Chapter 22 On the basic characteristics of human beings and others[1]

(December 17, 1943) one The history of things is infinite, and the interrelationships between things are infinite, so their attributes are infinite.The so-called "full exposure" is actually only a limited part, some fragments. two The most basic difference is the social nature of man. Man is a tool-making animal, man is an animal engaged in social production, and man is an animal of class struggle (at a certain historical period). In a word, man is a social animal, not whether he has thoughts or not.All animals have mental phenomena. Higher animals have emotion, memory, and reasoning ability. Humans only have advanced mental phenomena, so they are not the most basic characteristics.

three The only difference between primitive man and monkey is whether they can make tools.Ever since man was able to make stone spears and wooden sticks for production, man was distinguished from monkeys and other animals for the first time, and it was not because of superior thinking that monkeys distinguished him from them. This is historical materialism and idealism. watershed. Four Human thought is generated and developed historically, it is not complete at the beginning, and it will never be complete. Fives Man is a high-level form of material development, not the final form. It will develop in the future, and it is not the spirit of all things.Man is a social animal first, and the bourgeoisie always emphasizes man's rationality (spirit), which we should not do.

six At the beginning, people cannot distinguish themselves from the outside world, and they have a unified view of the universe.As man is able to make more advanced tools and have more advanced production, man can gradually differentiate himself from the natural world and establish his own worldview that is opposite and unified with the natural world.This view of the universe is also historical, and the content of the view of the unity of opposites in the future will be different from that of the present. seven What is regarded as the characteristics, characteristics, and characteristics of a person is just a person's sociality—man is a social animal, and naturalness, animality, etc. are not human characteristics.Man is an animal, not a plant or a mineral. This is unquestionable and unquestionable.What kind of animal is man? This has become a question. For hundreds of thousands of years[2], Feuerbach of the bourgeoisie has not answered it correctly. It was only Marx who answered this question correctly.That is to say, human beings have only one basic characteristic—sociality. It should not be said that it has two basic characteristics: one is animal and the other is social.

Eight From the day humans left monkeys, everything is social, including physique, intelligence, and instinct. It cannot be regarded as innate in the mother's womb and acquired after birth.If we talk about innateness, then monkeys are innate, and the history of the whole person is acquired. In terms of physique, the human brain, hands, and five sense organs have been completely remodeled through hundreds of thousands of years of labor, bringing sociality, human intelligence and animal intelligence, and human instinct and animal instinct. It's completely different. People's five senses, body shape, intelligence, and abilities are based on heredity. People often call this innate, so as to distinguish it from the social influence after birth.But all human heredity is social, and is the result of hundreds of thousands of years of social production. If you don't specify this point, you will fall into idealism.

Nine The so-called right, wrong, good and evil occur and develop historically, the unity of relative truth and absolute truth developed historically, and the different views of truth of different classes, this is our theory of right and wrong.Morality is the reflection of the requirements of people's economic life and other social life. Different classes have different moral views, which is our theory of good and evil.Dividing human nature into two aspects, natural and social, and acknowledging that natural nature is neither good nor evil opens the back door to idealism. ten When the exploiting class can still represent the masses, such as Confucius [3], Socrates [4], and the bourgeoisie, they can tell some truths. This is the historical view.

Wang Yangming[5] also has some truths. Confucius and Mencius [6] have part of the truth, all of which negate the views of right and wrong history. Published according to Mao Zedong's manuscript. -------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------ note [1] This is the main part of Mao Zedong's comments on Liu Shaoqi's reply letter to Xu Fanting on June 28, 1943, on issues such as human nature, right and wrong, good and evil.Mao Zedong also wrote a letter to Liu Shaoqi about this, saying in the letter: "I read your article in one go, read it three times before and after, and commented on my opinions frankly." That’s right, please tell me after reading it.”

[2] Archaeological discoveries so far have proved that the history of human beings is at least two million years old. [3] Confucius (551 BC - 479 BC), named Qiu, styled Zhongni, was born in Zouyi (now Qufu, Shandong Province).A thinker, educator, and founder of Confucianism in the late Spring and Autumn Period. [4] Socrates (469 BC - 399 BC), an ancient Greek idealist philosopher. [5] Wang Yangming (1472-1528), formerly known as Wang Shouren, courtesy name Bo'an, was born in Yuyao, Zhejiang.Ming Dynasty idealist philosopher. [6] Meng, refers to Mencius (about 372 BC - 289 BC), named Ke, Ziyu, born in Zou (now Zou County, Shandong).Thinker of the Warring States Period.