Mao Zedongs On Practice Philosophical Overview | Generated by AI
Question: Can you provide an introduction to Mao Zedong’s philosophical work, On Practice (《实践论》)?
Answer:
Overview
Written in 1937, On Practice is one of Mao Zedong’s most significant philosophical essays. It was originally delivered as a series of lectures at the Anti-Japanese Military and Political College in Yan’an. The work serves as a foundational text for Maoism, aiming to reconcile Marxist-Leninist theory with the specific realities of the Chinese Revolution by emphasizing the importance of lived experience and practical application.
Core Philosophical Arguments
The essay focuses on the dialectical relationship between knowledge and practice. Mao argues that knowledge is not innate but is derived entirely from social practice.
- The Primacy of Practice: Practice is the source, the driving force, and the ultimate criterion of truth. One cannot truly understand a thing without attempting to change it.
- The Two Stages of Knowledge:
- Perceptual Stage: The initial phase where we gather raw data through our senses (seeing, hearing, feeling).
- Conceptual Stage: Through reflection and analysis, perceptual data is transformed into concepts, theories, and laws.
- The Cycle of Learning: Knowledge does not end with theory. It must be “returned to practice” to see if the theory actually works. This creates an infinite spiral: Practice Knowledge Again Practice Again Knowledge.
Why It Was Written
At the time, the Communist Party of China was split between two internal factions:
- The “Dogmatists”: Those who followed Soviet instructions or Marxist texts blindly without considering China’s unique rural landscape.
- The “Empiricists”: Those who relied solely on their limited personal experience without understanding broader revolutionary theory.
Mao wrote On Practice to criticize both, arguing that theory is useless if it doesn’t solve real-world problems, and action is blind without a theoretical guide.
Key Takeaways
- Truth is Objective: Whether a thought is “true” is determined by whether it achieves the predicted results in social practice.
- Adaptability: As the world changes, our theories must evolve. There is no “final” or static truth.
- Famous Quote: “If you want to know the taste of a pear, you must change the pear by eating it yourself.”
Would you like me to compare the concepts in On Practice with its companion essay, On Contradiction?