The Triple Core Essence of Practice as the Cornerstone of Marx’s Philosophy

The revolutionary transformation achieved by Marx’s philosophy lies centrally in establishing the foundational status of the concept of practice, constructing a complete philosophical system with practice as its core. Practice is not only the fundamental key to understanding the essence of human beings, the generation and development of the real world, and human freedom and liberation, but also the fundamental hallmark distinguishing Marx’s philosophy from all old philosophies. The concept of practice possesses a clear core essence, encompassing three closely interrelated dimensions: the theory of human essence, the theory of the world’s foundation, and the theory of human liberation.

马克思哲学实现的革命性变革，核心在于确立了实践概念的基石地位，构建起以实践为核心的完整哲学体系。实践既是理解人的本质、现实世界的生成与发展、人的自由与解放的根本钥匙，也是马克思哲学区别于一切旧哲学的根本标志。实践概念具有明确的核心要义，包含人的本质论、世界根基论和人的解放学说三个紧密关联维度的基本规定。

Practice is the mode of human life activity

实践是人的生命活动方式

The concept of practice in Marx’s philosophy has a multi-layered, internally coherent core essence. Its logical starting point is the dimension of the theory of human essence, defining practice as the mode of life activity unique to human beings and fundamentally distinct from that of other living organisms. In the *Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844*, Marx explicitly states: “The whole character of a species, its species-character, resides in the nature of its life activity, and free, conscious activity is precisely the species-character of human beings,” [1]1 Marx, *Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844*, MECW, Vol. 3, p. 276. clearly defining the species-essence and species-character of humans as free, conscious sensuous activity, i.e., practice. As the mode of life activity unique to humans, practice is fundamentally different from the instinctual activities of other living organisms. The life activities of other organisms are purely instinctual and passive; bees building hives and spiders spinning webs are merely physiological instinctual behaviors endowed by nature, a passive adaptation to the external environment, lacking autonomous initiative. In contrast, human practical activity is active and conscious, an active transformation of the external world, a free activity transcending physiological instinct. Marx argues that “the animal produces only one-sidedly, while man produces universally.” [2]2 Ibid., p. 276. Animals can only engage in simple self-reproduction, whereas humans can generate the entire human real world, engaging in conscious and self-directed universal production, creating civilizational achievements encompassing both material and spiritual aspects.

马克思哲学的实践概念具有多重复合、内在贯通的核心要义，其逻辑起点是从人的本质论维度，将实践界定为人所独有的、根本区别于其他生物的生命活动方式。在《1844年经济学哲学手稿》中，马克思明确指出：“一个种的整体特性、种的类特性就在于生命活动的性质，而自由的有意识的活动恰恰就是人的类特性”，将人的类本质、类特性，明确界定为自由自觉的感性活动即实践。实践作为人所独有的生命活动方式，与其他生物的本能活动有着本质区别。其他生物的生命活动是纯粹本能、被动的，蜜蜂筑巢、蜘蛛结网，都只是自然赋予的生理本能行为，是对外部环境的消极适应，不具备自主能动性。相反，人的实践活动是主动、自觉的，是对外部世界的积极改造，是超越生理本能的自由活动。马克思认为，“动物的生产是片面的，而人的生产是全面的”。动物只能进行简单的自我繁殖，而人则能够生成整个属人的现实世界，进行自觉自为的全面性生产，创造出包含物质与精神方面的文明成果。

The reason human practical activity differs from biological instinctual activity lies fundamentally in its dual essential attributes: the initiative of thought and sensuous actuality. The initiative of thought in practice means that human practical activity always contains the conscious guidance of rational thought, enabling humans to actively understand and transform the world. Marx states: “Conscious life activity directly distinguishes human beings from the life activity of animals. It is precisely because of this that humans are species-beings.” [3]3 Ibid., p. 276. By virtue of rational thought, humans can set practical goals, plan practical processes, and formulate practical schemes; these thought contents run through the entire process of practical activity, serving as its internal guidance. Marx’s classic expression that “the worst architect differs from the best of bees from the very outset in that he has built the cell in his head before he builds it in wax” [4]4 Marx, *Capital*, Vol. 1, MECW, Vol. 35, p. 188. vividly illustrates the conscious initiative of human practice. It is precisely because human reason possesses free will grounded in itself that humans can face the external sensuous world as active subjects rather than purely passive beings, and thus human practical activity also possesses the essential attribute of the initiative of thought.

