A Methodological Inquiry into the Second Integration’s Creation of a New Cultural Life Form

At present, the endeavor to comprehensively advance the building of a strong country and the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation through Chinese-path modernization has entered a critical period. As a country’s soft power, culture is increasingly prominent in its importance. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out at the Symposium on Cultural Heritage and Development: “‘Integration’ is not a ‘patchwork,’ not a simple ‘physical reaction,’ but a profound ‘chemical reaction’ that creates an organically unified new cultural life form.” “Continuing to promote cultural prosperity and build a strong cultural nation at a new starting point” “is our new cultural mission in the New Era.” [1]1 The “New Era” (新时代) refers to the period following the 19th National Congress of the CPC in 2017, characterized by Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era. It can thus be seen that activating fine traditional Chinese culture through the Second Integration, [2]2 The “Second Integration” (第二个结合) refers to the integration of the basic tenets of Marxism with China’s fine traditional culture, as distinct from the first integration of Marxism with China’s concrete realities. making Marxism Chinese and making fine traditional Chinese culture modern, thereby creating a new cultural life form, enhancing the country’s comprehensive strength and international competitiveness, and advancing the building of a strong country and the realization of national rejuvenation, has become a major topic in opening up new frontiers in adapting Marxism to the Chinese context and the needs of the times. Focusing on the overall development of socialist modernization, and particularly on building a socialist cultural power, further elucidating the methodological foundation, methodological composition, and methodological function of the Second Integration’s creation of a new cultural life form holds important theoretical value and contemporary significance.

当前，以中国式现代化全面推进强国建设、民族复兴伟业进入关键时期，文化作为一个国家的软实力，其重要性日益凸显。习近平总书记在文化传承发展座谈会上指出：“‘结合’不是‘拼盘’，不是简单的‘物理反应’，而是深刻的‘化学反应’，造就了一个有机统一的新的文化生命体。”“在新的起点上继续推动文化繁荣、建设文化强国”，“是我们在新时代新的文化使命”。由此可见，以“第二个结合”激活中华优秀传统文化，使马克思主义成为中国的，使中华优秀传统文化成为现代的，以此造就新的文化生命体，提高国家的综合实力和国际竞争力，推进强国建设和实现民族复兴，已成为开辟马克思主义中国化时代化新境界的重大课题。着眼于社会主义现代化建设总体发展全局，特别是聚焦建设社会主义文化强国，进一步阐明“第二个结合”造就新的文化生命体的方法论基础、方法论构成和方法论功能，具有重要的理论价值和时代价值。

I. The Methodological Foundation of the Second Integration’s Creation of a New Cultural Life Form

一、“第二个结合”造就新的文化生命体的方法论基础

The essence of the new cultural life form lies in approaching cultural theory from the connotations of “new” and “life form.” “New” and “life form” possess inherent generativity and organic unity, embodying the essence of a life form that self-renews and self-evolves. The process by which the Second Integration creates a new cultural life form embodies the dialectical materialist principle of “negation of the negation”; it is a process of continuously “breaking through” and “regenerating” from the “old” substrate, continuously converging and fusing to form a new cultural life form. To grasp the methodological foundation of the Second Integration’s creation of a new cultural life form, one must start from the philosophical ontology of the Second Integration and explore its philosophical origins and generative path.

新的文化生命体的精髓在于从“新”和“生命体”的内涵切入文化理论。“新”和“生命体”具有内在生成性和有机统一性，体现了自我更新、自我进化的生命体本质。“第二个结合”造就新的文化生命体的过程，体现了“否定之否定”的唯物辩证法原则，是一个不断从“旧的”基底中“突破”和“再生”，不断交汇融合形成新的文化生命体的过程。把握“第二个结合”造就新的文化生命体的方法论基础，必须从“第二个结合”的哲学本体论入手，探究其哲学渊源和生成路径。

1. The Subjective Agency and Practical Ontology of Marxist Cultural Theory

1.马克思主义文化理论的主体能动性和实践本体性

Kantian philosophy had an important influence on the formation of Marxist philosophical viewpoints. To deeply understand the subjective agency of Marxist cultural theory, it is necessary to sort out Marx’s logic of critical inheritance of Kant’s theory of subjectivity. Although Kant’s cultural theory emphasizes subjectivity, the subjectivity Kant refers to is not based on practice but is confined to the “subject-object binary opposition.” The foundation of Kant’s cultural theory lies in the constitutive domination of the phenomenal world by transcendental subjectivity (understanding). In his *Critique of Judgment*, he established the principle that “the human being gives law to nature,” understanding cultural phenomena as the synthetic product of transcendental categories of understanding on sensory material. The “I think” of the “transcendental apperception” is the logical starting point of cultural subjectivity; “intuitions of space and time” endow cultural symbols with spatiotemporal extensibility; and “categories of causality” construct the chain of meaning of cultural events. In his *Critique of Practical Reason*, Kant defined culture as “the ultimate purpose of nature in relation to the human being,” [3]3 Immanuel Kant, *Critique of Judgment*, §83. and “the highest good of the unity of virtue and happiness can only be realized under the postulate of the existence of God.” “The ultimate purpose of nature in relation to the human being” requires people to break free from the control of sensory desires and obey the “moral law.” Kant’s view of culture is based on the highest form of “deontology” built upon rational concepts, the essence of which is the mediated manifestation of transcendental freedom in the empirical world: that is, breaking through natural limits through technical culture, regulating social conflicts through communicative culture, and ultimately pointing to the cultivation of rational autonomy through moral culture. Finally, Kant constructed a ternary logical chain of “transcendental subjectivity — construction of the phenomenal world — cultural teleology,” viewing cultural evolution as a historical process in which the rational subject gradually realizes freedom through cognitive faculties.

康德哲学对马克思主义哲学观点的形成具有重要影响，深入理解马克思主义文化理论的主体能动性，需要理顺马克思对康德主体性理论的批判性继承逻辑。康德的文化理论虽然强调主体性，但康德所谓的主体性，并不以实践为基础，而是拘泥于“主客二元对立”。康德文化理论的根基在于先验主体性（知性）对现象界的构造性统摄。他在《判断力批判》中确立了“人为自然立法”的原则，将文化现象理解为先验知性范畴对感性材料的综合产物。“先验统觉”的“我思”是文化主体性的逻辑基点，“时空直观”赋予文化符号以时空延展性，“因果性范畴”建构文化事件的意义链条。康德在《实践理性批判》中将文化定义为“自然向人生成的终极目的”，“德福一致的至善只能在上帝存在的公设中实现”。“自然向人生成的终极目的”，要求人们摆脱感性欲望的控制而服从“道德律令”。康德对文化的看法是建立在理性概念之上的最高形式“义务论”，其本质是先验自由在经验世界的中介化显现，即通过技术文化突破自然限制，借助交往文化调节社会冲突，最终指向道德文化对理性自律的培育。最后，康德构建了“先验主体性—现象界构造—文化目的论”的三元逻辑链，将文化演进视为理性主体通过认识能力逐步实现自由的历史进程。

