How to understand that "if a nation wants to stand at the highest peak of science, it cannot do without theoretical thinking for a moment"?

Question: Zhang Weimin, Director of the Policy and Regulation Research Office of the Propaganda Department of the Anhui Provincial Party Committee

In his speech at the conference commemorating the 200th anniversary of Marx's birth, General Secretary Xi Jinping quoted a sentence from Engels: "If a nation wants to stand at the highest peak of science, it cannot do without theoretical thinking for a moment." Excuse me, how to understand the connotation of this sentence?

Interpretation: Wang Huxue, vice president and professor of the School of Marxism of the Central Party School (National Academy of Administration).

"If a nation wants to stand at the highest peak of science, it cannot do without theoretical thinking for a moment." This is the most classic exposition of the importance and important position of theoretical thinking by Engels, the founder of Marxism. It is generally believed that this sentence comes from Engels's book "Dialectics of Nature". In fact, this sentence did not originally belong to the Dialectics of Nature, or was not written specifically for the Dialectics of Nature, but to Engels's most famous Marxist encyclopedia, Anti-Dühring, from the article "Anti-Dühring: On Dialectics". It was only later that this treatise was included in the manuscript of Dialectics of Nature by Engels that it was published and widely disseminated, and this sentence spread widely and widely. Today, when we carefully study this classic work, it becomes more and more clear that it is indeed appropriate for this treatise to be included here, both in terms of content and subject matter.

Theoretical thinking and empirical thinking

The classic thesis put forward by Engels that "if a nation wants to stand at the highest peak of science, it cannot do without theoretical thinking for a moment" is based on summarizing the development of natural science and its trend, and highlights the extreme importance of theoretical thinking to natural science research. Engels pointed out: "Today's natural scientists, whether they want to or not, are irresistibly compelled to care about the general conclusions of theory, and just as everyone who is engaged in theoretical research is irresistibly compelled to accept the results of modern natural science." There is a certain complementarity here. This seemingly "complementary and mutually reinforcing" phenomenon, although there is a aspect of theoretical research to fully absorb and actively learn from the achievements of natural science, but more concentrated reflects the "irresistible" trend of innovation and development of natural science to rely more and more on theoretical thinking. In modern times, with the unprecedented development of productive forces and the rapid development of science and technology, the development of natural science has undergone a process of transformation from empirical natural science to theoretical natural science. Not only in the field of natural sciences, but also in various specific scientific fields, including social sciences, if we want to make greater progress and greater innovation, we will increasingly be inseparable from theoretical thinking, the most important tool, and will also depend more and more on the existence or absence of theoretical thinking and the level of theoretical thinking. The practice of modern scientific development has also proved that theoretical thinking is not only an indispensable premise and foundation for scientific development, but also an important means and tool to influence and lead scientific innovation.

What is theoretical thinking? Let's first look at Engels' exposition in the original text, where he pointed out: "The study of empirical nature has accumulated a huge amount of empirical knowledge material, and it is therefore urgent to organize this material systematically and according to its internal connections in every field of study. There is also an urgent need to establish the right relationships between the various fields of knowledge. Thus, the natural sciences enter the realm of theory, where empirical methods are useless, and where only theoretical thinking works. Engels here provides us with a basic frame of reference for understanding the basic meaning of theoretical thinking, and proposed two different ways of thinking, namely, empirical thinking and theoretical thinking, so that we can better grasp and understand theoretical thinking more deeply in the correspondence and mutual comparison between empirical thinking and theoretical thinking, which are the most basic categories.

According to Engels' exposition, empirical thinking focuses on possessing and accumulating more data, while theoretical thinking focuses more on sorting out and digesting data. Empirical thinking mainly focuses on isolated things themselves, focusing on the description of things at the surface or phenomenon level, while theoretical thinking aims to reveal the inherent "internal connections" and "correct relationships" between things and things, and focuses on revealing the laws and essence of the development of things. In Engels' view, theoretical thinking is very important and indispensable, and its importance is self-evident, if "there is no theoretical thinking, it is indeed impossible to connect two facts in nature, or to gain insight into the existing connection between the two."

Objectively speaking, empirical thinking and theoretical thinking are closely related, but each has its own advantages and limitations. Empirical thinking, also known as everyday thinking, is simple and intuitive, and is abundant in everyday life or applicable to most situations in everyday life. However, because empirical thinking only stays at the level of experience, it lacks theoretical depth and breadth. Theoretical thinking is different from and higher than empirical thinking, although theoretical thinking also attaches importance to daily experience but focuses on "summarizing experience", in the process of exploring "why", theoretical thinking further deepens and enhances ideological understanding. In a certain sense, empirical thinking is more of a method that is confined to one thing at a time, one place, and one thing that will fail once it is separated from specific time and space conditions, while theoretical thinking is a method of managing the long-term, and may even become a universally applicable method that is "universally applicable".

