The Major Impact of *On Practice* and *On Contradiction* in Advancing China’s Science and Technology Development

*On Practice* and *On Contradiction* (hereinafter referred to as the “Two Essays”) are Mao Zedong’s classic interpretation of the philosophical logic of the Chinese revolution, and also a philosophical model of the integration of Marxist theory with China’s actual conditions. *On Practice* argues from the epistemological dimension that “truth is discovered through practice, and it is through practice that truth is verified and developed”; *On Contradiction* elucidates from the height of materialist dialectics that the law of the unity of opposites “is the fundamental law of nature and society, and therefore also the fundamental law of thought.” Xi Jinping pointed out: “Comrade Mao Zedong was a great philosopher, thinker, and social scientist. The philosophical masterpieces he wrote, such as *On Contradiction* and *On Practice*, still possess important guiding significance today.” The philosophical guiding significance of the “Two Essays” is profoundly reflected in many fields across different historical periods, radiating vivid theoretical and practical effects in the Chinese Communist Party’s continuous struggle to develop science and technology. Today, as socialism with Chinese characteristics enters a New Era, looking back at the historical scene of the “Two Essays” positively influencing scientific and technological practice, and clarifying the intrinsic connection between the “Two Essays” and the development of science and technology, holds important contemporary inspiration for achieving high-level scientific and technological self-reliance and self-strengthening.

《实践论》《矛盾论》（以下简称“两论”）是毛泽东对中国革命哲学逻辑的经典诠释，也是马克思主义理论与中国实际相结合的哲学典范。《实践论》从认识论维度论证“通过实践而发现真理，又通过实践而证实真理和发展真理”，《矛盾论》从唯物辩证法高度阐明对立统一规律“是自然和社会的根本法则，因而也是思维的根本法则”。习近平指出：“毛泽东同志就是一位伟大的哲学家、思想家、社会科学家，他撰写的《矛盾论》、《实践论》等哲学名篇至今仍具有重要指导意义。”“两论”的哲学指导意义深刻体现于不同历史时期的诸多领域，在中国共产党发展科技事业的接续奋斗中焕发出鲜活的理论和实践效应。在中国特色社会主义进入新时代的今天，回望“两论”积极影响科技实践的历史现场，厘清“两论”与科技发展的内在关联，对于实现高水平科技自立自强具有重要的时代启示。

I. The Study and Application of the “Two Essays” in Scientific and Technological Practice

一、“两论”在科技实践中的学习与运用

In the 1950s, after the “Two Essays” were compiled into the first volume of the *Selected Works of Mao Zedong*, a nationwide wave of intensive study emerged, and the guiding significance of the “Two Essays” for socialist construction became increasingly prominent. Renowned domestic and international scientists, science and technology management personnel, and frontline scientific and technical workers attached great importance to the philosophical implications of the intrinsic connection between the “Two Essays” and the laws of modern science, actively integrating them into their work practice, thereby driving major progress in New China’s scientific and technological endeavors.

20世纪50年代，“两论”编入《毛泽东选集》第一卷后，全国掀起了广泛学习热潮，“两论”对社会主义建设的指导意义日渐凸显。国内外著名科学家、科技管理人员和一线科技工作者高度重视“两论”与现代科学规律具有内在联系性的哲学意蕴，将其积极融入工作实践，推动新中国科技事业取得重大进展。

(A) Directional Guidance: Macro-Level Planning and Micro-Level Implementation in Science and Technology Management

（一）方向导引：科技管理的宏观谋划和微观实施

The development of science and technology cannot be separated from policy support. The formulation and implementation of policies must follow the laws of scientific and technological development. Studying and promoting the important influence of the “Two Essays” on the macro-level planning and micro-level implementation of science and technology management helps people understand and deepen their grasp of the laws of scientific and technological development.

科技发展离不开政策支撑，政策的制定和实施必须遵循科技发展规律，学习和宣传“两论”对科技管理的宏观谋划和微观实施的重要影响，有助于帮助人们理解和深化科技发展规律。

“The natural sciences must be guided by the social sciences to transform the natural world.” As classic works of social science, the “Two Essays” have fundamental guiding significance for science and technology management work. The first science and technology plan since the founding of New China—the *1956–1967 Long-Term Plan for the Development of Science and Technology*—proposed 57 major scientific and technological tasks and 616 central issues across 13 aspects, from which 12 key tasks were synthesized and summarized, embodying the contradiction analysis method that unifies the theory of two points and the theory of priorities. The subsequent *1963–1972 Outline Plan for the Development of Science and Technology* proceeded from the relationship between internal and external causes, and between principal and secondary contradictions, prominently emphasizing the tasks of self-reliance in developing science and technology and solving key scientific and technological problems, providing a reference for implementing science and technology management work. At the end of 1959, before the great battle for oil commenced, Zhou Enlai stressed during a briefing that Mao Zedong Thought should guide the campaign, using the standpoints, viewpoints, and methods of dialectical materialism to analyze and solve the various problems that might be encountered. Following Zhou Enlai’s instructions, on April 10, 1960, the Daqing Oilfield Battle Headquarters issued the *Decision on Studying Comrade Mao Zedong’s Works ‘On Practice’ and ‘On Contradiction’*. Party committees at all levels, by formulating study plans and clarifying study objectives, guided the vast number of technical personnel to learn to summarize and refine practical experience, gradually discovering the intrinsic laws of oilfield exploitation. To this day, Daqing Oilfield continues to revise medium- and long-term plans through forms such as technical development symposiums, and the learning effect of the “Two Essays” continues to act on the optimization and improvement of science and technology management work.

