Abstract

Zhdanov writes in "A Speech Given in the Meeting Discussing Alexandrov's A History of Western European Philosophy," "The history of philosophy is the history of the struggle between materialism and idealism." First of all, I think this definition is not at all incorrect, and its incomplete aspects do not need much revision. Over the long period of history, materialism and idealism have been struggling continually with each other. It is impossible to imagine a period in history when they were not locked in conflict. Although materialism is stimulated to develop by idealism, or materialism absorbs conspicuous factual data from idealism — in other words, they penetrate and influence each other — it does not mean that materialism and idealism do not struggle against each other at times. This situation is just like the case in which we fight with an enemy: our military strategy is improved and stimulated by our enemy, and we absorb the positive aspects out of his strategy. But none of these phenomena implies that we stop fighting our enemy. Of course materialism and idealism must be possessed in some respects of a common language, a certain quantity of given basic facts, and they must be present in one society. Their common aspects provide them with the conditions for mutual struggle, rather than imply that they coexist peacefully. In Chapter VI of Materialism and Empiriocriticism, Lenin wrote, with great incisiveness: "All of Marx's philosophical literature focuses on explaining the fundamental antagonism between these two roads . From the point of view of the college-professor-style philosopher, this sort of ‘narrow attitude’ and ‘one-sided attitude’ is the weakest aspect in all of Marx's philosophical literature. In fact, holding firmly to this kind of narrow attitude in the face of those who try to compromise materialism and idealism is a great contribution by Marx, the one who established his philosophy by abiding by a clear and right philosophical road." Therefore it is correct to say that the history of philosophy is a history of struggle between materialism and idealism