Contradictory reading notes

Contradictory reading notes

The philosophical thesis of "The Theory of Contradiction" was written by Mao Zedong to overcome the serious dogmatism that exists in the Chinese Communist Party. As the ideological guide of that era, it not only helped China's proletarian revolution to victory, but is still a rare spiritual guide in today's society, with irreplaceable practical significance. Here, I focus on my personal life experience.

"The law of contradiction of things, that is, the law of the unity of opposites, is the most fundamental law of materialist dialectics. Lenin said that 'in terms of the original meaning, dialectics is the contradiction in the essence of the object of study.'" The opening sentence is to tell We, when studying this law, will cover a wide range of aspects as well as many philosophical issues. This is a sign of Chairman Mao's rigor: philosophy can't be explained clearly in a few words, and must be comprehensively viewed in all aspects of things. Later, Chairman Mao discussed the issues of the two cosmological views, the universality of contradictions, the particularity of contradictions, the main contradictions and major contradictions, the identity and struggle of contradictions, and the status of struggles in contradictions. A good explanation of contradiction. There are many words in this that left a deep impression on me.

First of all, "When we study certain things, we should discover these two aspects and their interconnections, discover the two aspects of the particularity and universality of a thing and their interconnections, and discover a thing and many things other than it. The mutual connection of the contradictions." Without knowing the universality of contradictions, there is no universal reason or universal basis for the development of the movement of things. However, if we do not study the particularity of contradictions, we cannot determine the special nature of a thing different from his things. There is no way to distinguish things and distinguish areas of scientific research. The contradictions in the various forms of material movement are both special, and their internals also contain their own special contradictions. This special contradiction constitutes the special essence of a thing that is different from his things. And we study things from the recognition of individual and special things, gradually to the understanding of ordinary things, and at the same time interconnected, that is, to see these contradictions in a unified dialectic, and then it is possible to further generalize the work and understand things. The common essence. Contradictions promote the development of things, and contradictions also provide us with a direction for studying things.

Second, understanding things requires research work. It is necessary not only to study the special contradiction of the material movement form of each large system and its prescribed essence, but also to study the special contradiction and essence of each process of each material movement form in its long-distance development. When studying problems, “avoid subjectivity, one-sidedness and superficiality”, people need to faithfully reflect these situations, not just to look at them unilaterally or superficially, to understand the interrelationships of things, and to study the various aspects of the development of things. The particularity of the contradiction at the stage of development must not only be seen in its liaison, but also in its entirety, and must be seen in all aspects of contradictions at various stages.

Again, the contradiction is usually divided into primary and secondary, and the primary and secondary is not absolute. “In the various stages of process development, only one major contradiction plays the role of leadership. If any process is studied, if there are more than two complicated processes, it is necessary to use all efforts to find out its main contradiction” and “contradictions” The main and non-primary aspects of each other are transformed, and the nature of things changes with each other. Therefore, in the process of research, we must first catch the main contradiction, so that all problems can be solved. Thousands of people do not understand this method. As a result, there is no way to resolve conflicts.

In general, the law of contradictions of things, that is, the law of the unity of opposites, is the fundamental law of nature and society, and thus the fundamental law of thinking. Differences are contradictions and are inevitable. The original plan contradicts the unknown accident, the far-reaching ideal contradicts the ruthless reality, and the busy urban life rhythm contradicts the leisure of Bixi fishing and quiet viewing. When Lenovo is triggered by "Contradictory Theory", it is known that there are contradictions everywhere in life. Absolute peace and purity are only one-sided and deviations in understanding, and exist in the ideal country.

For example, before entering the university, I always feel lucky. I think that after the college entrance examination, the world may be sunny and worry-free. However, it is still the case today. It still needs to be demodulated in various contradictions and strive for stable survival. The heavier the academics, the more eager to live a leisurely life, and the other party will also reduce the loss after one party disappears. It is because of the emptiness of entering the university, but they have to continue to spur themselves and seek motivation in the pressure.