“自然科学是要在社会科学的指挥下去改造自然界”，“两论”作为社会科学的经典之作，对于科技管理工作具有根本指导意义。新中国成立以来的第一个科技规划——《1956—1967年科学技术发展远景规划》从13个方面提出57项重大科学技术任务、616个中心问题，并从中归纳综合12个重点任务，蕴含两点论和重点论相统一的矛盾分析法。而后制定的《1963—1972年科学技术发展规划纲要》则从内因与外因、主要矛盾与次要矛盾的关系出发，着重突出自力更生发展科技和解决关键科学技术问题的任务，为落实科技管理工作提供了思路借鉴。1959年底，石油大会战开展之前，周恩来在听取汇报时就强调，要以毛泽东思想指导会战，用辩证唯物主义的立场、观点、方法去分析解决会战可能遇到的各种问题。按照周恩来的指示，1960年4月10日，大庆油田会战指挥部作出《关于学习毛泽东同志所著〈实践论〉和〈矛盾论〉的决定》，各级党委通过制定学习计划、明确学习目的，引导广大技术人员学会总结提炼实践经验，逐渐摸索出油田开采的内在规律。时至今日，大庆油田仍然坚持通过开发技术座谈会等形式修订中长期规划，“两论”的学习效应持续作用于科技管理工作的优化和提升。

As a representative figure involved in formulating science and technology policy, former Director of the State Patent Office Huang Kunyi wrote his insights from studying the “Two Essays” into a poem: “Investigate and research at the grassroots level, / Eagerly study the ‘Two Essays’ (*On Practice* and *On Contradiction*). / Offer strategies and plans emphasizing practice, / Ten years of exploration refine the true gold.” As the poem suggests, he consistently implemented the guiding ideology of the “Two Essays,” obtaining first-hand information through investigation and research, understanding and learning from the innovations and creations of the masses, actively exploring the laws of science and technology management, and vigorously promoting the birth of the *Patent Law of the People’s Republic of China*. Entering the 21st century, documents such as the *Law of the People’s Republic of China on Popularization of Science and Technology*, the *Decision of the Central Committee of the CPC and the State Council on Implementing the Outline of the National Plan for Medium- and Long-Term Scientific and Technological Development and Enhancing Independent Innovation Capability*, and the *Opinions on Comprehensively Strengthening Basic Scientific Research* were successively issued, all reflecting in their content the epochal transformation of the philosophical significance of the “Two Essays.” It is evident that the wave of popularizing Marxism through studying and promoting the “Two Essays” has had a profound theoretical impact on science and technology management work.

作为参与制定科技政策的代表性人物，原国家专利局局长黄坤益将“两论”的学习体悟写入诗作：“调查研究下基层，如饥似渴学‘两论’（《实践论》《矛盾论》）。出谋献策重实践，十年探索炼真金。”正如诗作所写，他始终贯彻“两论”指导思想，通过调查研究掌握一手信息，了解和学习人民群众的革新创造，积极探索科技管理工作规律，大力推动《中华人民共和国专利法》诞生。进入21世纪，《中华人民共和国科学技术普及法》《中共中央国务院关于实施科技规划纲要增强自主创新能力的决定》《关于全面加强基础科学研究的若干意见》等陆续出台，均在内容上体现出“两论”哲学意义的时代性转化。可见，学习和宣传“两论”的马克思主义大众化浪潮对科技管理工作的理论影响深远。

(B) Shaping Conceptions: The Ideological Key to Achieving Major Scientific and Technological Breakthroughs

（二）观念形塑：实现重大科技突破的思想秘钥

By studying classic Marxist philosophical works represented by the “Two Essays,” the older generation of scientists gradually came to use the philosophical thought of dialectical materialism to guide their scientific research. Qian Sanqiang repeatedly and unequivocally stated: “People engaged in science and technology must strive to study Marxist philosophy and Mao Zedong Thought, using dialectical materialism, and the viewpoints of *On Practice* and *On Contradiction* to guide the organization of major scientific and technological projects and scientific groups.” Modern science proves that the ideological wisdom contained in the “Two Essays” provides a key to scientific research, a point elaborated in detail by Qian Xuesen, Li Siguang, Zhu Kezhen, Yuan Longping, and others.

老一辈科学家通过学习以“两论”为代表的马克思主义哲学经典著作，逐渐运用辩证唯物主义的哲学思想来指导科学研究。钱三强多次旗帜鲜明地提出：“搞科学技术的人一定要努力学习马克思主义哲学，学习毛泽东思想，用辩证唯物主义，实践论和矛盾论的观点去指导重大科技项目和科技群体的组织工作。”现代科学证明，“两论”蕴含的思想智慧为科学研究提供关键秘钥，钱学森、李四光、竺可桢、袁隆平等对此均有详尽论述。

In his correspondence, Qian Xuesen repeatedly mentioned that his understanding of the system of science and technology and the methodology of systems science gradually deepened alongside his study of the “Two Essays.” In studying *On Practice*, through his conceptual understanding of perceptual knowledge and rational knowledge, he proposed that the system of science and technology is an organic whole structure that continuously develops and deepens. After grasping the philosophical logic of rising from perceptual knowledge to rational knowledge, Qian Xuesen introduced *On Practice* into systems science, changing the “meta-synthesis method combining qualitative and quantitative approaches” to the “meta-synthesis method from the qualitative to the quantitative.” After carefully reading *On Contradiction*, he discovered that “merely combining the meta-synthesis technology from the qualitative to the quantitative with *On Practice*” was still insufficient to clearly explain the system process, and that “perfecting and enhancing the meta-synthesis technology from the qualitative to the quantitative requires referencing *On Contradiction*.” The above changes in Qian Xuesen’s cognition reflect the Marxist epistemology, namely, that the movement and change of the objective world are never complete, and people’s understanding of truth in practice is likewise never complete.