Marx critically absorbed Kant’s cultural theory. First, Marx believed that the fatal flaw of Kant’s cultural theory lay in its epistemological premise of “imprisoning subjectivity within the speculative realm.” Culture in the Kantian sense is permeated by the illusory duality of transcendental apperception and is essentially illusory culture. Kant held that “art is the free harmony of the imagination with the lawfulness of the understanding.” [4]4 Immanuel Kant, *Critique of Judgment*, §49. This free harmony based on the genius’s imagination remains only in the realm of fantasy, failing to recognize that “the question whether objective truth can be attributed to human thinking is not a question of theory but is a practical question.” [5]5 Karl Marx, “Theses on Feuerbach,” Thesis II. Marx, in contrast, emphasized that “consciousness can never be anything else than conscious existence,” [6]6 Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, *The German Ideology*. and that cultural forms are essentially created by people’s actual life processes. Second, Kant posited the moral law of “the human being as an end” as the ultimate goal of cultural development, yet evaded the real contradictions of cultural production and human alienation in capitalist society. In *Capital*, Marx analyzed that the “technical culture” Kant regarded as a means of realizing freedom became, in large-scale machine industry, an alienating force of “dead labor dominating living labor”; its proclaimed “aesthetic disinterestedness” essentially concealed the logical isomorphism between artistic production and capital accumulation. Finally, Marx established the foundation of cultural production on material object-oriented activity, revealing that cultural phenomena are both cognitive objects mediated by practice and ideological products of practice itself. He established the historical materialist explanatory framework of “material production — social relations — cultural forms,” achieving a fundamental transcendence of Kant’s cultural theory. Marx’s critique of Kant’s cultural theory not only deconstructed the cultural fiction of transcendental epistemology but also opened up a realistic path for reconstructing cultural subjectivity through revolutionary practice.

马克思对康德的文化理论进行了批判性吸收。首先，马克思认为，康德文化理论的致命缺陷在于其“将主体性囚禁于思辨领域”的认识论前提，康德意义上的文化贯穿着先验统觉的虚幻二元性，本质上是虚幻的文化。康德认为，“艺术是天才通过想象力对知性规则的自由协调。”这种基于天才想象力的自由协调，仅仅停留在幻想领域，未认识到“人的思维是否具有客观的真理性，这不是一个理论的问题，而是一个实践的问题”。马克思则强调，“意识在任何时候都只能是被意识到了的存在”，文化形态本质上是由人们的现实生活过程创造的。其次，康德将“人是目的”的道德律令悬设为文化发展的终极目标，却回避了资本主义社会中文化生产与人的异化的现实矛盾。马克思在《资本论》中剖析道，被康德视为自由实现手段的“技术文化”，在机器大工业中反而成为“死劳动支配活劳动”的异化力量；其标榜的“审美无功利性”，实质上掩盖了艺术生产与资本增殖的逻辑同构。最后，马克思将文化生产的基础建立在物质对象性活动的基础上，揭示出文化现象既是被实践中介的认知对象，又是实践本身的意识形态产物，确立了“物质生产—社会关系—文化形态”的历史唯物主义解释框架，实现了对康德文化理论的根本超越。马克思对康德文化理论的批判，不仅解构了先验认识论的文化虚构，更打开了通过革命实践重建文化主体性的现实道路。

The transcendence of Marxist cultural theory over Hegel’s “absolute spirit.” Hegel understood cultural phenomena from the standpoint of the “absolute spirit,” viewing the formation of culture as the “self-operation of the concept” rather than the result of people’s “actual labor.” On the one hand, Hegel “not only grasps and expresses the true thing or truth as substance, but equally as subject.” [7]7 G.W.F. Hegel, *Phenomenology of Spirit*, Preface. “Hegel’s ontological commitment to the ‘identity of thinking and being’” [8]8 This phrase is a common Chinese scholarly gloss on Hegel’s ontology. resolved, to a certain extent, the contradiction of Kant’s “subject-object binary opposition.” However, the substance Hegel refers to is merely idea and concept; the dialectical movement of the concept itself forms the “absolute spirit,” which “passes off the real world as the externalization of the absolute spirit (God).” [9]9 Karl Marx, *Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844*. Cultural creation is abstracted into a moment of the self-manifestation of the “absolute spirit,” reduced to “the unfolding of spirit in time.” On the other hand, Hegel’s philosophy achieves the dynamic unity of subject and object through dialectical movement (negation of the negation). In his philosophical system, the concept passes through the dialectic of consciousness experience in the *Phenomenology of Spirit*, the deduction of pure ideas in the *Science of Logic*, the externalization and descent in the *Philosophy of Nature*, and finally returns to the complete “absolute spirit” in the *Philosophy of Spirit*. The generation of cultural forms is reduced to the self-unfolding of the conceptual system, constrained by the transcendental framework of logic. This dialectic devours the historicity of reality with logic, obscuring the practical logic of reality with the connotative logic of thought. Therefore, Hegel ignored the subject of cultural creation, ignored the practice of the broad masses of the people, and culture became “reason without a body.”

马克思主义文化理论对黑格尔“绝对精神”的超越。黑格尔立足“绝对精神”理解文化现象，将文化的形成看作“概念的自我运作”，而不是人的“现实的劳动”的结果。一方面，黑格尔“不仅把真实的东西或真理理解和表述为实体，而且同样理解和表述为主体”。“黑格尔的‘思维与存在的同一性’的本体论承诺”在一定程度上解决了康德哲学“主客二元对立”的矛盾。但是，黑格尔所谓的实体只是理念和概念，概念自身的辩证运动形成“绝对精神”，并“把现实世界冒充为绝对精神（上帝）的外化”。文化创造被抽象为“绝对精神”自我显现的环节，被归结为“精神在时间中的展开”。另一方面，黑格尔哲学是通过辩证运动（否定之否定）实现主客体的动态统一。在其哲学体系中，概念经《精神现象学》的意识经验辩证、《逻辑学》的纯粹理念推演、《自然哲学》的外化沉沦，最终在《精神哲学》中复归为完满的“绝对精神”，文化形态的生成被归结为概念系统的自我展开，受制于逻辑学的先验框架。这种辩证法以逻辑学吞噬现实的历史性，用思想的内涵逻辑遮蔽现实的实践逻辑。因此，黑格尔忽略了文化创造的主体，忽略了广大人民群众的实践，文化就成为“无人身的理性”。

Marxist cultural theory places the subjectivity of cultural creation on the labor practice of the masses, breaking free from Hegel’s abstract “concept-in-itself” and treating the process of cultural development as the real historical process of the masses’ labor practice. Marx pointed out that if we detach from the real historical movement of relations of production, “we shall have to look for the origin of these ideas in pure reason, in the eternal, self-existent, and self-moving reason. How does it happen that such reason produces these ideas?” [10]10 Karl Marx and Frederick Engels, *The Holy Family*, Chapter 6, Section 3(d). The quotation is from the English translation in *Marx & Engels Collected Works*, Vol. 4 (Moscow: Progress Publishers, 1975), p. 128. Starting from real human beings, Marx grounded culture in historical materialism, and by applying historical materialism to the study of political economy, he revealed the operational laws of the capitalist mode of production, thereby concluding that the masses are the subject of cultural creation and completing the restoration of labor to its proper place. Marxist cultural theory ultimately points to the ultimate proposition of human liberation and freedom. The progressiveness of culture is embodied in the expansion of “free time” and the possibility of “the all-round development of the human being”; the practice of the working class will transform culture from an instrument of class rule into a lever for human emancipation. The cultural creative activities of the working class converge into a material force for “changing the world,” whose goal is to break the monopoly of capital over spiritual production. On the basis of his critique of Kantian and Hegelian cultural theory, Marx endowed culture with subjective agency and practical ontology, and this is the methodological origin of the Second Integration’s [11]11 The Second Integration (第二个结合) refers to the integration of the basic tenets of Marxism with fine traditional Chinese culture, as distinct from the First Integration, which was the integration of Marxism with China’s concrete realities. It was formally proposed by Xi Jinping at the celebration of the centenary of the CPC in 2021 and elaborated at the Sixth Plenary Session of the 19th CPC Central Committee in the same year. creation of a new cultural life-form.