人的实践活动之所以区别于生物本能活动，根本在于其兼具思维能动性和感性现实性的双重本质属性。实践的思维能动性，是指人的实践活动始终内含理性思维的自觉引导，使人能够能动地认识世界、改造世界。马克思说：“有意识的生命活动把人同动物的生命活动直接区别开来。正是由于这一点，人才是类存在物。”凭借理性思维，人能够设立实践目的、规划实践过程、制定实践方案，这些思维内容贯穿实践活动的全过程，成为实践活动的内在引领。马克思那句“最蹩脚的建筑师从一开始就比最灵巧的蜜蜂高明的地方，是他在用蜂蜡建筑蜂房以前，已经在自己的头脑中把它建成了”的经典表述，生动诠释了人的实践具有自觉能动性。正因为人的理性具有以自身为根据的自由意志，人才能作为能动主体而非纯粹被动者面对外部感性世界，人的实践活动也才具备了思维能动性这一本质属性。

The sensuous actuality of practice means that practice is a realistically perceptible activity with direct actuality. The subject of practice (humans), the object of practice (the empirical world), and the means of practice (tools) are all objectively existing sensuous entities; the process of practice is a real process in which the subject applies sensuous means to act upon the sensuous object, and the result of practice is also a realistically perceptible existence. Marx particularly emphasizes that, by virtue of its direct actuality, practice can transform the purposes, ideas, and ideals in human thought into reality, thereby serving as the confirmation of the actuality of human thought. If the initiative of thought provides internal guidance and impetus for sensuous activity, then sensuous actuality provides the real carrier for the realization of the initiative of thought; the two are interdependent and mutually reinforcing, together constituting the complete essence of practice. Thus, the concept of practice in Marx’s philosophy is distinguished from both purely spiritual activity and purely material activity devoid of spirit; it is a sensuously actual activity that internally contains the initiative of thought. Consequently, human practical activity is necessarily subject to dual constraints: it is both limited and guided by the external empirical world, and normatively directed and propelled by internal rational thought.

实践的感性现实性，是指实践是一种现实可感的活动，具有直接现实性。实践的主体（人）、实践的对象（经验世界）、实践的手段（工具）都是客观存在的感性实体，实践的过程是主体运用感性手段作用于感性对象的现实过程，实践的结果也是现实感性的存在物。马克思特别强调，凭借其直接现实性，实践才能将人思维中的目的、理念和理想转化为现实，从而成为人的思维现实性的确证。如果说思维能动性为感性活动提供了内在范导与动力，那么感性现实性则为思维能动性的实现提供了现实载体，二者相互依存、互为促进，共同构成实践的完整本质。由此，马克思哲学的实践概念既区别于纯粹精神活动，也不同于无精神的纯粹物质活动，而是内在地包含了思维能动性的感性现实性活动。也因此，人的实践活动必然受到双重制约：既受外在经验世界的限制与牵引，也受内在理性思维的范导与推动。

The initiative of thought in practice is further embodied in its autonomous and self-directed purposiveness. Purposiveness is an important characteristic distinguishing human practical activity from biological instinctual activity, and it is also a concentrated manifestation of humans as practical subjects. Marx argues that, unlike the purposeless, unconscious instinctual activity of animals, human practical activity is conscious, purposeful, and self-directed activity; purposiveness runs through the entire process of practice, defining its direction and content, constituting the internal driving force and conceptual precursor of practical activity. “He knows his own purpose—a purpose that governs his activity as a law, and to which he must subordinate his will.” [5]5 Ibid., p. 188. In this sense, purpose is a core constitutive element of practical activity; without purpose, there is no practical activity. Practice is precisely the active process by which humans transform purposes in thought into objective reality. The purposiveness of practice also has levels: human reason can not only set purposes for individual practical activities but can also integrate scattered concrete practices and purposes, subsuming them under an ultimate purpose, providing fundamental value orientation for all human practical activity. In Marx’s philosophy, this ultimate purpose is the realization of the freedom and liberation of all humanity, providing the final value guidance for all human practical activity in transforming the world. Therefore, human practical activity possesses not only immediate purposiveness but also ultimate purposiveness; both are rooted in the free essence of human reason, and the latter is a high expression of the initiative of human thought and rational freedom.

