau and Diderot probed into questions such as the essence of man, the place occupied by man, and reduced man into a natural substance and put forth ideas such as “l’homme machine”. Classical German philosophers elevated man from a natural substance to a reasonable substance and regarded reason as the essence of man; among them Hegel’s and Feuerbach’s thought of the science of man had a tremendous influence on the formation of Marx and Engels’ theory of the science of man. Hegel has seen the tremendous part played by human labor in the capitalist era and regarded man as the result of his own labor, that the essence of man was formed in labor and that man was a historical being. Hegel regarded labor as the essence of man, which greatly inspired Marx. However, in Hegel’s system of speculative philosophy, labor is only abstract mental labor, and he has only seen the positive aspect of labor rather than its negative aspect. Feuerbach’s humanist theory of human nature regarded man as a sensuous substance composed of body, thinking, feeling and desire, which has become an important theoretical source of the Marxist thought of the science of man. However, because he did not comprehend the revolutionary significance of practice, Feuerbach comprehended the essence of man as a sensuous being, as an abstraction, but not as sensuous activity, practice, thus Feuerbach’s thought of the science of man was an abstract conception of the science of man. On the basis of criticizing and inheriting the achievements of previous thoughts of the science of man, Marx and Engels, guided by historical materialism, scientifically clarified the starting point of the theory of the science of man, and questions such as the essence, worth and development of man, etc., and founded the scientific thought of the science of man.

The chief contents of Marx’s theory of the science of man include: (1) Concerning the starting point of theory of the science of man. The real individual and his activities are the starting point of this theory of the science of man. Marxist theory of the science of man does not study an arbitrarily imagined and abstract man, but real individuals, their activities and their conditions of material life. These premises can thus be determined in a purely empirical way. (2) Concerning the essence of man. Human essence is no abstraction inherent in each single individual. In its reality it is the ensemble of the social relations. The ensemble of the social relations is the ensemble of various relations forged by man in his practical activity of making and using tools. Human practice is the purposive and conscious activity of man, his creative activity of using physical tools, language, writing and other systems of tools, his creative activity based on past human labor and by virtue of their human powers. Therefore, the ensemble of social relations forged in human practical activity is socio-historical and universal. (3) Concerning human nature. Human nature is actual and concrete, and there is no abstract human nature. Actual human nature is an organic unity of natural, social and spiritual attributes, thus the entire attribute of man who consciously engages in practical activity under certain material conditions. (4) Concerning the freedom and emancipation of man. Freedom is the fullest embodiment of the subjective nature of man. Freedom does not consist in any dreamt-of independence from natural laws, but in the knowledge of these laws, and in the possibility this gives of systematically making them work towards definite ends. Freedom is the knowledge of necessity and the reshaping of the objective world. Only by knowing the necessity of the objective world can the scope of the choice of the subject be grasped and greater emancipation and freedom be achieved. (5) Concerning the full and free development of man. The full and free development of an individual means that an individual has enough leisure time to enjoy and learn, that the essential powers of man are constantly improved, and that all capacities and talents of an individual are fully developed; the full and free development of the society means the abolition of classes, so that the development of some does not come at the expense of others, “in place of the old bourgeois society, with its classes and class antagonisms, we shall have an association, in which the free development of each is the condition for the free development of all.” This association of free men is “a higher form of society, a society in which the full and free development of every individual forms the ruling principle”.

Marxist theory of the science of man has achieved a revolutionary transformation from abstract man to actual man. It has an inner logic and systematic structure, thus making the science of man a real science.