马克思主义文化理论将文化创造的主体性置于人民群众的劳动实践之上，摆脱了黑格尔抽象的“概念自为”，将文化的发展过程看作是人民群众劳动实践的现实历史过程。马克思指出，脱离了生产关系的现实历史运动，“我们就只能到纯粹理性的运动中去找寻这些思想的来历了。纯粹的、永恒的、无人身的理性怎样产生这些思想呢？”马克思从现实的人出发，将文化的产生立足于唯物史观，通过将唯物史观运用于政治经济学研究，揭示了资本主义生产方式的运行规律，从而得出人民群众是创造文化的主体，完成劳动的本位复归。马克思主义文化理论最终指向人的自由解放这一终极命题。文化的进步性体现为“自由时间”的拓展与“人的全面发展”的可能，工人阶级的实践将使文化从阶级统治的工具变为人类解放的杠杆。工人阶级的文化创造活动汇聚为“改造世界”的物质力量，其目标在于打破资本对精神生产的垄断。马克思在批判康德、黑格尔文化理论的基础上，赋予文化以主体能动性和实践本体性，这是“第二个结合”创造新的文化生命体的方法论渊源。

2. The Excellent Traditional Cultural Resources of the New Cultural Life-Form and Their Contemporary Activation

2.新的文化生命体的优秀文化资源及其当代激活

The contemporary activation of the core paradigms of traditional philosophy. The contemporary activation of fine traditional Chinese culture is, in essence, a deep interconnection between traditional philosophical paradigms and the genes of modern civilization. This process realizes the creative transformation and innovative development of fine traditional Chinese culture. The new cultural life-form is by no means a static cultural specimen; rather, it is a cultural life-form that takes the Chinese philosophical “way of ceaseless generation and transformation” (生生) as its core and is generated within the dialectical tension between tradition and modernity. Its logic of innovation is manifested in three aspects. First, the leap in governance philosophy from “the people are precious, the ruler is light” to “the people are supreme.” Mencius’s people-oriented proposition that “the people are of supreme importance; the altars of the soil and grain come next; the ruler is the least important” (Mencius, *Jinxin II*) is an important component of fine traditional Chinese culture. The Chinese Communists used Marxism to activate this traditional people-oriented proposition, enabling it to break through the binary structure of “ruler–subject” and rise to a philosophy of people’s livelihood centered on “people’s subjectivity.” Second, the contemporary fusion from “harmony among all nations and a world of great harmony” to “a new form of human civilization.” The cosmology of “preserving great harmony” (保合太和) proposed in the *Book of Changes* and the ideal of “great harmony” (大同) in the *Book of Rites* are manifested in the contemporary era as the concept of a community with a shared future for mankind and a new form of civilization characterized by pluralistic coexistence, providing Eastern wisdom for the evolution of human civilization and marking a paradigm breakthrough of the new cultural life-form at the level of civilizational dialogue. Third, the elevation from individual ethics and social ethics to the core socialist values and the common values of all humanity. The familial ethics of “filial piety, brotherly respect, loyalty, and faithfulness” are sublimated into the foundation of civic moral construction, and the normative system of “propriety, righteousness, integrity, and a sense of shame” is transformed into the cornerstone of building a society of trustworthiness. In short, the contemporary activation of fine traditional Chinese culture enables it to form an organic and unified whole with revolutionary culture and advanced socialist culture, injecting enduring spiritual momentum into the new cultural life-form.

传统哲学核心范式的当代激活。中华优秀传统文化在当代的激活，本质上是传统哲学范式与现代文明基因的深度互联，这一过程实现了中华优秀传统文化的创造性转化、创新性发展。新的文化生命体绝非静态的文化标本，而是以中国哲学的“生生”之道为内核，在传统与现代的辩证张力中生成的文化生命体，其创新逻辑体现在三个方面：其一，从“民贵君轻”到“人民至上”的治理哲学跃迁。孟子提出的“民为贵，社稷次之，君为轻”（《孟子·尽心下》）的民本主张，是中华优秀传统文化的重要内容。中国共产党人用马克思主义激活了传统的民本主张，使其突破“君—民”二元结构，上升为“人民主体性”的民生哲学。其二，从“协和万邦、世界大同”至“人类文明新形态”的当代熔铸。《周易》提出的“保合太和”的宇宙观、《礼记》提出的“大同”理想，在当代表现为人类命运共同体理念、多元共生的新文明形态，为人类文明演进提供东方智慧，标志着新的文化生命体在文明对话层面的范式突破。其三，从个体伦理、社会伦理向社会主义核心价值观、全人类共同价值的升华。“孝悌忠信”的家族伦理升华为公民道德建设的基础，“礼义廉耻”的规范体系转化为诚信社会构建的基石。总之，中华优秀传统文化的当代激活，使它同革命文化、社会主义先进文化形成有机统一的整体，为新的文化生命体注入历久弥新的精神动能。

The philosophical contribution of Xi Jinping Thought on Culture. Xi Jinping Thought on Culture and the Second Integration interact deeply, jointly constructing a new cultural life-form with Chinese characteristics. This process is both a faithful adherence to and innovative development of Marxist cultural theory and a modern activation of the genes of Chinese civilization. On the one hand, Xi Jinping Thought on Culture is essentially based on Marxist philosophy, realizing the dialectical unity of the basic tenets of Marxism and fine traditional Chinese culture. On the other hand, the reason the new cultural life-form created by the Second Integration can take shape is the mutual compatibility between the “soul vein” of Marxism and the “root vein” of fine traditional Chinese culture, especially their mutual integration at the philosophical level. General Secretary Xi Jinping points out: “The ‘integration’ is not a forced patchwork. Marxism and fine traditional Chinese culture have different origins, but they share a high degree of compatibility. For example, the social pursuit of a world shared by all and good faith and harmonious neighborly relations corresponds to the ideals and beliefs of communism and socialism; the governance thought of the people being the foundation of the state and governing with virtue merges with the political concept of putting the people first; the sense of responsibility embodied in discarding the old and establishing the new and in ceaseless self-improvement aligns with the revolutionary spirit of Communists.” [12]12 Xi Jinping, “Speech at the Symposium on Cultural Heritage,” *Qiushi*, 2023, no. 14. The English translation follows the official version published by the Xinhua News Agency.

习近平文化思想的哲学贡献。习近平文化思想与“第二个结合”深度互动，共同建构了具有中国特色的新的文化生命体。这一过程既是对马克思主义文化理论的守正创新，也是对中华文明基因的现代激活。一方面，习近平文化思想本质上以马克思主义哲学为基础，实现了马克思主义基本原理和中华优秀传统文化的辩证统一。另一方面，“第二个结合”造就的新的文化生命体之所以能够形成，是因为马克思主义“魂脉”与中华优秀传统文化“根脉”的彼此契合，特别是两者在哲学渊源上的彼此结合。习近平总书记指出：“‘结合’不是硬凑在一起的。马克思主义和中华优秀传统文化来源不同，但彼此存在高度的契合性。比如，天下为公、讲信修睦的社会追求与共产主义、社会主义的理想信念相通，民为邦本、为政以德的治理思想与人民至上的政治观念相融，革故鼎新、自强不息的担当与共产党人的革命精神相合。”

II. The Methodological Composition of the Second Integration’s Creation of a New Cultural Life-Form

二、“第二个结合”造就新的文化生命体的方法论构成

The creation of a new cultural life-form by the Second Integration contains a rich connotation of philosophical methodology, of which strategic thinking, historical thinking, dialectical thinking, systematic thinking, and innovative thinking are important constituent elements. The philosophical methodological connotations of these five dimensions are profound and logically rigorous; they form an organic whole that is interconnected, mutually influential, and mutually reinforcing, unified in the great practice of socialist modernization. The new cultural life-form not only conforms to historical inevitability and the stipulations of the era but is also driven by a problem-consciousness, focusing on the new situations, new tasks, and new challenges facing cultural construction.