实践的思维能动性又体现为其自主自为的目的性。目的性是人的实践活动区别于生物本能活动的重要特征，也是人作为实践主体的能动性的集中彰显。马克思认为，与动物无目的、无意识的本能活动不同，人的实践活动是有意识、有目的的自觉活动，目的性贯穿实践全过程，规定着实践的方向与内容，构成实践活动的内在动力与观念先导。“这个目的是他所知道的，是作为规律决定着他的活动的方式和方法的，他必须使他的意志服从这个目的”，在此意义上，目的是实践活动的核心构成要素，无目的便无所谓实践活动，实践正是人将观念中的目的转化为客观现实的能动过程。实践的目的性又有层级之分：人的理性不仅能为单个实践活动设立目的，更能将分散的具体实践与目的整合起来，统摄于一个终极目的之下，为人类全部实践活动提供根本价值导向。在马克思哲学中，这一终极目的就是实现全人类的自由与解放，它为人类改造世界的全部实践活动提供了最终的价值遵循。因此，人的实践活动不仅具有当下目的性，更具有终极目的性，二者都植根于人的理性的自由本质，后者更是人的思维能动性与理性自由的高度体现。

Practice is the foundation for the emergence and development of the real world

实践是现实世界产生与发展的根基

In Marx’s philosophy, practice, as the essential activity of humans, is also the foundation for the emergence, existence, and development of the real world. This constitutes the second definition of the concept of practice from the dimensions of ontology and worldview. Marx explicitly points out that the real world in which humans live is by no means “something that has always existed from the beginning of time, something unchanging,” [6]6 Marx and Engels, *The German Ideology*, MECW, Vol. 5, p. 39. but rather the result of the activity of “generation after generation.” [7]7 Ibid., p. 39. Whether it is humanized nature or human society, its generation and continued existence take human practical activity as their fundamental premise. “Humanized nature” is nature shaped by human practical activity and establishing a real object-relation with practice; only this nature is the real natural environment on which humans depend for survival. Marx explicitly criticizes the view of nature in Hegel’s philosophy, i.e., “nature as it is in itself, abstractly understood, isolated from humans,” [8]8 Marx, *Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844*, MECW, Vol. 3, p. 345. which is not the real nature in which humans actually dwell and which has real significance for them; thus, “for humans it is nothing,” [9]9 Ibid., p. 345. and inquiring into its ontological question is meaningless. Human society is the product of human practical activity; its existence and development are always based on practice as their real foundation. Human society is essentially the sum total of all social relations; whether productive relations, political relations, or ideological and cultural relations, they are all generated and developed in the process of human productive practice, political practice, ideological and cultural practice, and their interweaving. If there were no human practical activity combining sensuous actuality and the initiative of thought, it would be impossible to generate any real social relations, let alone the historical evolution of human society.

在马克思哲学中，实践作为人的本质活动，也是现实世界得以产生、存在与发展的根基，这就构成了从存在论和世界观维度对实践概念的第二重界定。马克思明确指出，人生活于其中的现实世界，绝非“某种开天辟地以来就直接存在的、始终如一的东西”，而是人类“世世代代活动的结果”，无论是人化自然还是人类社会，其生成与存续都以人的实践活动为根本前提。“人化自然”是经由人的实践活动塑造、同实践建立起现实对象性关系的“自然”，唯有这种自然才是人赖以生存的现实自然环境。马克思明确批判了黑格尔哲学中的自然观，即“被抽象地理解的、自为的、被确定为与人分隔开来的自然界”，并非人现实栖居、具有现实意义的自然界，因而“对人来说也是无”，追问其本体问题也就没有意义。人类社会是人的实践活动的产物，其存在与发展始终以实践为现实基础。人类社会本质上是一切社会关系的总和，无论是生产关系、政治关系还是思想文化关系，都生成并发展于人的生产实践、政治实践、思想文化实践及其相互交织的过程中。倘若没有人进行兼具感性现实性与思维能动性的实践活动，就不可能生成任何现实的社会关系，更不可能有人类社会的历史演进。