钱学森在书信中曾多次提及，他对科学技术体系和系统学方法的认识是伴随“两论”研读而逐渐深入的。在《实践论》的学习中，他通过对感性认识和理性认识的概念理解，提出科学技术体系是一个不断发展和深化的有机整体构造。领悟从感性认识上升到理性认识的哲学逻辑后，钱学森把《实践论》引入系统学，将“定性与定量相结合的综合集成法”改为“从定性到定量综合集成法”。品读《矛盾论》后，他发现“只是把从定性到定量综合集成技术与《实践论》结合起来”仍难以讲清楚系统过程，而“完善提高从定性到定量综合集成技术要引用《矛盾论》”。钱学森的上述认知变化反映出马克思主义认识论，即客观世界的变化运动永远没有完结，人们在实践中对于真理的认识也就永远没有完结。

Li Siguang consciously studied the “Two Essays” [*On Practice* and *On Contradiction*] and, guided by dialectical materialism, wrote works such as *An Introduction to Geomechanics* and *On Earthquakes*, while also proposing the establishment of research institutions to help more scientists systematically study and master dialectics of nature. Zhu Kezhen specifically published an article discussing his own learning experience: “In accordance with the method elucidated in his *On Practice*, Chairman Mao looked at the problem of water conservancy on the Huai River from its overall, essential, and internal connections, exposed the inherent contradictions, and thereby resolved it.” “The example of bringing the Huai River under permanent control not only clarified the necessity of raising perceptual knowledge to rational knowledge, but also showed us how, once we have grasped objective laws, we can actively transform the world.” Academicians of the Chinese Academy of Engineering Hu Side and Qian Shaojun recalled: “In the early stages of the breakthrough on the hydrogen bomb, Premier Zhou Enlai instructed us to study Comrade Mao Zedong’s ‘On Practice’ and ‘On Contradiction,’ and to guide the research and development work with dialectical materialist thought.” Yuan Longping, the father of hybrid rice, believed: “In terms of method of thinking, Chairman Mao’s *On Contradiction* and *On Practice* have had the greatest influence on me. *On Contradiction* states that internal contradiction is the driving force behind the development of all things. Heterosis is precisely the hybridization of two varieties with genetic differences; with contradiction, there is advantage. Now, when we develop inter-subspecific super hybrid rice, we are expanding the contradiction. Furthermore, whether rice has heterosis was also proven through practice that it does have an advantage, and then this was elevated theoretically and used to guide practice—this is the method of thought in *On Practice*.” In addition, the upsurge in studying the “Two Essays” that emerged in the 1950s also influenced a large number of scientists. Having already mastered a certain degree of scientific thinking and methods, studying the “Two Essays” helped scientists clarify the principal contradictions at each stage of scientific research, identify key points for technological breakthroughs, and thereby elevate their original understanding of worldview and methodology to a new philosophical height, becoming the ideological key to promoting major scientific and technological breakthroughs such as the “two bombs, one satellite” [4]4 “Two bombs, one satellite” (两弹一星) refers to China’s successful development of nuclear bombs (atomic and hydrogen), intercontinental ballistic missiles, and artificial satellites, achieved in the 1960s and 1970s. and hybrid rice.

李四光自觉学习“两论”，在唯物辩证法指导下写成《地质力学概论》《论地震》等著作，同时建议成立研究机构帮助更多科学家系统学习和掌握自然辩证法。竺可桢专门发文谈及自己的学习体会：“毛主席依照他在《实践论》所阐明的方法，从淮河水利全体的、本质的、内部联系方面去看问题，暴露了内在的矛盾，因而解决了它”“根治淮河这个例子，不但阐明了感性认识有提高到理性认识的必要，而且也〈指〉〔启〕示我们，当我们掌握了客观规律性以后如何能动地去改造世界。”中国工程院院士胡思得、钱绍钧回忆道：“还在突破氢弹初期，周恩来总理就指示我们要学习毛泽东同志的‘实践论’和‘矛盾论’，以辩证唯物主义思想指导研制工作。”杂交水稻之父袁隆平认为：“在思想方法上，毛主席的《矛盾论》和《实践论》对我的影响最大。《矛盾论》讲过，内部矛盾是推动一切事物发展的动力。杂种优势就是两个遗传上有差异的品种杂交，有矛盾，才有优势。我们现在搞亚种间超级杂交稻，就是把矛盾扩大了。另外，关于水稻有没有杂种优势，也是通过实践证明它是有优势的，然后在理论上加以提高，再用来指导实践，这是《实践论》的思想方法。”此外，20世纪50年代兴起的“两论”研读热潮还影响了一大批科学家。在已经掌握一定科学思维和方法的情况下，“两论”学习帮助科学家们厘清科学研究各阶段主要矛盾，明确技术攻关重点，从而帮助其将原有的世界观和方法论认知提升到一个新的哲学高度，成为推动实现“两弹一星”“杂交水稻”等重大科技突破的思想秘钥。

(3) Going Down to the Front Line: The Spiritual Driving Force and Scientific Guide for Grassroots Production Practice

（三）下沉一线：基层生产实践的精神动力和科学指南

The “Two Essays” not only provided the ideological line for major scientific and technological breakthroughs but also played an important role in guiding the values of front-line technical personnel and workers in their practical activities.