“第二个结合”造就新的文化生命体蕴含着丰富的哲学方法论内涵，战略思维、历史思维、辩证思维、系统思维、创新思维是其重要的构成要素。这五个维度的哲学方法论内涵深刻、逻辑严密，是相互联系、相互影响、相互促进的有机整体，统一于社会主义现代化的伟大实践之中。新的文化生命体既契合历史必然性与时代规定性，更以问题意识为驱动，聚焦文化建设所面临的新形势、新任务、新挑战。

The strategic thinking of the Second Integration’s creation of a new cultural life-form. The Second Integration formulates long-term plans and provides a holistic perspective for the construction of socialist culture with Chinese characteristics. This is not only a methodological innovation in theoretical integration but also a revolution in strategic thinking with global civilizational significance. The new cultural life-form it constructs is essentially a Chinese solution to the civilizational predicament of “Western-centrism” and the reconstruction of the global cultural governance system. The Second Integration answers, from a strategic height, the fundamental questions concerning China’s cultural construction. Marxism holds that culture, as a form of social consciousness, is not an abstract existence independent of the material conditions of social life but is determined by them. As part of the ideological superstructure, culture serves the political superstructure and the economic base. The integration of Marxism with fine traditional Chinese culture must adhere to dialectical materialism and historical materialism, proceed according to the practical needs of China’s economic and social development, and be carried out consciously, with focus and in a step-by-step manner, while upholding the socialist direction. At present, all countries in the world are in the torrent of cultural intermingling and ferment. How to resolve such worldwide cultural problems as the clash of civilizations and the crisis of value identification has become a major issue commonly faced by people of all countries. The Second Integration proposed by the Communist Party of China reflects on China’s cultural construction from a global strategic height. Standing on the right side of history, the Second Integration deconstructs the Western capital-type culture and one-dimensional culture dominated by idealism. The new cultural life-form marks China’s strategic leap from a “civilizational learner” to a “civilizational innovator.” It not only answers the question of the times—“What is wrong with the world and what should we do about it?”—but also reshapes the new global cultural order.

“第二个结合”造就新的文化生命体的战略思维。“第二个结合”为中国特色社会主义文化建设制定了长远规划，提供了全局视野，这不仅是理论融合的方法论创新，更是具有全球文明意义的战略思维革命，其建构的新的文化生命体本质上是破解“西方中心主义”文明困境、重构全球文化治理体系的中国方案。“第二个结合”从战略高度回答了事关我国文化建设的根本问题。马克思主义认为，文化作为社会意识的一种形式，不是独立于社会物质生活条件的抽象存在，而是由社会物质生活条件决定的，文化作为观念上层建筑，服务于政治上层建筑，服务于经济基础。马克思主义同中华优秀传统文化相结合，要坚持辩证唯物主义和历史唯物主义，根据我国经济社会发展的现实需要，在坚持社会主义方向的前提下自觉、有重点、有步骤地结合。当前，世界各国都处在文化交融激荡的洪流之中，如何破解文明冲突、价值认同危机等世界性文化难题，成为各国人民共同面临的重大课题。中国共产党提出的“第二个结合”，从全球的战略高度思考我国的文化建设问题，“第二个结合”站在历史正确的一边，解构了由唯心主义主导的西方资本型文化、单向度文化。新的文化生命体标志着中国实现了从“文明学习者”到“文明创新者”的战略跃升，不仅回答了“世界怎么了、我们怎么办”的时代之问，更重塑着全球文化新秩序。

The historical thinking of “the Second Integration” in creating a new cultural life form. “The Second Integration” adheres to the fundamental stance of historical materialism, focusing on the examination of historical processes, historical logic, and historical necessity when addressing issues of cultural construction in the New Era. Within a broad historical vision, it fully excavates fine traditional Chinese culture, resolutely rejects historical nihilism and cultural nihilism, strengthens cultural confidence, and enhances cultural subjectivity, thereby deepening the historical foundation of the new cultural life form. “The Second Integration” takes Marxism as its soul and the five-thousand-year genetic lineage of Chinese civilization as its cultural resource, endowing the cultural development of the New Era with a sense of historical depth. The new cultural life form created by “the Second Integration” “has given the path of socialism with Chinese characteristics a broader and deeper historical纵深, expanding the cultural foundation of the path of socialism with Chinese characteristics.” The grand goal of creating a new cultural life form deconstructs “the Western-centric linear view of cultural history,” “the end of history thesis,” and “the theory of the superiority of modernity,” embodying the historical consciousness of the Chinese Communist Party as the subject of civilizational inheritance and innovation. In the midst of intense ideological struggle, the Chinese Communist Party has consistently upheld the guiding role of Marxism in the ideological domain, laying a solid foundation for China to seize the moment of historical transformation and achieve historic leaps.

“第二个结合”造就新的文化生命体的历史思维。“第二个结合”坚持唯物史观的根本立场，在处理新时代文化建设的问题上注重对历史过程、历史逻辑、历史必然的考察，在宏大的历史视野中充分挖掘中华优秀传统文化，坚决摒弃历史虚无主义和文化虚无主义，增强文化自信，增强文化主体性，以此厚植新的文化生命体的历史根基。“第二个结合”以马克思主义为灵魂，以中华五千年文明基因谱系为文化资源，赋予新时代文化发展历史纵深感。“第二个结合”造就的新的文化生命体，“让中国特色社会主义道路有了更加宏阔深远的历史纵深，拓展了中国特色社会主义道路的文化根基”。造就新的文化生命体的宏伟目标，解构了“西方中心主义的文化线性史观”“历史终结论”和“现代性优越论”，体现了中国共产党作为文明传承创新主体的历史自觉。中国共产党在激烈的意识形态斗争中，始终坚持马克思主义在意识形态领域的指导地位，为中国抓住历史变革时机、实现历史性跨越奠定了坚实基础。

The dialectical thinking of “the Second Integration” in creating a new cultural life form. “The Second Integration” grasps the laws of cultural construction in the New Era from the mutual relationship between the universality and particularity of contradictions in materialist dialectics, and grasps the interaction and dialectical development of the subject and object of contradictions in the process of constructing a cultural life form through practice, enabling the new cultural life form to burst forth with vigorous vitality in organic connection and interactive development. Marxism holds that “people are the producers of their own conceptions, ideas, etc., but the people here are real, active people.” Real, active people are those who engage in practice; fundamentally, the practical activity of real people is the driving force of cultural development. Marxism advocates understanding truth by moving from abstract thought to concrete practice, grasping universality within particularity and recognizing particularity within universality. This universality “is not only abstract universality, but also a universality that embodies in itself the richness of the particular, the individual, and the singular.” To create a new cultural life form, it is necessary to adhere to the stance, viewpoints, and methods of Marxism, to explore the Chinese path that embodies the spiritual core of fine traditional Chinese culture in practice, to dialectically view the relationships between culture and economy, politics, society, and ecology, and to comprehensively advance the “Five-Sphere Integrated Plan.” Although Marxism and fine traditional Chinese culture have different origins, they possess a high degree of compatibility. It is necessary to find the substantive content of their mutual compatibility, to highlight the excellent spiritual characteristics of traditional Chinese culture in dialectical unity, and to construct the cultural form of Chinese-path modernization.

