Theoretical innovation from the perspective of Marxist view of practice

Persisting in theoretical innovation is a valuable experience accumulated by our party in leading the people in carrying out great struggles over the past 100 years and more. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "To make the cause of the party and the people not pause, first of all, we must not stop theoretically. In light of the changes of the times and the development of practice, we must constantly deepen our understanding, constantly sum up experience, and constantly carry out theoretical innovations. "How to scientifically grasp and adhere to theoretical innovation? Obviously, we need the guidance of Marxism, especially the Marxist outlook on practice, because from the perspective of the Marxist outlook on practice, we can profoundly grasp the internal basis and mechanism for the generation of theories and their innovative activities, which is of great guiding significance for enhancing the consciousness and effectiveness of theoretical innovations.

Mechanism of theory generation

Since "all social life is practical in nature", the viewpoint of practice and the viewpoint of life are the basic viewpoints of Marxist epistemology, and practicality is the distinctive feature of Marxist theory that distinguishes it from other theories. From the perspective of Marxist practice, practice refers to the material activities of human beings to actively transform the world. Of course, people's transformation of the world is not a purely material activity with spontaneity and blindness, but a consciously autonomous social activity carried out under the guidance of certain theoretical concepts. The relationship between man and the world is constructed through practice and the cognitive activities generated on the basis of practice, and the practical activities have led to the change of the purposefulness of the real world, but only the purposefulness cannot successfully achieve the goal, and it must also conform to the law, and to grasp the law of the movement and change of things, it is inseparable from the cognitive activities of people. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "The more profound the revelation of the law by theory, the more significant the leading role of social development and change." It is through people's cognitive activities that certain theoretical concepts are generated, and the relationship between practice and theory arises from this. The Marxist outlook on practice scientifically answers the question of the relationship between theory and practice, and reveals the mechanism of the practical occurrence of theoretical concepts.

From the practical point of view of Marxism, all theoretical concepts or theoretical understandings come from practice. General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized that "adhere to the viewpoint of practice first, and constantly promote theoretical innovation on the basis of practice". That is to say, in the relationship between theory and practice, practice has the first nature, theory has the second nature, and practice is the source and driving force of theory, and is the only objective criterion and ultimate goal for testing whether theory has truth. At the same time, on the question of the relationship between theory and practice, the Marxist outlook on practice not only sees the decisive role of practice on theory, but also sees the counter-effect of theory on practice, and thus has a scientific dialectical character. From the perspective of the Marxist outlook on practice, theory is not passive, but provides a guiding role in people's practical activities, such as world outlook, values, and methodology. Without the guidance of scientific theories, people's practical activities are prone to fall into a situation of spontaneity, blindness, and high cost. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "Once theory is divorced from practice, it will become a rigid dogma and lose its vitality and vitality. If practice is not guided by correct theories, it is easy for 'a blind man riding a blind horse and approaching a deep pool in the middle of the night'. It can be seen that scientific theoretical concepts have very important significance for high-quality practical activities.

Practice is the source and driving force of theory, which actually reveals that the mechanism of theory generation is fundamentally a mechanism of practice, and the practical mechanism of theory formation also reflects the internal unity between theory and practice, that is, the inseparability between each other. Of course, the Marxist concept of practice does not only point out the dominant role of practice in theory, but further expounds the position and role of the masses in practical activities and in the generation of theory from the perspective of the main body of practice. Practice is a unique mode of existence of human beings, and the main body of practice is human beings, especially the broad masses of the people, and the masses of the people are the backbone force or main force that initiates and promotes practice. Therefore, when we say that theory comes from practice, we actually express the true meaning that theory comes from the people, and the so-called "derived from practice" essentially refers to the practice of the masses of the people. General Secretary Xi Jinping called for "being good at constantly absorbing nutrients from the practice of the people according to changes in the objective situation, and constantly enriching and developing theories". The report to the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) expounded the fundamental position that "we must uphold the supremacy of the people". The report of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China clearly pointed out: "The people's nature is the essential attribute of Marxism, the party's theory is a theory that comes from the people, for the people, and benefits the people, and the people's creative practice is an inexhaustible source of theoretical innovation." In the mechanism of theory generation, the Marxist concept of practice not only sees practice, but also sees the power of the people behind practice, and sublimates from "things" to people, which deepens our party's understanding of the problem of theory generation.

The innovative development mechanism of theory

There is no end to practice, and there is no end to theoretical innovation. The Marxist outlook on practice not only reveals the mechanism of theory generation in general, but also further reveals the mechanism of theory innovation and development. Why should theories be innovative? Because there is not only unity between theory and practice, but also opposition or difference. It is precisely on the basis of the antagonism or difference between theory and practice that a contradictory mechanism has been formed to promote the development of theoretical innovation, and the contradiction between theory and practice is the fundamental driving force for promoting theoretical innovation.

