Dialectical Materialist Epistemology

Marxist scientific theory on the general laws of the emergence and development of knowledge. In epistemology, there have always been two fundamentally opposing lines of thought: one is “to proceed from things to sensation and thought”, i.e., the materialist line; the other is “to proceed from thought and sensation to things”, i.e., the idealist line. Materialist epistemology holds that the material world is an independent being apart from human consciousness, and that knowledge is the reflection of things or phenomena of the external world in the human brain. Idealist epistemology holds that the material world is the product of the spirit, and that knowledge is either a priori idea or reason, or inherent in the human brain, or the process of self-knowledge of the absolute spirit. In addition, there is an agnosticism which holds that only human sensations are knowable, and that knowledge is the representation of the thing-in-itself acting on human senses, while the essence of the thing-in-itself cannot be known by man, which has raised the question of the unity of knowledge and objects, the subjective and the objective, i.e., the question of the universality of knowledge. Upholding the materialist theory of reflection, Marxist epistemology holds that the world can be known. But the old materialist theory of reflection was an contemplative theory of reflection, i.e., it regarded knowledge as a process in which the subject receives external stimuli passively, reactively, and conceived reflection as a static, passive activity similar to mirroring-like reflection. Therefore, old materialism could not scientifically interpret the question concerning the universality of the achievements of knowledge and reason. Marx pointed out: “The chief defect of all hitherto existing materialism—that of Feuerbach included—is that the thing, reality, sensuousness, is conceived only in the form of the object or of contemplation, but not as sensuous human activity, practice, not subjectively. Hence, in contradistinction to materialism, the active side was developed abstractly by idealism—which, of course, does not know real, sensuous activity as such.” Apart from practice, man’s conscious agency, and without understanding the dependence of knowledge on social practice, it was incapable of understanding the dialectical nature of knowledge and could not conceive knowledge as a process in constant development. Marx and Engels, from the standpoint of social practice, have scientifically solved the problem of the source and essence of knowledge and founded the revolutionary and dialectical theory of dynamic reflection, thus consistently refuted agnosticism and idealistic transcendentalism.

Dialectical materialist epistemology holds that knowledge is a dynamic reflection of the object by the subject based on practice. Reflection has copy-nature, i.e., knowledge takes objective things as its archetype. The content of knowledge is objective. However, the process of knowledge is never a simple copy of the object by the subject, but the dynamic choice and conceptual reproduction of the object by the subject according to its own needs; reflection and copy are also different from mirroring-like reflection, but approach the concrete object through certain intermediaries, thus are inseparable from the agency and creativity unique to man. The tools of knowledge, i.e., language, writing and other symbolic systems, are the immediate products of social practice and originate from men’s practical needs for intercourse in production and life. Writing can convey information across time and space. And with language and writing, human knowledge has attained universality and transcendence. With the help of concepts and categories, men are able to know not only the individual attributes and representations of things, but also the essence and inner laws of things through the individual and representations.

Dialectical materialist epistemology holds that practice is the source and the driving force of knowledge, as well as the criterion for testing the truth of knowledge and the ultimate purpose of knowledge. The standpoint of life, of practice should be first and fundamental in the theory of knowledge. Practical activity is an activity of translating the subjective into the objective. It is in the practice that human senses come into contact with things and phenomena, and the attributes, relations and laws of the object are fully disclosed and reflected to the human brain, where they are perceived and formed into immediate experience. Practice is the sole source of knowledge, and theory originates from practice. Moreover, the needs of practice are the driving force of the development of knowledge, and human cognitive activity ultimately serves the specific needs of social practice in each epoch, so that knowledge has value only when it satisfies the practical needs of the subject to change the object. Practice raises questions and also provides the material guarantee for solving them, including empirical materials, experimental means, etc. In short, social practice provides the basis and possibility for knowledge.

Dialectical materialist epistemology holds that human knowledge is not completed at one stroke but is a dynamic dialectical process of development that deepens with the development of practical activity, from vivacious contemplation to abstract thinking, and from abstract thinking to practice, which is the dialectical way to know the truth and objective reality. “Practice, knowledge, again practice and again knowledge. This form repeats itself in endless cycles, and with each cycle the content the content of practice and knowledge rises to a higher level. Such is the whole of the dialectical-materialist theory of knowledge.” The dialectical process of knowledge can be then summarized as follows: firstly, from sensuous knowledge to rational knowledge, and then from rational knowledge to practical concrete knowledge, i.e., a process of two leaps; secondly, the process of practice, knowledge, again practice and again knowledge that repeats itself in endless cycles, i.e., a never-ending spiral-like upward process. It is in this dialectical process that human knowledge is constantly accumulated and perfected.

Dialectical materialist epistemology emphasizes that practice is the sole criterion for testing the truth. The question whether objective truth can be attributed to human thinking is not a question of theory but is a practical question. To judge whether and to what extent subjective knowledge is in conformity with the objective reality cannot be resolved within the scope of subjectivity alone; only practice, where subjectivity and objectivity are connected, can be the criterion for testing the truth of knowledge. Any knowledge that can stand the test of practice, is confirmed by practice, and is in conformity with subjectivity and objectivity, is truth.

Based on the scientific conception of practice, dialectical materialist epistemology has transcended the shackles of the old philosophy, and scientifically interpreted and explained the intrinsic relation between the objective reality of matter and the human subjectivity, thus solved the long-standing unsolvable question in the history of ideas, stepped out of the fate of traditional philosophy and consistently refuted all forms of idealistic epistemology and agnosticism. Xi Jinping emphasized that we must incessantly receive the nourishment and wisdom of Marxist philosophy, even more consciously uphold and use the world outlook and methodology of dialectical materialism, strengthen our capacity for dialectical and strategic thinking, strive to raise our skill in resolving fundamental problems in China’s reform and development.