Marx’s philosophy’s foundation in practice breaks through and transcends traditional philosophy’s understanding of the world and history, whether from the spiritual or the material side, and realizes a fundamental transformation in the philosophical worldview and conception of history. Idealism posits abstract spirit as the origin of the world, reducing the historical development of the world to the self-movement of spirit, so its critique can only be confined to the realm of ideas and concepts. But merely changing people’s ideas and concepts, rather than “changing objective reality in a truly objective way,”[10]10 Karl Marx, “Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844,” MECW, vol. 3, p. 336. cannot fundamentally touch the real world, because “real liberation is possible only in the real world and by real means.”[11]11 Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, “The German Ideology,” MECW, vol. 5, p. 38. Old materialism, on the other hand, regards abstract matter as the origin of the world, reducing the existence and development of the world to the mechanical motion of matter, equally ignoring the active role of human practice, and inevitably falls into the predicament of mechanical determinism. If people merely submit to and adapt to external necessity and environmental conditions, they can never promote the civilizational progress of the real world. The reason these two philosophical currents cannot truly reveal the foundation of the existence of the world and history lies in the fact that both lack the theoretical perspective of practice and fail to understand and grasp “real, sensuous activity itself.”[12]12 Karl Marx, “Theses on Feuerbach,” MECW, vol. 5, p. 3.

马克思哲学的实践根基论，突破并超越了传统哲学或从精神、或从物质方面对世界与历史的理解，实现了哲学世界观与历史观的根本变革。唯心主义将抽象精神设定为世界的本原，把世界的历史发展归结为精神的自我运动，其批判就只能囿于思想观念的范围。但仅仅改变人的思想观念，而非“用真正对象性的方式改变对象性现实”，根本触动不了现实世界，因为“只有在现实的世界中并使用现实的手段才能实现真正的解放”。旧唯物主义则将抽象物质视为世界本原，把世界的存在与发展还原为物质的机械运动，同样无视人的实践活动的能动作用，不可避免地陷入机械决定论困境。人若只是一味顺从与适应外在必然性和环境条件，就根本无法推动现实世界的文明进步。这两种哲学思想之所以都不能真正揭示世界与历史的存在根基，根源就在于二者都缺乏实践的理论视野，未能理解与把握“现实的、感性的活动本身”。

Marx’s philosophy, for the first time, clearly reveals that the existence of the real world and its historical development are neither the product of pure spirit nor the mechanical motion of pure matter, but rather the result of humanity’s continuous practical activity. Practice, as the intermediary and bridge connecting people’s inner thoughts with the external sensuous world, has its fundamental mechanism for creating reality precisely in that it realizes the mutual interaction and transformation of ideas and sensuous objects. Without practice, the mutual transformation of spirit and matter, thought and being, cannot proceed, and the real world in which people live cannot come into being or develop. Therefore, practice is “the foundation of the whole present sensuous world,”[13]13 Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, “The German Ideology,” MECW, vol. 5, p. 40. and “all social life is essentially practical”;[14]14 Karl Marx, “Theses on Feuerbach,” MECW, vol. 5, p. 4. “all mysteries which lead theory to mysticism find their rational solution in human practice and in the comprehension of this practice.”[15]15 Ibid.