The same is true for people. The good and evil in human nature is a pair of opposites that rotate hand in hand, attracting each other and repelling each other. The only difference is that in the process of each person's growth, some people turn the evil thoughts in their hearts into good, guided by behaviors and thoughts, and become good people. However, the people who become good people will not have the evil of one thought. They will suppress and seduce them in a corner of their hearts in their lives, and they will shrink to infinity, but they still exist. Others indulge the various desires in the mind, transcending morality and axioms, and become the opposite side of the opposite of good people. Up and down, left and right, Qiankun, yin and yang, society and life are composed of these two poles. People always try to transform the contradictions to learn from experience and lessons, gain growth, and continue the contradictions for a long time, to stop death. Because of the ambiguity and yearning for the opposite, there is a false fear of death.

Spears and shields are inseparable. The contradictory side pushes the other side forward, one by one, the way of civil and military, and because of all kinds of thoughts, human nature is gradually becoming more complex and mature. In other words, understanding the universality and particularity of contradictions also helps to understand the world and life more clearly, make correct judgments on various contradictions, and adopt effective methods to minimize the level of differences in contradictions. Resolve confrontation and make life and thought spiral forward in contradiction.

Contradictory reading notes

"The law of contradiction of things, that is, the law of the unity of opposites, is the most fundamental law of materialist dialectics." Mao Zedong wrote at the beginning of his book "The Theory of Contradiction." Then, how do we know the law of contradiction? Mao Zedong thinks that we should understand the following issues: two kinds of cosmology; the universality of contradiction; the particularity of contradiction; the main aspects of main contradictions and contradictions; the identity of contradictions And struggle; confrontation in the status of contradiction.

Two kinds of cosmology

One is metaphysics, which is a cosmological view of the universe. It is to look at the world in an isolated, static and one-sided view. It thinks that the world is static. If there is change, it is also a change in quantity or a change in place. The reason for this change is mainly due to external factors of things rather than internal factors. Therefore, this view cannot explain the qualitative diversity and cannot explain the qualitative change phenomenon.

The other is materialist dialectics, which advocates the study of the development of things from the inside of things and from the relationship of one thing to another. The view holds that the root cause of the development of things is not outside the things but inside the things, but in the contradictions inside the things, and the connection and influence of one thing with other things is the secondary reason for the development of things. A simple external cause can only cause the mechanical movement of things, that is, the increase or decrease of the number and the size of the range. It cannot explain how things vary widely in their nature and their mutual changes.

Universality of contradiction

The universality of contradiction refers to the existence of contradiction and all things, and the existence of contradiction promotes the development of things. There are two aspects: First, contradiction exists in the development of all things, and second, there is a contradictory movement from beginning to end in the development of each thing.

Particularity of contradiction

The contradictions in the forms of movement of different substances are different and have special characteristics. The particularity of contradiction is a basis for distinguishing contradictions from other contradictions. Universality exists in particularness. Different quality contradictions must be resolved in different ways, as Lenin said in the specific case. There are two processes of understanding things: from special to general, then from general to special. These two processes are a process of continuous expansion and continuous improvement of the understanding of things.

Study questions, avoid subjectivity, one-sidedness and superficiality, and be objective, comprehensive and in-depth. In the different stages of development of things, the particularity of their contradictions will change. It is necessary to study from all aspects of contradictions in each stage, in order to come up with effective ways to resolve contradictions.

Main aspects of major contradictions and contradictions

In the process of the development of complex things, there are many contradictions. Among them, there must be one and only one is the main contradiction. Because of its existence and development, it affects the existence and development of other contradictions. All we have to do is to seize the main contradiction. One of the two aspects of contradiction is the main aspect, which mainly determines the direction of development of contradictions. The mutual transformation of the main and secondary aspects of contradiction promotes the change of the nature of things. Only by accurately finding the main aspects of contradiction and the differences between them and minor aspects can we grasp the law of the development of things well.

Identity and struggle in all aspects of contradiction

Identity has two meanings: First, the two aspects of each contradiction in the development of things are the premise of their own existence, the two sides coexist in one unity; the second is the basis of contradiction Certain conditions are transformed into opposite aspects. Struggling means that the two determinants of contradiction are absolutely fighting and transforming each other. The combination of conditional relative unity and unconditional absolute struggle constitutes a contradictory movement of all things.

Confrontation in the status of contradiction

Confrontation is a form of contradictory struggle, not all forms. Some contradictions only occur when the contradictory struggle develops to a certain extent, and some contradictions change from a confrontational nature to a non-confrontational nature.