“第二个结合”造就新的文化生命体的辩证思维。“第二个结合”坚持从唯物辩证法矛盾普遍性与特殊性的相互关系中把握新时代文化建设规律，从实践中把握文化生命体构建过程中矛盾主客体的相互作用、辩证发展，使新的文化生命体在有机联系和互动发展中迸发出旺盛生命力。马克思主义认为：“人们是自己的观念、思想等等的生产者，但这里所说的人们是现实的、从事活动的人们。”现实的、从事活动的人们，就是实践着的人们，从根本上说，现实人的实践活动是文化发展的动力。马克思主义主张，要从抽象的思维到具体的实践中认识真理，在特殊性中把握普遍性、在普遍性中认识特殊性。这种普遍性“不只是抽象的普遍，而且是自身体现着特殊的、个体的、个别的东西的丰富性的这种普遍”。造就新的文化生命体，必须坚持马克思主义的立场、观点和方法，在实践中探索蕴含中华优秀传统文化精神内核的中国道路，辩证地看待文化与经济、政治、社会、生态之间的关系，全面推进“五位一体”总体布局。虽然马克思主义与中华优秀传统文化的来源不同，但两者具有高度契合性，必须从中找到彼此契合的实质性内容，在辩证统一中彰显中华传统文化的优秀精神特质，构建中国式现代化的文化形态。

The systematic thinking of “the Second Integration” in creating a new cultural life form. “The Second Integration” is based on the three dimensions of wholeness, systematicity, and synergy, guiding social practice with a systematic cognitive framework, and making overall plans for cultural development from a holistic, strategic, and long-term perspective, thereby creating a diverse yet unified new cultural life form. First, “the Second Integration” grasps fine traditional Chinese culture from a holistic perspective and understands the prominent unity of Chinese civilization. “The Second Integration” interprets the genetic lineage of Chinese civilization from a holistic perspective, uses Marxist contradiction analysis to grasp the wholeness and diversity of fine traditional Chinese culture, systematically sorts out the coupling points between fine traditional Chinese culture and the issues of the times, and realizes the creative transformation and innovative development of fine traditional Chinese culture. Second, “the Second Integration” is an interactive and constantly renewing system. The new cultural life form manifests the continuity and innovativeness of Chinese civilization. In the process of integrating Marxism with fine traditional Chinese culture, it reveals the profound historical consciousness of Chinese civilization and its open and inclusive character, which is willing to accept new things. Third, “the Second Integration” considers the complementarity among various elements, shaping the new cultural life form from a synergistic perspective. Fine traditional Chinese culture emphasizes the exchange and collision between its own cultural elements and those of other national civilizations, seeking common ground while reserving differences, and focusing on the exchange and mutual learning of diverse cultures. This reflects China’s view and method regarding world civilization, providing the world with a new cultural form as a peaceful guardian, a promoter of development, an advocate of cooperation, and a practitioner of win-win outcomes.

“第二个结合”造就新的文化生命体的系统思维。“第二个结合”立足整体性、系统性、协同性三重维度，以系统性认知框架指导社会实践，从全局性、战略性和长期性高度对文化发展进行统筹规划，以此造就多元一体的新的文化生命体。其一，“第二个结合”从整体性上把握中华优秀传统文化、理解中华文明突出的统一性。“第二个结合”从整体性阐释中华文明基因谱系，运用马克思主义的矛盾分析法把握中华优秀传统文化的整体性和多样性，系统梳理中华优秀传统文化与时代课题的耦合点，实现中华优秀传统文化的创造性转化和创新性发展。其二，“第二个结合”是一个相互作用、不断更新的系统。新的文化生命体展现出中华文明的连续性与创新性。在马克思主义同中华优秀传统文化相结合的进程中，彰显了中华文明深沉的历史意识和勇于接受新事物的开放包容的品格。其三，“第二个结合”考虑各要素之间的互补性，从协同性上塑造新的文化生命体。中华优秀传统文化注重自身文化要素与其他民族文明文化要素之间的交流和碰撞，求同存异，注重多元文化的交流互鉴。这反映了中国对世界文明的看法和方法，以一种和平的守护者、发展的推动者、合作的倡导者和共赢的实践者的身份，为世界提供一种新的文化形态。

The innovative thinking of “the Second Integration” in creating a new cultural life form. “The Second Integration” emphasizes using original methods and approaches in the process of problem exploration to think about the breakthrough and regeneration of the cultural life form, on this basis proposing entirely new ideas, and thereby continuously enriching and filling the cultural connotation of the cultural life form. Innovative thinking is not a wholesale negation of old things and old cultures, but a sublation of them. The key to achieving this sublation lies in adhering to the worldview and methodology of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era. Among these, adhering to putting the people first, adhering to self-confidence and self-reliance, adhering to upholding fundamental principles and breaking new ground, and adhering to a problem-oriented approach are particularly important. It is necessary to adhere to putting the people first; the purpose of cultural innovation is to better serve the people, better meet their spiritual needs, enrich their spiritual world, and promote the comprehensive development of the individual. Any so-called innovation that deviates from this is nothing more than a stunt. It is necessary to adhere to self-confidence and self-reliance; cultural innovation cannot uncritically absorb foreign cultures, but must strengthen cultural confidence, activate the root of fine traditional Chinese culture with the soul of Marxism, while critically absorbing all positive achievements of human civilization. It is necessary to adhere to upholding fundamental principles and breaking new ground; to uphold the socialist direction of cultural construction and the guiding role of Marxism in the ideological domain. It is necessary to adhere to a problem-oriented approach; to focus on the major practical issues facing the New Era, tap into cultural resources, and endow culture with new connotations that meet the needs of the times.

“第二个结合”造就新的文化生命体的创新思维。“第二个结合”强调在问题探索过程中以独创性的方式方法思考文化生命体的突破与再生问题，在此基础上提出全新思路，进而不断丰富、充盈文化生命体的文化内涵。创新思维不是对旧事物、旧文化的一味否定，而是对旧事物、旧文化的扬弃。实现这种扬弃的关键，在于坚持习近平新时代中国特色社会主义思想的世界观和方法论。其中，坚持人民至上、坚持自信自立、坚持守正创新、坚持问题导向尤为重要。必须坚持人民至上，文化创新的目的在于更好地服务人民，更好地满足人民的精神需要、丰富人民精神世界，促进人的全面发展，任何与此相悖的所谓创新都不过是标新立异。必须坚持自信自立，文化创新不能不加批判地吸收外来文化，而是要坚定文化自信，以马克思主义的魂脉激活中华优秀传统文化的根脉，同时批判地吸收人类文明的一切积极成果。必须坚持守正创新，坚守文化建设的社会主义方向，坚持马克思主义在意识形态领域的指导地位。必须坚持问题导向，聚焦新时代面临的重大实践课题，挖掘文化资源，赋予文化以适应时代需要的新内涵。

III. The Methodological Function of “the Second Integration” in Creating a New Cultural Life Form

三、“第二个结合”造就新的文化生命体的方法论功能

There is no unified cultural form in the world, nor any cultural standard that is universally applicable. The new cultural life form shaped by “the Second Integration” deconstructs the “Western-centric theory” based on Western culture, revealing profound cultural heritage and the unique charm of Chinese culture. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: “‘The Second Integration’ is another ideological emancipation, allowing us to fully utilize the precious resources of fine traditional Chinese culture in a broader cultural space, and to explore theoretical and institutional innovations oriented toward the future.” To deeply grasp the methodological function of “the Second Integration” in creating a new cultural life form, it is necessary not only to clarify its creative construction at the philosophical level but also to return to concrete practice to delve into its practical guiding significance.