马克思哲学首次明确揭示了现实世界的存在及其历史发展，既非纯粹精神的产物，也非纯粹物质的机械运动，而是人类持续不断的实践活动的结果。实践作为连接人的内在思想与外部感性世界的中介与桥梁，其创造现实的根本机制就在于，它实现了思想观念与感性对象的相互作用与转化。没有实践，精神与物质、思维与存在的相互转化便无法进行，人所处的现实世界也无从生成与发展。因此，实践才是“整个现存的感性世界的基础”，“全部社会生活在本质上是实践的”；“凡是把理论引向神秘主义的神秘东西，都能在人的实践中以及对这种实践的理解中得到合理的解决”。

Practice is the True Force for Transforming the Real World

实践是改造现实世界的真正力量

The real world originates in human practical activity, which means that practice is precisely the true force for transforming the real world, and that people, as the subjects of practice, are the true creators and transformers of the real world. This constitutes the third essential meaning of the concept of practice. Before the birth of Marx’s philosophy, the answers to the question of the origin and generation of the world were mainly the theological theory of divine creation and the idealist theory of spiritual determination. The theory of divine creation, or the doctrine of God’s creation of the world, holds that the generation, existence, and change of all things in the world are created by God, and that God is the ultimate ground and supreme ruler behind all things. This fundamentally negates the subjective status of people, reducing them to instruments for realizing divine will. Idealism, on the other hand, abstracts and separates people’s rational thought from their practice, treating it as an independently existing spiritual substance and the ontological foundation of all things in the world. However, abstract spirit divorced from practice inevitably loses its own real-world efficacy and cannot become the creative force of the real world.

现实世界根源于人的实践活动，这意味着，实践正是改造现实世界的真正力量，作为实践主体的人是现实世界的真正缔造者与变革者，这又构成了实践概念的第三重基本意蕴。马克思哲学诞生之前，对世界本源与生成问题的回答，主要有宗教神学的神创世界论和唯心主义的精神决定论。神创论或上帝创世说主张，世界万物的产生、存在与流变皆为上帝所造，上帝是万物背后的终极根据与最高主宰。这就从根本上否定了人的主体性地位，将人贬低为实现神意的工具。唯心主义则把人的理性思维从人的实践中抽象、割裂出来，将其视作独立自存的精神实体与世界万物的本体论根基。然而脱离了实践的抽象精神，必然丧失自身的现实性效力，无法成为现实世界的创造力量。

Based on its revelation of the dual essential attributes of practice, Marx’s philosophy not only clarifies the true foundation of the existence of the entire real world, but also finds the true force for creating and transforming the real world. As Marx emphasized, “it is precisely people, real, living people who create all this, possess all this, and wage the struggle,”[16]16 Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, “The Holy Family,” MECW, vol. 4, p. 109. and “history is nothing but the activity of people pursuing their own purposes.”[17]17 Ibid., p. 93. This profound insight not only enabled Marx to establish the fundamental path of transforming the real world through practice and realizing human freedom and liberation, but also anchored the fundamental mission of philosophy as “changing the world” rather than merely “interpreting the world,”[18]18 Karl Marx, “Theses on Feuerbach,” MECW, vol. 5, p. 5. thereby realizing a fundamental transformation in the concept of philosophy itself. Philosophy is understood as an important link in humanity’s rational construction and transformation of the real world; its fundamental task is to provide a truth-based fundamental value orientation for human practical activity, and to descend into action plans that fit the specific characteristics of the times.

马克思哲学基于对实践双重本质属性的揭示，既澄明了整个现实世界得以存在的真正根基，更找到了创造与变革现实世界的真正力量。正如马克思所强调的，“正是人，现实的、活生生的人在创造这一切，拥有这一切并且进行战斗”，“历史不过是追求着自己目的的人的活动而已”。这一深刻洞见，不仅使马克思确立了通过实践改造现实世界、实现人的自由与解放的根本路径，更使其将哲学的根本使命锚定为“改变世界”而非仅仅“解释世界”，由此又实现了哲学自身观念的根本变革。哲学被理解为人类对现实世界进行合理化建构与改造的重要环节，其根本任务是为人类实践活动提供真理性的根本价值导向，并下沉为契合具体时代特征的行动方案。