Contradictory reading notes

The philosophy of struggle originated in the Yan'an era. We don't know whether Mao Zedong's philosophical thought influenced Ai Siqi and Chen Boda, or whether Ai Siqi and Chen Boda's philosophical thoughts influenced Mao Zedong. In short, Ai Siqi and others came to Yanan in the 1930s. Together with Yan'an philosophers, he founded the philosophy of struggle. The "Contradictory Theory" is the symbol of the struggle philosophy. From the "Contradictory Theory" we can clearly see that Mao Zedong is not to establish a philosophy of his own, but to elaborate the philosophy of Marxism-Leninism. The absolute unconditional struggle and relative conditional identity, the theoretical principle of the philosophy of struggle, is described as materialist dialectics, imposed on Marx and Lenin. From the words of Lenin quoted in The Theory of Contradiction, it can be seen that the basic principles of the philosophy of struggle first come from the misunderstanding of Lenin. Absolute unconditional struggle and relative conditional identity are by no means Lenin’s opinion. Now let's take a look at how people misunderstood Lenin.

Mao Zedong quoted a sentence from Lenin in The Theory of Contradiction to prove the absolute and unconditional nature of struggle. Lenin said in the article "Talking about Dialectics":

"The unity of opposites is conditional, temporary, and temporary. The struggle against the opposite side is absolute, just as development and movement are absolute." 11 Quoted from "Selected Works of Mao Zedong" Page 173 People's Publishing House, 1986

This sentence of Lenin became the theoretical basis for the absolute unconditional struggle and the relative conditional identity of the basic principles of the philosophy of struggle. What is puzzling is that while Mao Zedong’s "Contradictions" quoted Lenin’s words at the same time, he also quoted another sentence from Lenin, which has the opposite opinion from the above statement:

"Why should the human mind not regard these opposites as dead, solidified things, but as living, conditional, active, and mutually transforming things." Lenin's Philosophical Notes, pp. 116-117 CPC Central Party School Press, 1990 edition

Here, Lenin clearly expressed the meaning that "opposite" is "conditional". The above quotes describe the struggle of the opposite as unconditional and seem to be self-contradictory. But if the reader is a little more careful, it is not difficult to see that the above two paragraphs of Lenin express two different opinions: The first sentence Lenin said that the struggle on the opposite side is unconditional; Lenin’s first sentence is the opposite It is conditional. If we regard the struggle and opposite of the opposite as the same meaning, we will see the two contradictions of Lenin; if we see the opposite of the struggle and the opposite of the two sides, we will not doubt Lenin. Self-contradictory. In the same article, the author of "The Theory of Contradiction" quoted the words that Lenin had the opposite meaning, but did not find the contradiction here. Mao Zedong was the first person to quote Lenin. From the publication of the 1937 Contradiction Theory to today, almost struggle philosophers in their own works and articles, imitating the practice of Contradiction and copying Lenin’s two Paragraph, it is strange that no one has seen or pointed out the contradiction between these two sentences.

Since Lenin said that the struggle between contradictions and contradictions is unconditional, then Lenin naturally became the inventor of this struggle philosophy, because the struggle philosophers did not do more to prove the relativity of identity, except for the quote of Lenin. Conditional and combative absolute unconditionality. If Lenin can be born again, he must also say that this gave him too many honors and gave him too much reputation. If the philosophers are a little more careful, it is not difficult to see that the unconditionality of Lenin's two sentences refers to two situations:

Lenin said in the first sentence: The struggle against the opposite is unconditional.

Lenin said in the second sentence: the opposite is conditional.

If you cite and understand the above two statements, it is easy to cause misunderstanding and confusion, and misunderstand the struggle between opposite and opposite sides into the same thing.

Now our key is to find out whether the unity and identity of the opposite are the same thing, what is the difference between the opposite and the opposite, and then who can be said to be absolute and who is unconditional. .