世界上不存在统一的文化形态，更没有放之于四海而皆准的文化标准。“第二个结合”塑造的新的文化生命体，解构了以西方文化为基石的“西方中心论”，彰显出深厚的文化底蕴和独特的中国文化魅力。习近平总书记指出：“‘第二个结合’是又一次的思想解放，让我们能够在更广阔的文化空间中，充分运用中华优秀传统文化的宝贵资源，探索面向未来的理论和制度创新。”深入把握“第二个结合”造就新的文化生命体的方法论功能，既要明确其在哲学层面上的创造性建构，还要回归具体实践去深究其现实指导意义。

1. A Window Revealing the Laws of Socialist Cultural Construction with Chinese Characteristics

1.揭示中国特色社会主义文化建设规律的窗口

Since entering the New Era, the key reason why Chinese culture has been able to demonstrate its wisdom and strength in responding to the “two overall situations” [13]13 The “two overall situations” (两个大局) refer to the overall situation of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation and the overall situation of changes unseen in a century in the world. is its adherence to “the Second Integration.” “The Second Integration” has created an organically unified new cultural life form, making Marxism Chinese and fine traditional Chinese culture modern, and making the new culture formed through “integration” the cultural form of Chinese-path modernization. “The Second Integration” has expanded the development path of socialist culture with Chinese characteristics, leading Chinese culture to the world and toward the future. “The Second Integration” has created a new cultural life form, demonstrating strong subjective originality, and becoming an intuitive window for revealing the laws of socialist cultural construction with Chinese characteristics.

进入新时代以来，中华文化之所以能够展现出应对“两个大局”的智慧和力量，关键是坚持“第二个结合”。“第二个结合”造就了一个有机统一的新的文化生命体，让马克思主义成为中国的，中华优秀传统文化成为现代的，让经由‘结合’而形成的新文化成为中国式现代化的文化形态。“第二个结合”拓展了中国特色社会主义文化发展道路，引领中华文化走向世界、面向未来。“第二个结合”造就了新的文化生命体，展现出强烈的主体原创性，成为揭示中国特色社会主义文化建设规律的直观窗口。

The creation of a new cultural life form through the Second Integration [14]14 The Second Integration (第二个结合) refers to the integration of the basic tenets of Marxism with China’s fine traditional culture, as distinct from the First Integration, which is the integration of Marxism with China’s specific realities. It was formally proposed by Xi Jinping at a symposium on cultural heritage in 2023. reveals the laws and contours of China’s modern historical and cultural practice. Before the founding of the Communist Party of China, Chinese culture was an old cultural life form saturated with feudal dregs, attached to the mode of production of the traditional natural economy. During this period, the Chinese people harbored doubts about and negated their own cultural tradition, giving rise to radical anti-traditionalist and “wholesale Westernization” positions. The introduction of Marxism into China and the birth of the Communist Party of China meant that the transformation of the Chinese people’s spiritual world and the transformation of Chinese society radiated an unprecedented progressive force and vitality. Marx and Engels pointed out: “The phantoms formed in the human brain are also, necessarily, sublimates of their material life-process, which is empirically verifiable and bound to material premises. Morality, religion, metaphysics, all the rest of ideology and their corresponding forms of consciousness, thus no longer retain the semblance of independence.” [15]15 Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, *The German Ideology* (1845–46), in *Marx-Engels Collected Works*, vol. 5 (Moscow: Progress Publishers, 1976), p. 36. The translation here follows the standard English edition; the Chinese text in the original paragraph is a paraphrase. Spiritual, intellectual and other cultural dimensions originate in social life and are reflections of social existence; the production and reproduction of material life are the foundation of human culture and civilization. Engels pointed out: “Every philosophy of a given age has as its premise definite intellectual material handed down to it by its predecessors, from which it takes its start.” [16]16 Friedrich Engels, letter to Conrad Schmidt, 27 October 1890, in *Marx-Engels Selected Correspondence* (Moscow: Progress Publishers, 1975), p. 396. The Chinese text is a paraphrase. This indicates that cultural development must be understood within historical laws: culture is the unity of stage-specificity, continuity and practicality, and it requires inheriting the excellent cultural achievements of predecessors.

以“第二个结合”造就新的文化生命体，揭示了中国近代历史文化实践的规律和脉络。中国共产党成立以前，中国的文化是充斥着封建糟粕文化的旧文化生命体，它依附的是传统自然经济的生产方式。这个时期，中国人对自己的文化传统产生过怀疑和否定，出现过激进的反传统与“全盘西化”主张。马克思主义传入中国以及中国共产党的诞生，意味着改造中国人民精神世界、改造中国社会焕发出前所未有的进步力量与生机活力。马克思、恩格斯指出：“人们的想象、思维、精神交往在这里还是人们物质行动的直接产物。”精神、思想等文化维度发源于社会生活，是对社会存在的反映，物质生活的生产与再生产是人类文化和文明生发的基础。恩格斯指出：“每一个时代的哲学作为分工的一个特定的领域，都具有由它的先驱传给它而它便由此出发的特定的思想材料作为前提。”这说明要在历史规律中理解文化发展，文化是阶段性、连续性和实践性的统一，需要传承前人的优秀文化成果。

During the period of the New Democratic Revolution and the period of socialist revolution and construction, Mao Zedong, based on the core analytical framework of historical materialism, put forward cultural construction guidelines such as “discard its feudal dregs and absorb its democratic essence” and “make the past serve the present, make foreign things serve China.” Through practical dialectics, he reconstructed Marxist cultural theory, emphasizing the integration of the basic tenets of Marxism with China’s specific realities. Mao Zedong stressed that “culture serves politics,” emphasized “making the past serve the present” and “weeding through the old to bring forth the new,” and carried forward the positive and discarded the negative in traditional Chinese culture. Mao’s thought of “serving the people” was a creative transformation, grounded in revolutionary practice, of the traditional Chinese idea that “the people are the foundation of the state,” highlighting the traditional cultural dimension of Sinicized Marxism. In the new period of reform and opening up and socialist modernization, Deng Xiaoping, based on the specific practice of the socialist market economy with Chinese characteristics and adhering to historical materialism as theoretical guidance, promoted the formation of a path of socialist cultural development with Chinese characteristics. The theoretical innovations and practical explorations of culture during this period, such as the re-establishment of the policy of “letting a hundred flowers bloom, letting a hundred schools of thought contend,” not only provided rich theoretical content for the Second Integration’s creation of a new cultural life form but also laid a solid foundation for the construction of socialist culture with Chinese characteristics. Since the 18th National Congress of the CPC, historic achievements have been made in the cause of propaganda, ideology and culture. The new cultural life form created by the Second Integration, by activating the genes of Chinese civilization with the truth-force of Marxism, has promoted the creative transformation and innovative development of fine traditional Chinese culture. This marks a leap in the path of socialist cultural development with Chinese characteristics from “theoretical transplantation” to “independent innovation,” marks a new height in our Party’s understanding of the laws governing the construction of socialist culture with Chinese characteristics, and provides powerful spiritual motivation and cultural support for the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.