“两论”不仅为重大科技突破提供思想路线，也对一线技术人员和工人的实践活动起到重要的价值引领。

Around the 1960s, an upsurge in studying the “Two Essays” swept across all industries nationwide, and the Daqing Oilfield, which “built its enterprise on the Two Essays,” was a brilliant example. After the Daqing Oilfield Battle Headquarters issued the “Decision on Studying Comrade Mao Zedong’s *On Practice* and *On Contradiction*,” grassroots scientific and technical personnel and worker groups earnestly studied *On Practice* and *On Contradiction*. In 1970, 36 engineering and technical personnel transferred from the Sichuan Petroleum Design Institute and the Dagang Oilfield formed a temporary Party branch. Adhering to the positions, viewpoints, and methods of the “Two Essays,” they adopted a method of reading while discussing, discussing while doing, and observing and analyzing various data and information in petroleum exploration, development, and construction based on the principle of integrating theory with practice. By objectively analyzing the situation of the battle, they grasped the principal contradiction and its principal aspect, broke the ideological shackles of the “theory of oil scarcity” and the “theory of the unknowability of oilfield development,” and ultimately solved complex problems in petroleum exploration and oilfield development technology through practice. In the process of studying and applying the “Two Essays,” the workers formed a unified ideology, strengthened their confidence, clarified their responsibilities, and shouted the battle cry, “If conditions exist, go up; if conditions don’t exist, create conditions and go up.” This revolutionary character of daring to face and overcome difficulties played an undeniable role in “throwing off the backward hat of China’s petroleum industry.”

20世纪60年代前后，全国各行各业掀起“两论”学习热潮，以“两论起家”的大庆油田是其中的光辉典范。自大庆油田会战指挥部作出《关于学习毛泽东同志所著〈实践论〉和〈矛盾论〉的决定》后，基层科学技术人员和工人群体纷纷认真研读《实践论》《矛盾论》。1970年，从四川石油设计院和大港油田抽调的36名工程技术人员成立临时党支部，坚持“两论”立场、观点和方法，采取边读边议、边议边做的方法，根据理论联系实际的原则观察分析石油勘探开发和生产建设中的各种资料信息，在客观分析会战形势下抓住主要矛盾及其主要方面，打破了“贫油论”“油田开发不可知论”的思想束缚，最终在实践中解决石油勘探、油田开发技术等复杂问题。在学习和运用“两论”的过程中，工人们形成统一思想，坚定信心、认清责任，喊出“有条件要上，没有条件创造条件也要上”的战斗口号，这种敢于正视困难、战胜困难的革命品格对于“甩掉我国石油落后帽子”发挥了不可忽视的作用。

Around the 1970s, technical personnel and workers on the engineering production front line achieved many accomplishments through studying and applying the “Two Essays.” When selecting, breeding, and popularizing improved crop varieties, agricultural technical personnel in Guangdong Province adhered to the viewpoints of practice first and “one divides into two,” adopted scientific methods, and after repeated experiments of practice, understanding, and re-practice, paid attention to the purification, rejuvenation, and selection of the best among the best in the cultivation process, contributing to consecutive years of bumper harvests in agricultural production. When facing construction difficulties such as complex geological structures in the main canal tunnel of the Shaoshan Irrigation District in Hunan Province, technical personnel analyzed specific problems concretely. By identifying the internal connections between various processes such as excavation, collapse, lining, support, and blasting, they resolved contradictions such as those between excavation and collapse, excavation and lining, and blasting and support lining, thereby overcoming collapses many times and completing the arduous construction task. Through studying the “Two Essays,” workers at the Beijing Electric Power Construction Company deeply realized that “people’s knowledge all comes from practice and develops from the lower to the higher level. Difficulty and ease, understanding and not understanding, can transform under certain conditions, and this condition is hard study.” Motivated by this, some workers strove to master technical theory and gradually became the backbone in construction, design, and technological innovation. During this period, the “Two Essays” played the role of a spiritual driving force in production practice across various regions and industries, providing a scientific guide for solving front-line production technical problems.