Common sense tells us that identity refers to the identity of things themselves, the things that are common to the differences of things themselves, that is, the commonality of things, the things of commonality are general, abstract or absolute and unspecified, so His existence is unconditional, it is only one aspect of the existence of things; and the identity of opposites contains identity and also contains opposites. At this time, the identity is not abstract, undifferentiated, but relative to specific differences. The existence of the same, such as the Earth contains the unity of opposites between the North and the South, and if life contains the unity of life and death, dialectics believes that the unity of opposites is relatively conditional.

Then it is the absolute, unconditional identity and the relative conditional unity of opposites. Why did it suddenly evolve into a relative and conditional identity in the struggle philosophers? The key here is to understand the unity of opposites. Whether identity is the same thing. If we can distinguish the unity of identity and identity, knowing that identity is only one aspect of unity of opposites, we can know that the relative and conditional things that Lenin said are opposites. Unity, not identity itself, describes the unity of opposite relatives as conditional relative identity, apparently due to the confusion between the two concepts of unity and identity of opposites. Caused by misunderstanding.

Common sense also tells us that opposition is the different things that things have, and the individuality of things. Any opposite is relative, such as size, up and down, good and bad, etc. The existence of two aspects of the opposite is mutually conditional. If there is no big, it does not matter, and there is no such thing as upper and lower, opposite and opposite. Sex can be said to be the same thing, but the opposite of the struggle philosopher has become an absolutely unconditional thing, it is really slippery. The misunderstanding of Lenin here is the same as the above misunderstanding of identity. The key is to confuse the two categories of struggle between opposites and opposites. Below we briefly describe the opposite relationship between the dialectic categories of identity, opposite unity, opposites, and opposites. For the convenience of the following brief description, we must first clarify the three concepts: struggle, absolute and condition.

struggle

The earliest use of the word struggle as a dialectic was the ancient Greek philosopher Heraclitus, who once called the struggle "the father of all things", but dialectics is not a mature theory in ancient Greece, Hegel is the first " Comprehensively and consciously describe the general form of motion of dialectics. "Human, Hegel rarely uses the word struggle as a category of dialectics, as does Marx and Engels. Lenin used more of the word struggle. To express the opposite of contradiction, but he clearly told us that we cannot confuse the struggle of everyday language with the struggle of dialectics, so sometimes he deliberately put the word struggle in quotation marks. I think that the masters of these dialectics may not have thought that the descendants would refer the word of struggle to the highest principle of dialectics, and even use the word struggle to replace the status of unity of opposites. In the everyday language, the word struggle is often equal to the contradiction and the unity of opposites. Therefore, it is convenient to use the word struggle to express dialectics. Speaking so much is to prove that the word struggle has a special position in the philosophy of struggle. The struggle can exist from the same sex. The struggle becomes the supreme principle of the existence of things. The struggle has become the ultimate goal and even the joy of life. But no matter how people understand and misunderstand the word struggle, the word struggle in dialectics should only be used to indicate one aspect of contradiction, that is, the opposite.

In this way, we can say that the struggle against the opposite is the opposite of the opposite. Just as the same identity is the same as the abstract, the opposite opposition is also an abstract opposition.

absolute

In dialectics, the absolute word has a clear meaning, and he and abstraction are one thing. Hegel once stated clearly;

“The absolute word has no other meaning than the usual meaning of abstraction. For example, absolute space, absolute time, actually refers to abstract space, abstract time.” 22 Hegel “Little Logic” Page 248 Commercial Press 1982 Year edition

Therefore, when we say absolute opposition, the actual refers to the abstract opposition. Any abstraction is not specific. It is unregulated and unconditional. The struggle of the opposite of Lenin is absolutely unconditional. It refers to this abstract opposition. Or the opposite of the opposite.

condition

Mao Zedong called the external cause of the existence of things a condition, and called the internal cause a basis. Then what are the conditions in conditional identity and unconditional struggle? If the conditions are viewed as internal factors, the basis is the condition, and the identity is the same according to the unity of identity and opposition. The condition is that the consent loop is meaningless. If the condition is regarded as an external cause, the external cause becomes the condition of the contradiction or the unity of opposites. That is, the external cause is the same condition and the opposite condition. How can such a condition be an aspect of contradiction or a struggle condition? It is meaningless to say that there is no condition in one aspect of contradiction.

After clarifying the above concepts, let us now briefly describe the dialectical relationship between identity, the unity of opposites, the struggle, and the struggle against the opposite.