新民主主义革命时期、社会主义革命和建设时期，毛泽东基于历史唯物主义的核心分析框架，提出“剔除其封建性的糟粕，吸收其民主性的精华”、“古为今用，洋为中用”等文化建设方针，通过实践辩证法重构马克思主义文化理论，强调把马克思主义基本原理同中国具体实际相结合。毛泽东强调“文化为政治服务”，强调“古为今用”“推陈出新”，对中华传统文化进行扬弃。毛泽东“为人民服务”的思想，就是立足革命实践，对中华优秀传统文化中“民为邦本”思想的创造性转化，凸显了中国化马克思主义的传统文化维度。改革开放和社会主义现代化建设新时期，邓小平立足于中国特色社会主义市场经济的具体实践，坚持以历史唯物主义为理论指导，推动形成了具有中国特色的社会主义文化发展道路。这一时期文化的理论创新和实践探索，如“百花齐放、百家争鸣”方针的重新确立，不仅为“第二个结合”造就新的文化生命体提供了丰富的理论内涵，也为中国特色社会主义文化建设奠定了坚实基础。党的十八大以来，宣传思想文化事业取得历史性成就。“第二个结合”造就的新的文化生命体，以马克思主义真理力量激活中华文明的基因，推动了中华优秀传统文化的创造性转化、创新性发展，标志着中国特色社会主义文化发展道路从“理论移植”到“自主创新”的跨越，标志着我们党对中国特色社会主义文化建设规律的认识达到了新高度，为中华民族伟大复兴提供了强大的精神动力和文化支撑。

A deep inquiry into the methodology of the Second Integration’s creation of a new cultural life form provides our Party with solid theoretical support and practical pathways for understanding, mastering and applying laws, and plays a key role in constructing Xi Jinping’s cultural theory for the New Era. The importance of the methodology of the Second Integration’s creation of a new cultural life form for deepening theoretical research can be analyzed from the following dimensions: First, strategic thinking coordinates the balanced development of material civilization and cultural-ethical progress from a strategic height, achieving a two-way elevation of the people’s material life and spiritual life. Based on both the domestic and international overall situations, it breaks through the predicament of “Western-centrism” and reshapes the global cultural order from a global strategic height, providing a Chinese solution for humanity’s response to civilizational conflicts. Second, historical thinking, grounded in historical materialism, uses a grand historical perspective to excavate the continuity genes of Chinese civilization. While deconstructing linear historical views such as the Western “end of history” thesis, it consolidates cultural subjectivity and confirms the Communist Party of China’s historical consciousness of continuing civilization—that is, activating the five-thousand-year cultural genes through civilizational continuity and dispelling the fog of historical nihilism. Third, dialectical thinking adheres to the dialectical unity of the universality and particularity of contradictions, distills the spiritual core of traditional Chinese culture from practice, and constructs a cultural life form that possesses both historical roots and the universality of truth. Fourth, systematic thinking, based on the three dimensions of wholeness, systematicity and synergy, constructs a new form of human civilization, deconstructs the Western paradigm of civilizational conflict, and provides a Chinese solution for global civilizational governance. Fifth, innovative thinking consolidates the subjectivity of Chinese culture through original theoretical construction, builds cultural leadership in resolving the “principal social contradiction,” and provides a civilizational paradigm support for the comprehensive development of the human person. In summary, the methodology of the Second Integration’s creation of a new cultural life form provides important intellectual support from multiple levels and perspectives for enriching cultural theory research and exploring its application and development in practice.

深究“第二个结合”造就新的文化生命体的方法论，为我们党认识、掌握、运用规律提供了坚实的理论支撑和实践路径，对构建习近平新时代中国特色社会主义文化理论起到了关键作用。“第二个结合”造就新的文化生命体的方法论对深化理论研究的重要性，可从以下维度展开分析：其一，战略思维从战略高度统筹物质文明与精神文明协调发展，实现人民物质生活和精神生活的双向提升。立足国内国际两个大局，从全球的战略高度破解“西方中心主义”困境、重塑全球文化秩序，为人类应对文明冲突提供中国方案。其二，历史思维以唯物史观为根基，通过大历史观挖掘中华文明的连续性基因，在解构西方“历史终结论”等线性史观的同时，巩固文化主体性，确证中国共产党赓续文明的历史自觉，即以文明赓续激活五千年文化基因，破除历史虚无主义迷雾。其三，辩证思维坚持矛盾普遍性与特殊性的辩证统一，从实践中提炼中华传统文化的精神内核，构建兼具历史根脉与真理普遍性的文化生命体。其四，系统思维立足整体性、系统性和协同性三重维度，构建人类文明新形态，解构西方文明冲突范式，为全球文明治理提供中国方案。其五，创新思维通过独创性理论建构巩固中华文化主体性，在解决“社会主要矛盾”中构建文化引领力，为人的全面发展提供文明范式支撑。总而言之，“第二个结合”造就新的文化生命体的方法论，从多个层面和角度为丰富文化理论研究、探索在实践中的应用和发展提供重要的思想支撑。

2. Illuminating the Dialectical Method of Socialist Cultural Construction with Chinese Characteristics

2.昭明中国特色社会主义文化建设的辩证方法

The scientificity of theory must be grounded in specific spatiotemporal conditions and tested in practice. Marx proposed: “The resolution of theoretical antitheses is only possible in a practical way, only through the practical energy of man.” [17]17 Karl Marx, “Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844,” in *Marx-Engels Collected Works*, vol. 3 (Moscow: Progress Publishers, 1975), p. 302. The Chinese text is a paraphrase. This indicates that Marxist philosophy must face the fields of history and practice, and cannot exist abstractly in the pure realm of thought. The Second Integration’s creation of a new cultural life form is a theoretical innovation that meets the practical requirements of currently building a socialist cultural power. It contains dialectical considerations for correctly handling real problems such as the active and the passive, the universal and the particular, and tradition and modernity, and plays an important guiding role in advancing the construction of socialist culture with Chinese characteristics.

理论的科学性必须立足于具体的时空条件，并在实践过程中接受检验。马克思提出：“理论的对立本身的解决，只有通过实践方式，只有借助于人的实践力量，才是可能的。”这就说明马克思主义哲学要面向历史与实践场域，而不能抽象地存在于纯粹思想领域之中。“第二个结合”造就新的文化生命体是契合当前建设社会主义文化强国实践要求的理论创新，蕴含着正确处理主动与被动、普遍与特殊、传统与现代等现实问题的辩证考量，对于推进中国特色社会主义文化建设具有重要的指导作用。

The methodology of the Second Integration’s creation of a new cultural life form correctly handles the relationship between the active and the passive within the subject-object relationship. The theory of socialist culture with Chinese characteristics is built on the foundation of Marxist cultural theory. For a long time, some scholars wearing bourgeois colored glasses have distorted Marxist cultural theory as “economic determinism.” Among them, the Austrian founder of critical rationalism, the philosopher Karl Popper, is the most representative. In his book *The Open Society and Its Enemies*, he criticized Marxism as a kind of “historicism,” arguing that Marxism overemphasizes the determining role of economic factors in social development while neglecting the independence of other factors (such as culture, politics, etc.). The Marxist view of the relationship between the economic base and the ideological superstructure is by no means a rigid, passive determination by the object; rather, it regards cultural creative activity as the active practical activity of the human subject.