20世纪70年代前后，工程生产一线的技术人员、工人通过学习和运用“两论”取得诸多成就。广东省农业技术人员在选育、繁殖和推广农作物良种时，坚持实践第一和一分为二的观点，采用科学方法，经过实践、认识、再实践的多次反复试验，在栽培过程中注意种子的提纯复壮、优中选优，为农业生产连年获得丰收作出贡献。湖南省韶山灌区干渠隧洞技术人员在面临地质构造复杂等施工难题时，具体问题具体分析，通过找出掘进、塌方、衬砌、支撑及爆破等各个工序之间的内部联系，解决掘进与塌方、掘进与衬砌、爆破与支撑衬砌等项矛盾，从而多次战胜塌方，完成艰巨施工任务。北京电力建设公司的工人通过学习“两论”，深刻认识到“人们的知识都是从实践中来的，是由低级向高级发展的。难与不难、懂与不懂，在一定条件下是可以转化的，这个条件就是刻苦学习”。在此激励下，一些工人努力掌握技术理论，在施工、设计和技术革新等方面逐渐成为中坚力量。这一时期，“两论”在各地区、各行业的生产实践中发挥了精神动力作用，为解决一线生产技术难题提供科学指南。

(4) Mirror from Abroad: “Stones from Other Hills” for Overseas Basic Theoretical Research

（四）域外镜鉴：海外基础理论研究的“他山之石”

In the “Two Essays,” Mao Zedong focused on using the latest achievements of natural science to interpret Marxist principles, and also advocated using Marxist philosophy to guide natural science research. In the 1950s, Mao Zedong, developing the viewpoint of the unity of opposites in the “Two Essays,” made important judgments such as “the atomic nucleus is also divisible” and “matter is infinitely divisible,” influencing a number of foreign scientists engaged in basic theoretical research.

毛泽东在“两论”中注重运用自然科学最新成果诠释马克思主义原理，也主张用马克思主义哲学指导自然科学研究。20世纪50年代，毛泽东发扬“两论”关于对立统一的观点，作出“原子核也是可以分割的”“物质是无限可分的”等重要论断，影响了一批从事基础理论研究的国外科学家。

In Japanese scientific circles, the research achievements of a group of physicists such as Taketani Mitsuo, Sakata Shoichi, and Yukawa Hideki were deeply influenced by the “Two Essays.” Taketani Mitsuo admired *On Practice*. From a practical dimension, he unified the process of scientific development with the activity of scientific cognition, arguing that scientific cognition must pass through a substantial stage to go from phenomena to essence. He proposed a “three-stage theory” model of scientific development and predicted that elementary particle physics was still in the substantial stage. Sakata Shoichi believed that the “three-stage theory” conformed to *On Practice*, but that Mao Zedong’s thought was broader and deeper than the “three-stage theory.” In his article “The Philosophy and Methodology of Modern Science,” Sakata Shoichi highly affirmed *On Practice* and *On Contradiction*, regarding them, along with Marx’s *Capital* and Lenin’s *Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism*, as powerful weapons for scientific research. Inspired by the “three-stage theory,” Sakata Shoichi adhered to the viewpoint of “one divides into two,” acknowledged that matter is infinitely divisible, and proposed the famous Sakata model in the field of elementary particle research. This model regarded protons, neutrons, and hyperons as the three basic particles of hadrons, for the first time concretizing the view that matter exists in infinite levels, laying the ideological foundation for the later stratum model and quark model.

在日本科学界，武谷三男、坂田昌一、汤川秀树等一批物理学家的研究成果深受“两论”影响。武谷三男推崇《实践论》，从实践维度将科学发展过程与科学认识活动统一起来，认为科学认识从现象到本质必须经过实体阶段，提出科学发展的“三阶段论”模式，作出基本粒子物理尚处于实体论阶段的预测。坂田昌一认为“三阶段论”符合《实践论》，但毛泽东的思想比“三阶段论”更加广博和深刻。在《现代科学的哲学和方法论》一文中，坂田昌一高度肯定《实践论》《矛盾论》，并将其与马克思的《资本论》、列宁的《帝国主义是资本主义的最高阶段》一并看作科学研究强有力的武器。受“三阶段论”的启发，坂田昌一坚持一分为二的观点，承认物质是无限可分的，在基本粒子研究领域提出著名的坂田模型，将质子、中子和超子视为强子的三个基础粒子，首次使物质存在无限层次的观点具体化，为后来的层子模型和夸克模型奠定思想基础。

Regarding Mao Zedong’s thought on the infinite divisibility of matter, Nobel Prize-winning physicists Glashow, Weinberg, and Salam all expressed great admiration. In 1977, at the 7th International Symposium on Particle Physics held in Hawaii, Glashow proposed that if further research discovered that strata or quarks had a deeper internal structure, the material particles constituting strata should be called “Mao particles.” In 1979, Glashow added in an interview with reporters that naming them “Mao particles” was “because this is connected with Chairman Mao Zedong of China. According to his philosophical thought, nature has infinite levels, and within these levels, smaller and smaller things exist infinitely. Therefore, I thought of using his name.” It can be seen that the “Two Essays” not only had a huge impact on Chinese scientists and front-line technical workers but also played a role in promoting the breakthrough development of international particle physics.

对于毛泽东提出的物质无限可分这一思想，诺贝尔物理学奖得主格拉肖、温伯格和萨拉姆三人都十分赞佩。1977年，在夏威夷举行的第七届粒子物理国际专题会议上，格拉肖提出，如果在进一步研究中发现层子或夸克具有更深的内在结构，建议将构成层子的物质粒子称为“毛粒子”。1979年，格拉肖在答记者问时补充说明，命名“毛粒子”是“因为这与中国的毛泽东主席有联系。按照他的哲学思想，自然界有无限的层次，在这些层次内，一个比一个更小的东西无穷地存在着。因此，我想取用他的名字”。可见，“两论”不仅对中国本土科学家、一线技术工人产生巨大影响，也对国际粒子物理学的突破性发展起到推动作用。

II. The Internal Connection between the “Two Essays” and Scientific and Technological Development

二、“两论”与科技发展的内在关联

The “Two Essays” [n5] possess a rich content of modern natural science and are closely linked to scientific and technological development. From the perspective of textual connections, the citation of natural science knowledge provided indispensable and powerful arguments for the writing of the “Two Essays.” At the same time, the widespread study and application of the “Two Essays” in the field of science and technology offered effective strategic planning and tactical guidance for scientific and technological development, presenting themselves, in terms of both theoretical and practical connections, as the worldview and methodology of the Chinese Communist Party in promoting scientific and technological development.

