Life firstly embodies the needs of human to eat, drink, etc., and the production activities to meet their needs. Life and production is the praxis of preceding subject-object dichotomy. The praxis of life and production leads to the change of the environment and the change of human himself, and further leads to the two-way interaction between the individual and the society. The two-way interaction between individual and society is a pattern of dichotomy. Through labor and production, the individual as subject is constantly objectified into society as an object, into the productive forces of society (industry), property (ownership), forms of intercourse, language, science, religion, the state, etc. As the driving force of social and historical development, the contradictory movement of productive forces and production relations is only the embodiment of the two-way interaction between individuals and society. The motive force of social and historical development is the activities of human life and production (praxis). Another dimension of the two-way interaction between individuals and society is that the development of society leads to the development of individuals, especially the development of productive forces determines the degree of free development of individuals. This is Marx’s solution to Hume’s problem based on materialist concept of History.
Editor: Zhong Yao Wei Xiaoxue
From: Studies on Marxist Theory.2023.No.11.