“第二个结合”造就新的文化生命体的方法论在主体与客体关系中正确处理主动与被动的关系问题。中国特色社会主义文化理论建立在马克思主义文化理论的根基之上。长期以来，戴着资产阶级有色眼镜的一些学者，将马克思主义文化理论歪曲为“经济决定论”。其中，奥地利批判理性主义创始人——哲学家卡尔·波普尔最具有代表性。他在《开放社会及其敌人》一书中将马克思主义批评为一种“历史决定论”，认为马克思主义过分强调经济因素对社会发展的决定性作用，忽视了其他因素（如文化、政治等）的独立性。马克思主义关于经济基础和观念上层建筑关系的看法，绝非刻板的客体被动决定论，而是将文化创造活动看作人们能动的主体实践活动。

The methodology of the Second Integration’s creation of a new cultural life form emphasizes the independence and continuity of cultural development and its counteractive effect on the economy. Human beings are beings with subjective consciousness and cultural beings; they are the practical subjects who drive human historical development and cultural inheritance and innovation. This indicates that in the cultural construction of the New Era, the subjective initiative of people should be fully brought into play, enriching the people’s spiritual world and strengthening the people’s spiritual strength.

“第二个结合”造就新的文化生命体的方法论，强调文化发展的独立性和延续性以及对经济的反作用。人是具有主体观念的存在物和文化的存在物，是推动人类历史发展和文化传承创新的实践主体。这表明在新时代的文化建设中，应该充分发挥人的主观能动作用，丰富人民精神世界，增强人民精神力量。

The methodology by which “the Second Integration” [18]18 “The Second Integration” (第二个结合) refers to the combination of the basic tenets of Marxism with fine traditional Chinese culture, as distinct from the “First Integration,” which combined Marxism with the concrete realities of China. It was formally proposed by Xi Jinping in 2023. creates a new cultural life form correctly handles the relationship between tradition and modernity through inheritance and integration. From the perspective of historical materialism, the determining role of the economic base on social culture manifests as a dialectical unity of structural limitation and historical generativity. Culture possesses its own unique continuity and inheritance; in different historical stages of humanity, culture develops and changes continuously on the basis of socio-economic conditions, according to its own internal developmental logic. Marx pointed out that culture is created “under circumstances directly encountered, given and transmitted from the past.” [19]19 Karl Marx, *The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte* “The Second Integration” creates a new cultural life form by inheriting and promoting fine traditional Chinese culture under the guidance of Marxism, thereby promoting the fusion of national character and the spirit of the times. Marxist theory itself is a theory of modernity, possessing characteristics such as openness and future-orientation; the modernity of Marxism makes fine traditional Chinese culture modern.

“第二个结合”造就新的文化生命体的方法论在继承和融合中正确处理传统与现代的关系问题。在历史唯物主义视域下，经济基础对社会文化的决定作用呈现为结构限定性与历史生成性的辩证统一。文化具有自身独特的延续性和传承性，在人类不同的历史阶段，文化在社会经济条件的基础上，根据自身内在的发展逻辑不断发展变化。马克思指出，文化是在“直接碰到的、既定的、从过去承继下来的条件下创造”的。“第二个结合”造就新的文化生命体，在马克思主义的指导下对中华优秀传统文化进行继承和弘扬，促进了民族性和时代性的融合。马克思主义理论本身就是一种现代性理论，具有开放性和未来指向性等特征，马克思主义的现代性使中华优秀传统文化成为现代的。

The methodology by which “the Second Integration” creates a new cultural life form correctly handles the relationship between the universal and the particular through openness and interaction. Marxism holds that different types of civilization, arising under different socio-historical conditions, possess different cultural foundations. “The Second Integration” creates a new cultural life form, enriching the interrelationship between the universal laws of cultural development and the particularity of development paths. Chinese civilization completes its recreation in the process of self-renewal, reflection and critique, giving birth to the modern form of Chinese civilization, that is, the cultural form of Chinese-path modernization. Chinese-path modernization is not merely a particular manifestation of the universal laws of historical development; the new form of human civilization it inaugurates, in its particular way, prefigures the universal trend of the future development of human society. “The Second Integration” creates a new cultural life form not by using the particularity of Chinese civilization to oppose the universality of world civilization, but by providing the world with a diverse, universal cultural form. Through pluralistic interaction in an open environment, it treats universality and particularity as a dynamic unity. In this way, while maintaining national independence and a high degree of cultural confidence, it contributes Chinese wisdom and a Chinese approach to building a new form of human civilization.

“第二个结合”造就新的文化生命体的方法论在开放和互动中正确处理普遍与特殊的关系问题。马克思主义认为，在不同社会历史条件下产生的不同文明类型，具有不同的文化底蕴。“第二个结合”造就新的文化生命体，丰富了文化发展的普遍规律性与发展道路的特殊性的相互关系。中华文明在自我更新和反思批判的发展过程中完成再创，生成中华文明的现代形态，即中国式现代化的文化形态。中国式现代化不仅仅是历史发展普遍规律性的特殊表现，它所开创的人类文明新形态以特殊的方式预示着人类社会未来发展的普遍趋势。“第二个结合”造就新的文化生命体，并不是用中华文明的特殊性去对抗世界文明的普遍性，而是为世界提供一种多样性的普遍性文化形态，它通过开放环境中的多元互动，将普遍性与特殊性视为动态的统一体。这样在保持国家独立性和高度的文化自信的同时，为构建人类文明新形态贡献了中国智慧和中国方案。

The five-dimensional philosophical methodology contained in “the Second Integration” creating a new cultural life form advances layer by layer, is dialectically unified, and constitutes a rigorous and complete theoretical system. It constructs the philosophical coordinates for the cultural construction of socialism with Chinese characteristics, points toward the civilizational breakthrough of Chinese-path modernization, and even heralds a paradigm innovation in global governance. In the global context where civilizational conflict and value nihilism are intertwined, “the Second Integration” deconstructs the hegemonic logic of “Western-centrism” through the coordinated development of “material and spiritual” dimensions; responds to the century-old question of “where is the world heading” with a “new form of human civilization”; reshapes the rules of civilizational dialogue through the dialectics of “breaking” and “establishing,” using the “gene of continuity” of Chinese civilization to break the linear narrative of the “end of history”; [20] forges Marxism with the genes of Chinese civilization within the framework of “holism and synergy”; uses the method of contradiction analysis to coordinate traditional culture with the issues of the times, transcending the trap of alienation under the logic of capital; and contributes a global approach through the dialectics of the “particular” and the “universal,” advocating and promoting the common values of all humanity.

“第二个结合”造就新的文化生命体蕴含的五个维度的哲学方法论，层层推进，辩证统一，构成严密完整的理论体系，构建了中国特色社会主义文化建设的哲学坐标，指向中国式现代化的文明突围，更昭示着全球治理的范式创新。在文明冲突与价值虚无交织的全球语境下，“第二个结合”以“物质—精神”协调发展解构“西方中心主义”的霸权逻辑；以“人类文明新形态”回应“世界向何处去”的世纪之问；以“破”与“立”的辩证法重塑文明对话规则，用中华文明的“连续性基因”破除“历史终结论”的线性叙事；以“整体性—协同性”框架熔铸马克思主义与中华文明基因；以矛盾分析法统筹传统文化与时代课题，超越资本逻辑的异化陷阱；以“特殊”与“普遍”的辩证性贡献全球方案，倡导与弘扬全人类共同价值。

(The author is Vice Dean, Professor, and Doctoral Supervisor of the School of Marxism, Shandong University.)

（作者系山东大学马克思主义学院副院长、教授、博士生导师）

Online Editor: Ma Jingren

网络编辑：马京仁