“两论”具有现代自然科学的丰富内涵，与科技发展关联紧密。从文本关联探究，自然科学知识的引据为撰写“两论”提供了不可或缺的有力论证。同时，“两论”在科技领域的广泛学习和运用，为科技发展提供了行之有效的思路谋划和策略指导，在理论关联和实践关联上呈现为中国共产党推动科技发展的世界观和方法论。

(I) Textual Connections: Natural Science Knowledge as a Key Argumentative Basis for the “Two Essays”

（一）文本关联：自然科学知识构成“两论”的关键论证依据

During the Yan’an period, Mao Zedong systematically studied natural science knowledge and creatively applied this knowledge to the theoretical analysis of Marxist philosophy. Examining the logical formation of the texts of the “Two Essays,” it is not difficult to find that Mao Zedong, in writing the “Two Essays,” frequently cited natural phenomena and natural laws, drawing intellectual nourishment from modern natural science to explain in a simple and profound manner the basic ideas contained within the “Two Essays.”

延安时期，毛泽东系统研习自然科学知识，创造性地运用这些知识进行马克思主义哲学的学理阐析。从“两论”文本的形成逻辑展开探讨不难发现，毛泽东在撰写“两论”时多处引据自然现象、自然规律等，从现代自然科学中汲取思想养分，深入浅出地阐发“两论”内蕴的基本思想。

The central idea of *On Practice* is to emphasize the concrete and historical unity of the subjective and the objective, and of theory and practice. At the beginning of *On Practice*, Mao Zedong first asserts that scientific knowledge concerning natural phenomena and natural properties originates from practical activity, pointing out that “human knowledge mainly depends upon material production activity, gradually understanding natural phenomena, natural properties, natural laws, and the relationship between humans and nature,” thereby clarifying the importance of social practice, primarily material production activity, for the development of knowledge. As Engels stated, “the emergence and development of science is from the very beginning determined by production,” and Mao Zedong’s exposition is undoubtedly a further demonstration, from the perspective of practice, of how material production promotes the emergence and development of science. Besides material production, the forms of social practice that serve as the basic source of scientific knowledge also include scientific activity itself. Mao Zedong specifically pointed out: “Human social practice is not limited to the single form of production activity; there are many other forms, such as class struggle, political life, and scientific and artistic activities.” Next, Mao Zedong pointed out that “only in the process of social practice (the process of material production, the process of class struggle, the process of scientific experiment) is human knowledge confirmed when people achieve the results they anticipated in their thinking,” clearly determining that social practice, including scientific experiment, has the function of testing the truth of knowledge. In further discussion, Mao Zedong cited natural science knowledge — “If you want to know the structure and properties of an atom, you must conduct physics and chemistry experiments to change the state of the atom” — to analyze the fundamental issue of theory originating from practice. Thus, the movement of knowledge from practice to theory and then from theory back to practice takes shape. Subsequently, Mao Zedong, taking natural science as an example, emphasized that its truth “lies not only in the time when natural scientists established these theories, but also in the time when they are confirmed by subsequent scientific practice,” which explains the dialectical relationship between theory and practice in an accessible way. However, a single cycle of practice and knowledge does not signify the completion of the movement of knowledge, nor is the test of practice accomplished overnight; “it is often limited not only by scientific and technical conditions, but also by the degree of development and manifestation of the objective process (the aspects and essence of the objective process have not yet been fully exposed).” Theoretical knowledge shaped through practice must return to practice and develop further through repeated testing while guiding practice. At this point, through the interweaving of examples from natural science knowledge and their step-by-step interpretation, Mao Zedong provided a specific interpretive context for the textual exposition of *On Practice*, succinctly summarizing the law of the development of knowledge — practice, knowledge, again practice, again knowledge, cycling endlessly — thereby vividly presenting its essential meaning.