In the context of Marx’s philosophy, transforming the world is by no means a blind activity, but must take the freedom and liberation of all humanity as its fundamental direction. Only through the practical transformation of the world can human freedom and liberation be realized, and to transform the world to be more humane and rational, it is necessary to achieve a two-way convergence of theory and reality. As Marx said: “It is not enough that thought should strive to realize itself; reality must itself strive toward thought.”[19]19 Karl Marx, “Critique of Hegel’s Philosophy of Right. Introduction,” MECW, vol. 3, p. 183. The core of thought striving to realize itself lies in breaking through the single paradigm of pure rational speculation, seeking to transform universal truth into concrete plans for epochal change, and realizing a shift from a “speculative-demonstrative approach” to a “real-world application approach.” Marx’s doctrine is precisely a model of this approach: it does not stop at purely speculative demonstration of the principle of human freedom and liberation, but, combined with an empirical investigation of the reality of capitalist society, puts forward the specific goals, content, and path of human freedom and liberation at that historical stage, opening up for philosophy a new way of thinking that explores the realization and temporalization of humanity’s ultimate value demands.

在马克思哲学语境中，改造世界绝非盲目的活动，而是需以全人类的自由与解放为根本指向。唯有通过对世界的实践改造才能实现人的自由与解放，而要将世界改造得更加人性化合理化，就必须实现理论与现实的双向奔赴。正如马克思所说：“光是思想力求成为现实是不够的，现实本身应当力求趋向思想。”思想力求成为现实，核心在于突破纯粹理性思辨的单一范式，寻求将普遍真理转化为时代变革的具体方案，实现从“思辨论证进路”到“现实应用进路”的转换。马克思学说正是这一进路的典范：它并未停留于对人的自由与解放宗旨的纯粹思辨论证，而是结合对资本主义社会现实的实证考察，提出了该历史阶段人的自由与解放的具体目标、内容与路径，为哲学开辟了探索将人类终极价值诉求现实化、时代化的全新致思进路。

The core of Marx’s proposition that “reality must strive toward thought” is that in their practical activity of transforming the real world, people must possess the consciousness of being guided by truth and acting in accordance with truth. Concrete individuals and groups in reality are often constrained by the limitations of their own partial desires and narrow empirical knowledge. The significance of truth lies precisely in its ability to transcend and overcome this partiality and narrowness, providing reasonable, legitimate, and universally effective guidance for human practical activity. This requires that the subjects of practice be clearly aware of their own limitations in desire and cognition, and consciously be guided by universal truth rather than partial desires in public practical activity. If the subjects of practice lack the conscious awareness of being guided by truth, even if the theory itself possesses both universal truth and practical feasibility, it cannot be transformed into actual action to change reality. Only when practitioners have the consciousness to practice truth, and can adjust the direction of practice and regulate practical behavior in accordance with truth, can they put ideological theory into effect, promote reality to gradually approach the ideal state guided by theory, and realize the dynamic dialectical unity of theory and practice.

马克思提出的“现实趋向思想”，核心是人们在改造现实世界的实践活动中，必须具备以真理为指引、遵循真理而行动的自觉性。现实中的具体个人和群体，往往会受制于自身偏私意欲和狭隘经验认识的局限，而真理的意义正在于，它能够超越并克服这种偏私性和狭隘性，为人类实践活动提供合理正当、普遍有效的思想指引。这就要求实践主体清醒觉知自身的意欲与认知局限，在公共实践活动中自觉以普遍真理而非偏私意欲为主导。倘若实践主体缺乏以真理为指导的自觉意识，即便理论本身兼具普遍真理性与现实可行性，也无法将其转化为变革现实的实际行动。唯有实践者具有践行真理的自觉性，能够遵从真理调整实践方向、规范实践行为，才能将思想理论落到实处，推动现实逐步趋近理论指引的理想状态，实现理论与实践的动态辩证统一。

(Author: Hu Bo, Director and Researcher of the Institute of Philosophy and Political Science, Chongqing Academy of Social Sciences)

（作者：胡波，系重庆社会科学院哲学与政治学所所长、研究员）