Historical Idealism

Also known as “idealist conception of history”. The conception of the history of society, fundamentally opposing to historical materialism, reduces the ultimate cause of social phenomena and their development to the spiritual factor. Historical idealism claims that social consciousness determines social being, denies that the mode of production of material means is the determining force of social existence and development, denies the objective laws of development of the history of society, and denies the part played by the masses in history.

Historical idealism has two theoretical forms: one is objective idealism which claims that some mystical spiritual substance determines the development of history, for example, Hegel interpreted the development of the history of society with the “absolute Idea”; the other is subjective idealism which claims that man’s subjective will determines the development of history, and the “heroistic conception of history”, “genius conception of history” and “philosophy of the superman”, etc., which interpreted the development of society with the will of individual figures, are its manifestations. In The German Ideology and other works, Marx and Engels criticized historical idealism and founded historical materialism. Lenin pointed out that historical idealism has two chief defects: In the first place, the latter at best examined only the ideological motives in the historical activities of human beings, without investigating the origins of those motives, or ascertaining the objective laws governing the development of the system of social relations, or seeing the roots of these relations in the degree of development reached by material production; in the second place, the earlier theories did not embrace the activities of the masses of the population, whereas historical materialism made it possible for the first time to study with a precision of natural science the social conditions of the life of the masses, and the changes in those conditions.

Before the emergence of Marxism, historical idealism has long dominated the sphere of the history of society. It first sprouted in primitive societies. With the appearance of private property and the emergence of class society, the idealist conception of history gradually formed. In medieval Europe, the theological conception of history reigned supreme, and interpreted human society and its historical development with deities and God. The Christian conception of history claimed that God’s will is the determining force throughout all history of society. The conception of history of the Mandate of Heaven, the divine right of kings, resonance between heaven and man, and other thoughts were dominant in Chinese feudal society for a long time. Since the Renaissance in Europe, owing to the development of the productive forces and the gradual replacement of feudal relations of production by capitalist relations of production, the rising bourgeoisie put forth a conception of history that is centered on man. It opposed the God-centered conception of history, opposed divine nature with human nature, divine right with human rights, asserted to start out from man, advocated the subjective role of man and the emancipation of the individual, affirmed the power of human reason, and regarded reason as the driving force of the development of society. The classical German philosopher Hegel’s dialectical historical idealism attempted to break through the limitations of the humanist conception of history. He held that neither the apparent nor the true motives of historical figures are the ultimate cause of historical events, and reduced the driving force of history to the “absolute Idea”. Feuerbach, on the contrary, inherited and developed the humanist conception of history. Saint-Simon, Fourier, and Owen, the three major British and French utopian socialists, were also all idealistic in their conception of history. Neo-Kantianism, neo-Hegelianism and the modern bourgeois philosophy of history in the second half of the 19th century continued to uphold and preach an idealist conception of history to different degrees and in new forms. Engels pointed out that the old idealist conception of history, which was not yet dislodged, knew nothing of class struggles based upon economic interests, knew nothing of economic interests.

Historical idealism has deep historical, class and epistemological roots. As a certain stage in the socio-historical process of human knowledge, its emergence and development were inevitable. Before the appearance of the capitalist large-scale production, the slow development of production, the long-term stagnation of the relations of production and the concealment of the determining part played by material production by political, religious and other factors made it difficult for men to discover the material causes and objective laws of the development of society. Those active in the sphere of the history of society are men who consciously pursue intended aims, a feature that easily makes people erroneously believe that it is human consciousness that determines social existence and development. The exploiting classes, in their ruling position, monopolized the intellectual production of society, one-sidedly exaggerated the role of the individual and, in order to maintain their ruling position, preached that the social system was the embodiment of the will of God. Mao Zedong pointed out that for a very long period in history, men were necessarily confined to a one-sided understanding of the history of society because, for one thing, the bias of the exploiting classes always distorted history and, for another, the small scale of production limited man’s outlook. It was not until the modern proletariat emerged along with immense forces of production (large-scale industry) that man was able to acquire a comprehensive, historical understanding of the development of society, and found historical materialism and expel idealism from its last refuge in the sphere of history.

Distorting the truth about historical development, historical idealism usually represents the interests of the exploiting classes and is a non-scientific conception of history. As a product of a certain social epoch, it also plays a positive part in history. The humanist conception of history, which liberated man from religion and sought the driving force of historical development in man himself, was a major progress. Hegel’s idealist conception of history, which contained an abundant idea of dialectics, began to look for the driving forces behind men’s ideological motives and provided useful insights for the emergence of historical materialism.

Social Being

Basic category of historical materialism corresponding to “social consciousness”. It refers to the totality of the conditions of the material life of society and summarizes the objective factors and material relations that reflect the history of society, including geographical environment (also known as natural environment), the population factor and the mode of production of material means. The geographical environment and the population factor play an important part in the development of society, but they are not the determining force of social development. The mode of production of material means is the determining factor in social being. It determines the nature of social being. Social being chiefly refers to the mode of production of the material means of society.

There is a unity between social being and natural being. Human society is a product of the development of nature, a higher form of motion of matter. The existence and development of man cannot abandon nature, “man’s inorganic body”, and there is a universal interconnection between society and nature. The development of society, like nature, is governed by intrinsic general laws Social being also has characteristics that are different from natural being. The motion in nature consists of the interaction of various blind and unconscious forces. Social being is inseparable from man. Human society is constituted by men and their activities, and the laws of society act through the activities of men who pursue conscious ends. Engels said: “In the history of society, the actors are all endowed with consciousness, are men acting with deliberation or passion, working towards definite goals; nothing happens without a conscious purpose, without an intended aim.”

Social being is a category corresponding to social consciousness. The different answers to the question concerning the relation of social being and social consciousness is the main criteria to distinguish between historical materialism and historical idealism. Historical materialism holds that social being is primary, that social being determines social consciousness, and that social consciousness is secondary, a reflection and derivative of social being. Marx pointed out that the mode of production of material life conditions the general process of social, political, and intellectual life. It is not the consciousness of men that determines their existence, but their social being that determines their consciousness. Social being is the root cause and basis for the emergence of social consciousness. Social consciousness depends on social being, and a certain social consciousness can only arise at a certain stage of development of social being. As the social being is, so the social consciousness will be. Content and form of social consciousness are determined by social being. Social being is diverse and complex, and the social consciousness reflecting it also has different and multifaceted contents and forms. The changes and development of social being determine the changes and development of social consciousness. The changes and development of social consciousness is appropriate, in the last instance, to the changes and development of social being. Social consciousness also has a relative independence and a dynamic reaction upon social being.

It is the fundamental principle of historical materialism that social being determines social consciousness. Engels said: “Closer consideration shows immediately that already the first consequences of the apparently simple proposition, that the consciousness of men is determined by their existence and not the other way round, spurn all forms of idealism, even the most concealed ones, rejecting all conventional and customary views of historical matters.” It has provided a powerful ideological weapon for the proletarian revolution and construction and fundamental theoretical principles for various concrete social sciences.