Ths historical legacy inherited by thinkers of the Ch'un-ch'iu period comprised, briefly speaking: a religious world outlook characterized by ancestor worship; the ethical concept of filial piety and brotherliness, which was linked to ancestor worship, or derived therefrom; the concept of a ritual system; the conditions of aristocratic politics and scholar bureaucracy. These were things shaped on the basis of the blood ties in a patriarchal and racial society, and they were passive, from the standpoint of progress, being the obstacle (...) that hindered people from making big strides forward. Next, there were the tendency toward simple materialism and dialectics, which was born from the bowels of religious world outlook; the materialist philosophy of complaint against and hatred and cursing of Heaven; the belief in things and in laws; and Shih Po's doctrine of "Things are produced when matter combines." These were positive things, especially the last three, which emerged at a time when the slave system had begun to collapse, and which formed the premise of their ideological advance. Who among the thinkers of the Ch'un-ch'iu period would inherit and develop these things, what questions would be raised, probed, discussed, or argued on the common basis of their traditional thought, and what specific forms would be used to answer these questions had to be determined by their class stand and by the characteristics of the period in which they lived. (shrink)

In order to revolutionize philosophical workers and philosophical research work and emancipate them from classrooms and books, philosophical workers must integrate themselves with the masses of workers and peasants. Integration with the masses of workers and peasants is the fundamental way to achieve revolutionization of philosophical workers and their research work.

According to Marxist dialectics, the struggle of opposites is unconditional and absolute, while the identity of opposites is conditional and relative. The identity and struggle of the two contradictory aspects in the development of a thing constitute the kernel of materialist dialectics — the basic contents of the law of the unity of opposites. We hold that the unity of opposites is the universal law and that this law is applicable to all realms and naturally comprises the two inseparable aspects (...) — the struggle and identity of opposites. (shrink)

The question of whether there is identity between erroneous thinking and existence is attributable to the question of whether there is identity between thought and existence. As has been pointed out, denial of the identity between erroneous thinking and existence leads to negation of the identity between thought and existence and also to recognition of the identity between partial thinking and existence. Some comrades recognize the identity between thought and existence, on the one hand, and deny the identity between erroneous (...) thinking and existence, on the other. This is contradictory. The question of whether there is identity between erroneous thinking and existence is in fact the question of whether the law of the unity of opposites can be applied to the relationship between thought and existence, between correct thinking and existence, and between erroneous thinking and existence. This is also the question of whether we have to stick to the Marxist theory of reflection, that is, the question of whether the Marxist theory of reflection can be applied to correct thinking and erroneous thinking. In other words, this is the question of whether erroneous thinking can reflect and react on objective existence. (shrink)

The philosophical thought of the Ch'un-ch'iu period was derived and developed from the thought of the Yin dynasty and the Western Chou , there being an inseparable relationship of succession and transformation between them. Thus, in studying the philosophical thought of the Ch'un-ch'iu period, it is necessary to refer back to Yin-Chou thought. The courage and resolve evidenced by an attitude of so-called "cutting off the miscellaneous streams" in order to start with Lao Tzu or Confucius is really a very (...) awkward way of dissecting history. (shrink)