First, the unity of identity and opposites is the same concept of dialectics. Identity is generally expressed as abstract or absolute identity, while the identity of opposites represents relative concreteness and unity. Dividing abstract identity and concrete identity is a key to Hegel's intellectual identity and Xie Lin's absolute abstractity. Hegel believes that the existence of all is the same identity, and abstract identity is not in reality. existing. The difference between the abstract and the concrete is that the concrete is the same with the difference, and the abstract is the same that takes the difference of things. This abstraction is very important to our analysis, but he will never exist independently. If we do not stipulate only the same, this is the abstract identity, the abstract identity is absolutely unconditional. The concrete identity is the abstraction of this abstraction. At this time, the same is the sameness of a certain opposite. It is not the same general. This same has the specific content, such as the opposite of life and death. At this time, the same has been With specific content that is life, identity is life, and opposite is life and death. Where the unity of opposites, identity and opposites are specific, such as the above identity is life, the opposite is life and death. This is why the unity of opposites is relative and unconditional. When we are only talking about identity, the identity at this time has no specific content, only the abstract identity, so it is absolutely unconditional. The identity of the opposite is relatively conditional, and identity is absolutely unconditional. This is the basic common sense of dialectics. Lenin said that the identity of the opposite is relatively conditional; while the philosophy of struggle distort it. Identity is relatively conditional.

Now we look at the opposite of opposites and opposites is absolute. This problem has the same properties as the problem of identity.

The opposite is itself relative, and can be done without thinking and understanding. The opposite is bound to be two aspects, such as the above, how much, life and death, etc.; its existence must also be conditional and specific, and its condition is the same. Sex, such as the condition of life and death, that is, identity is life, and there is no life and death without life. So the category of opposites is itself a relative and conditional existence.

Let us look at the opposite of the opposite. The opposite confrontation obviously refers to the opposite of opposites. This contradictory opposition is negative. This opposition has been transformed from concrete and conditional opposition into an abstract unconditional opposition. The struggle philosopher does not understand the struggle against the opposite. It refers not to the specific opposite, but the opposite of the opposite is the abstract opposition. The absolute opposition between Lenin and this is the abstract opposition, but the struggle philosopher misunderstood this abstract opposition into a concrete opposition, and united the absolute and the opposite, and obtained an absolute unconditional opposition. The basic principle of this struggle philosophy. But this is a violation of dialectics, a misinterpretation of Lenin, and an expression of the fact that dialectics is not implemented. Absolutely there is relative, relatively absolute, Lenin here is the argumentation relationship. The abstract identity is absolute, but it becomes relative when the concrete opposition is the same; the opposite is itself relative, but the opposite or abstract opposition of the opposite is absolute. Since the struggle philosopher did not understand the dialectical relationship of absolute relatives, it was concluded from Lenin's words that the conclusion of anti-Lenin made dialectic into a philosophy of struggle. In fact, after Lenin spoke the above words, he might have foreseen someone to distort his words. He immediately made a supplementary explanation. If people quoted Lenin as a misunderstanding, take a closer look at Lenin’s statement. The supplementary explanation and understanding of the true meaning of the explanation, the philosophy of struggle may not be so stubborn. Lenin added this:

"Note: By the way, the difference between dialectic and dialectics is that in dialectics, the absolute and relative differences are also relative. For objective dialectics, there is absolute relativeness. For subjectivism and defamation, it is relatively relative, Rejecting absolute." 11 Lenin's "philosophical notes" page 398, the Central Party School Press, 1990 edition

Why did Lenin make this explanation immediately after he finished the sentence that was misunderstood? Actually, he was afraid of being misunderstood. The identity of the original abstraction is absolute, but the absolute identity must be relatively expressed through concrete identity. Originally, the specific opposite can abstract the absolute opposition in the specific unity of opposites. The misunderstanding of Lenin is actually an incomprehension of the absolute relative dialectical relationship. In the final analysis, it is a lack of understanding of the unity of opposites. For this reason, we still need to make a detailed explanation of the law of the unity of opposites. Only after this analysis can we completely poke the struggle. The dialectic illusion of philosophy. In the second and third parts of this paper, the identity and the opposite are analyzed separately.