《实践论》的中心思想旨在强调主观与客观、理论与实践具体的历史的统一。在《实践论》开篇，毛泽东首先申明关于自然现象、自然性质等科学知识根源于实践活动，指出“人的认识，主要地依赖于物质的生产活动，逐渐地了解自然的现象、自然的性质、自然的规律性、人和自然的关系”，阐明以物质生产活动为主的社会实践之于认识发展的重要性。正如恩格斯所说，“科学的产生和发展一开始就是由生产决定的”，毛泽东的论述无疑是从实践维度对物质生产助推科学产生和发展的再次论证。除物质生产外，作为科学知识基本来源的社会实践形式也涵括科学活动本身，毛泽东特别指出：“人的社会实践，不限于生产活动一种形式，还有多种其他的形式，阶级斗争，政治生活，科学和艺术的活动。”接下来，毛泽东指出，“只有在社会实践过程中（物质生产过程中，阶级斗争过程中，科学实验过程中），人们达到了思想中所预想的结果时，人们的认识才被证实了”，明确判定包含科学实验在内的社会实践具有检验认识真理性的作用。在进一步论述中，毛泽东引用自然科学知识——“你要知道原子的组织同性质，你就得实行物理学和化学的实验，变革原子的情况”，借以分析理论源于实践的基本问题。由此，从实践到理论，再从理论到实践的认识运动才得以成型。继而，毛泽东以自然科学为例，强调其真理性“不但在于自然科学家们创立这些学说的时候，而且在于为尔后的科学实践所证实的时候”，这就通俗易懂地说明了理论与实践的辩证关系。然而，实践与认识的单一循环并不意味着认识运动的完成，实践检验也绝非一蹴而就，“不但常常受着科学条件和技术条件的限制，而且也受着客观过程的发展及其表现程度的限制（客观过程的方面及本质尚未充分暴露）”，经由实践形塑的理论认识必须复归实践，在指导实践的反复检验中深入发展。至此，通过自然科学知识的例证穿插和逐层解读，毛泽东为《实践论》的文本阐释提供了特定的解读语境，精辟概括出实践、认识、再实践、再认识，循环往复以至无穷的认识发展规律，使其要义得以生动展现。

*On Contradiction* takes the law of the unity of opposites as its main thread of exposition, deeply connecting with natural science knowledge to clarify issues such as identity and struggle, universality and particularity, principal contradiction and secondary contradiction, and the principal and secondary aspects of a contradiction. Regarding the most core issue of the universality and particularity of contradiction, Mao Zedong repeatedly used knowledge from multiple disciplines, including mathematics and physics, to explain and illustrate. Concerning the universality of contradiction, Mao Zedong, drawing on Engels’ analysis of simple mechanical motion and Lenin’s approach to demonstrating that contradictions are universally contained in mathematics, mechanics, physics, and chemistry, concluded that “contradiction is universal and absolute, existing in all processes of the development of things and running through all processes from beginning to end.” Concerning the particularity of contradiction, Mao Zedong pointed out: “There exist many forms of motion in nature, such as mechanical motion, sound, light, heat, electric current, decomposition, combination, and so on. All these forms of motion of matter are mutually interdependent and yet essentially distinct from each other. The special essence of each form of motion of matter is determined by its own special contradiction.” He then extended this from the natural world to the realms of society and thought, emphasizing that the particularity of contradiction “exists not only in nature but also in social and ideological phenomena. Each social form and each form of thought has its own special contradiction and special essence.” Furthermore, when explaining and illustrating the internal and external causes of the development of things, Mao Zedong stated: “Dialectical materialism holds that external causes are the condition of change and internal causes are the basis of change, and that external causes become operative through internal causes. An egg, under appropriate temperature, changes into a chicken, but temperature cannot change a stone into a chicken, because the basis of the two is different,” vividly revealing the role of the internal contradiction of a thing in its motion and development. It can be seen that, as a tool for theoretical exposition, modern natural science laid the necessary foundation for the writing of the text of *On Contradiction*. Through the gradual presentation of natural science knowledge from different fields, the special connotations and ideological essence of the text of *On Contradiction* were displayed from multiple angles and in a three-dimensional manner.

《矛盾论》以对立统一规律为论述主线，深入联系自然科学知识，澄清同一性与斗争性、普遍性与特殊性、主要矛盾与次要矛盾、矛盾的主要方面与次要方面等问题。关于矛盾的普遍性与特殊性这一最为核心的问题，毛泽东运用数学、物理学等多学科知识反复予以解释和说明。就矛盾的普遍性而言，毛泽东借鉴恩格斯分析简单机械运动和列宁举证数学、力学、物理学和化学等学科普遍包含矛盾的分析思路，得出“矛盾是普遍的、绝对的，存在于事物发展的一切过程中，又贯串于一切过程的始终”的结论。就矛盾的特殊性而言，毛泽东指出，“自然界存在着许多的运动形式，机械运动、发声、发光、发热、电流、化分、化合等等都是。所有这些物质的运动形式，都是互相依存的，又是本质上互相区别的。每一物质的运动形式所具有的特殊的本质，为它自己的特殊的矛盾所规定”，并由自然界迁移至社会和思维领域，强调矛盾特殊性“不但在自然界中存在着，在社会现象和思想现象中也是同样地存在着。每一种社会形式和思想形式，都有它的特殊的矛盾和特殊的本质”。此外，在解释和说明事物发展的内外因时，毛泽东指出，“唯物辩证法认为外因是变化的条件，内因是变化的根据，外因通过内因而起作用。鸡蛋因得适当的温度而变化为鸡子，但温度不能使石头变为鸡子，因为二者的根据是不同的”，形象揭示了事物的内部矛盾对于其运动和发展的作用。可见，作为理论阐发工具，现代自然科学为《矛盾论》的文本撰写奠定了必要基础，通过不同领域的自然科学知识渐次呈现，多角度、立体化地展现出《矛盾论》文本的特殊内涵和思想精髓。

(II) Theoretical Connections: The Philosophical Thinking of the “Two Essays” Establishes the Worldview of the Chinese Communist Party for Developing Science and Technology

（二）理论关联：“两论”哲学思维奠定中国共产党发展科技的世界观

Beyond the surface-level textual connections, there exists a deep theoretical connection between the philosophical thinking inherent in the “Two Essays” and the development of science and technology. Through the textual writing of the “Two Essays,” Mao Zedong creatively interpreted the dialectical materialist theory of knowledge and materialist dialectics. In the theoretical exposition of philosophical categories such as knowledge, practice, and contradiction, he established the scientific worldview of the Chinese Communist Party for developing science and technology based on seeking truth from facts, dialectical development, and a people-centered approach.