Theoretical and philosophical thinking

The "theoretical thinking" emphasized by Engels mainly refers to philosophical thinking. In Engels' view, "theoretical thinking is nothing more than an innate quality in terms of talent." This talent needs to be developed and cultivated, and in order to do so, there is no other way than to study the philosophy of the past." As the essence of the spirit of the times and the living soul of civilization, true philosophy itself is also a product of the times. Therefore, the theoretical thinking acquired through the study of philosophy, as philosophical thinking, is not rigid and immutable, but a product of the living times and history. As Engels said, "The theoretical thinking of every era, including the theoretical thinking of our time, is a product of history, which has completely different forms and contents in different eras." Marxist philosophy is also a historical product of a specific era and the ideological crystallization of a specific nation under specific time and space conditions, but there is no doubt that Marxist philosophy has "found supporters in all the civilizations and languages of the world far beyond the borders of Germany and Europe", and is a world philosophy worthy of the name and far-reaching influence, so that it can take root and blossom in different nations.

Therefore, when Marx realized that "philosophy regards the proletariat as its material weapon, and likewise, the proletariat also regards philosophy as its spiritual weapon" and emphasized that "man's emancipated mind is philosophy, and its heart is the proletariat", he more profoundly revealed that the power of theory lies in mastering people and arming the masses, and the mission of theoretical thinking lies in convincing people with a thorough theory that grasps the fundamental of things, because "once theory has mastered the masses, it will also become a material force." As long as theory convinces people, it can grasp the masses, and as long as theory is thorough, it can convince people. The so-called thoroughness is to grasp the root of things." In the same way, when Marx pointed out that "once the lightning of thought hits this simple people's garden thoroughly, the Germans will be liberated and become people" and emphasized that "the liberation of the Germans is the liberation of man", we also have a deeper understanding of the theoretical significance and practical value of Mao Zedong's emphasis on "liberating philosophy from the philosophers' classrooms and books and turning it into a sharp weapon in the hands of the masses". Despite the passage of time and the passage of time, Marxism has endured and endured, and it still occupies the commanding heights of human science and morality to this day. History and practice have proved that the theoretical thinking embodied in Marxist philosophy as philosophical thinking undoubtedly has eternal and exemplary value and universal and human significance.

Theoretical Thinking and National Rejuvenation

Theoretical thinking is about national rejuvenation. General Secretary Xi Jinping quoted this sentence of Engels in his speech at the conference commemorating the 200th anniversary of Marx's birth, and emphasized on this basis: "If the Chinese nation wants to achieve great rejuvenation, it must also be without theoretical thinking for a moment. It is worth noting that General Secretary Xi Jinping has put forward an extremely important thesis here, which further highlights the extreme importance of theoretical thinking, and unprecedentedly elevates theoretical thinking to the level and height of national rejuvenation, thus profoundly revealing the deep and intrinsic relationship between the practice of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation and theoretical thinking.

Marx pointed out: "Whether or not human thinking has objective truth is not a question of theory, but a question of practice. People should prove the truth of their thinking in practice, that is, the reality and power of their thinking, and the nature of their thinking. "General Secretary Xi Jinping proceeds from the new practice and requirements of the party's governance of the country, and further concretizes theoretical thinking into strategic thinking, dialectical thinking, systematic thinking, innovative thinking, historical thinking, rule of law thinking, and bottom-line thinking ability that leading cadres must master and use. These important thinking abilities are the concrete embodiment of the basic laws of materialist dialectics in thinking activities, and the purpose of earnestly improving these important thinking abilities is to make one's own way of thinking more suitable to the needs of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.

If the Chinese nation wants to achieve its great rejuvenation, it cannot do without Marxist theoretical thinking for a moment, and it cannot do without the ideological guidance of the "new scientific world outlook" for a moment. Engels emphasized: "As soon as our materialist arguments are further developed and applied to the present age, a powerful revolutionary prospect of all epochs will immediately unfold before us." Therefore, no matter how chaotic and intertwined the world may be and how unpredictable the times may be, Marxism has always been the fundamental guiding ideology for us to build the party and the country and to rejuvenate the party and the country, and it is a powerful ideological weapon for us to understand the world, grasp the laws, pursue the truth, and transform the world. Today, Marx's "unfinished business" and Engels' "revolutionary vision" are showing an unprecedentedly bright future in the great practice of socialism with Chinese characteristics in the new era, which is precisely the power of Marxist scientific theory.