The contradiction between theory and practice is mainly manifested in three aspects: First, the fallacy of theory, that is, the theory itself does not truthfully reflect and reveal people's practice and objective reality, which makes theory and practice antagonistic in nature. Second, the lag of theory, that is, practice has developed, while the theory itself, or a certain part or aspect of the theory, has remained the same as it was, and has not developed with the development of practice. Third, the advanced nature of theory, that is, the theory is ahead of the current practice, and there are elements of utopia or even fantasy. Although there is a grand blueprint and vision for future practice in theory, this is the unity of regularity and purposefulness, and it is an element that can be gradually realized in practice, and it is itself a part of the theory. The so-called "advancement" of theories here is the content that only fits the purpose but does not conform to the law, and even in terms of the "purpose" it satisfies is "wishful thinking" that is divorced from reality. Whether theory lags behind practice or "advances" practice, it is a phenomenon or deviation from practice that is out of touch with practice in form. The fallacy and deviation of this theory itself relative to practice has led to the formation of a contradictory mechanism that promotes theoretical innovation.

In "On Practice", Mao Zedong discussed the contradiction between theory and practice. The "Theory of Practice" requires that "when there are mistakes in ideas, theories, plans, and plans, we must be good at correcting them," and it also points out the phenomenon that "it is common for ideas to lag behind reality," and at the same time calls for "opposing 'left' empty talkism," that is, "their thinking goes beyond a certain stage of development of the objective process, and some regard illusions as truth, while others reluctantly put them in the present to do their ideals that only have realistic possibilities in the future, detaching themselves from the practice of the majority of the people at present and the reality of the present, and manifesting themselves as adventurism in their actions." Mao Zedong's exposition on the contradictory relationship between theory and practice provides us with important guidance for profoundly grasping the innovative mechanism of theory.

Since practice is the source, motive force, and destination of theory, and the main reason for the contradiction between theory and practice lies in theory rather than practice, the key to resolving the contradiction between theory and practice is to start with theory, that is, to achieve theoretical innovation, which is precisely the fundamental objective basis for us to put forward and carry out theoretical innovation. The "innovation" of theory has rich connotations and important functions. The fundamental purpose of theoretical innovation is to solve the problem of the separation between subjectivity and objectivity and the separation of understanding and practice, that is, to adhere to the historical and dialectical unity of theoretical guidance and practical exploration, and to realize the benign interaction between theoretical innovation and practical innovation. In this way, from the perspective of the function of theoretical innovation, first, theoretical innovation should solve the problem of theoretical error, because theoretical innovation itself has the function of correcting errors; Second, theoretical innovation should solve the problem that theory lags behind or advances in practice, because theoretical innovation has the function of correcting deviations. Whether it is error correction or deviation correction, the purpose is to make theory truthfully reflect practice and effectively guide practice.

General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized: "Theoretical innovation can only start from problems. In a sense, the process of theoretical innovation is the process of discovering, screening, researching, and solving problems. The "problem" here actually refers to the externalized manifestation of the contradiction between theory and practice. The report of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China put forward the requirement that "we must adhere to the problem-oriented", which actually pointed out the fundamental task of carrying out theoretical innovation. Theory innovates itself in the attention and solution of problems, and guides the development of practice through active response to problems.

Methodology of theoretical innovation

In terms of methodology, there are two attitudes to resolve the contradiction between theory and practice: one is to adhere to the attitude of putting theory first -- this is a dogmatic or essentialist line of thinking, that is, starting from the original theory, cutting down enough to fit the foot, tailoring practice with theory, and adapting practice to theory. Such a rigid dogmatic approach will obviously hinder the progress of practice and stifle the development of theory. General Secretary Xi Jinping demanded that Marxism should not be treated with a dogmatic attitude or a pragmatic attitude. The second is to adhere to the attitude of putting practice first -- this is a scientific line of thinking that seeks truth from facts, seeks truth and is pragmatic, that is, it is necessary to constantly make new theoretical creations in combination with new practice. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "The era is the mother of thought, and practice is the source of theory. There is no end to the development of practice, and there is no end to our understanding of the truth and the innovation of theory. ”

From the perspective of Marxist practice, theoretical innovation follows the logical path of coming from practice to practice. From practice to theory, it expresses the formation of new theoretical cognition through investigation and research and summarization on the basis of practice, including under the pressure of practical problems, so as to achieve a truthful reflection of objective existence. The so-called "from theory to practice" refers to the use of the new theories formed to guide other or next work practices, and this guidance should achieve two purposes: first, to make practice develop healthily and smoothly through guidance, and steadily achieve the practical goals set by people; Second, in the course of guiding practice, we should further test, revise, enrich, and improve theories, so that theories can achieve new developments.

Text: Qiu Gengtian (Professor, School of Marxism, Party School of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China)

Editor: Yu Ying