在表层的文本关联之上，“两论”内蕴的哲学思维与科技发展存在深层的理论关联。通过“两论”的文本书写，毛泽东创造性地诠释了辩证唯物主义认识论和唯物辩证法，在认识、实践、矛盾等哲学范畴的理论阐释中，奠定了中国共产党实事求是、辩证发展、以人为本发展科技的科学世界观。

The “Two Essays” embody a mode of thinking that seeks truth from facts. Mao Zedong closely adhered to the fundamental contradiction of the cognitive process between knowledge and practice, emphasizing that the greatest difference between Marxist philosophy and traditional philosophy of the past lies in understanding the objective world from the perspective of practice, and clarifying that the judgment of both truth and science must seek truth from facts. Regarding how to judge what is truth, Mao Zedong emphatically pointed out: “It is not determined by subjective feelings, but by the results of objective social practice. The standard of truth can only be social practice. The viewpoint of practice is the first and basic viewpoint of the dialectical materialist theory of knowledge.” Regarding what constitutes the scientific standard, Mao Zedong later explained it as “opposing all feudal and superstitious ideas, advocating seeking truth from facts, advocating objective truth, and advocating the unity of theory and practice.” It can be seen that Mao Zedong consistently adhered to the philosophical thinking of proceeding from reality in everything. Through the tempering of practice, the mode of thinking of seeking truth from facts gradually sublimated into the ideological line and lifeline of the Chinese Communist Party, providing the basic principle for a pragmatic attitude in developing science and technology. It should also be noted here that the worldview of the Chinese Communist Party for developing science and technology was not formed naturally, nor could it be copied from ready-made answers; rather, it was combined with social practice activities and formed correct understanding only after being tested by practice.

“两论”内蕴实事求是的思维方式。毛泽东紧扣认识和实践这一认识过程的基本矛盾，强调马克思主义哲学与以往传统哲学最大的不同即在于从实践出发理解客观世界，阐明真理和科学的评判皆须实事求是。对于评判何为真理，毛泽东强调指出：“不是依主观上觉得如何而定，而是依客观上社会实践的结果如何而定。真理的标准只能是社会的实践。实践的观点是辩证唯物论的认识论之第一的和基本的观点”；对于何谓科学标准，毛泽东后来曾将其解释为“反对一切封建思想和迷信思想，主张实事求是，主张客观真理，主张理论和实践一致”。可见，毛泽东一以贯之地坚持一切从实际出发的哲学思维。在实践淬炼中，实事求是的思维方式逐渐升华为中国共产党的思想路线和生命线，为发展科技的务实态度提供了基本遵循。同时还须说明一点：中国共产党发展科技的世界观并非天然形成，也无法照搬照抄现成答案，而是结合社会实践活动，经过实践检验后才形成正确认识。

The “Two Essays”[1]1 The “Two Essays” (两论) refers to Mao Zedong’s two philosophical works, *On Practice* (1937) and *On Contradiction* (1937). contain a dialectical mode of thinking in development. Mao Zedong pointed out that “each cycle in the spiral of practice and knowledge raises the content of that cycle to a higher level,” which clearly expounds the basic law of the dialectical development of human cognition. In the theoretical exposition centered on contradiction, “this dialectical world outlook primarily teaches people how to be adept at observing and analyzing the movement of contradictions in various things.” Through a comparative analysis of two world outlooks, an elucidation of the meaning of the universality and particularity of contradiction, a discernment and judgment of the principal contradiction and the principal aspect of a contradiction, a definition and demonstration of the identity and struggle of aspects of a contradiction, and a distinction and transformation between antagonistic and non-antagonistic contradictions, Mao Zedong progressively revealed a philosophical mode of thinking that sees things in terms of one dividing into two. This provided the Communist Party of China with a theoretical weapon for balancing the many contradictory relationships in the processes of revolution, construction, and reform, and for developing science and technology in response to the dynamic needs of society. In other words, the CPC’s worldview for developing science and technology is not dogmatic or rigid; it attaches great ideological importance to the concrete, objective conditions of practice at the current stage, while also emphasizing the need to discern, from a developmental perspective, the advantages and disadvantages arising from changes in practical conditions, thereby avoiding a static and ossified mode of thinking.

“两论”内蕴辩证发展的思维方式。毛泽东指出，“实践和认识之每一循环的内容，都比较地进到了高一级的程度”，这清晰阐发了人类认识运动辩证发展的基本规律。在以矛盾为纲的理论展开中，“这个辩证法的宇宙观，主要地就是教导人们要善于去观察和分析各种事物的矛盾的运动”，毛泽东通过两种宇宙观的对比分析、矛盾普遍性和特殊性的含义阐发、主要矛盾和矛盾主要方面的甄别判断、矛盾同一性和斗争性的界定论证、对抗性矛盾和非对抗性矛盾的区分转化等论述层层递进，揭示了一分为二看待事物发展的哲学思维，为中国共产党统筹兼顾革命、建设和改革进程中的诸多矛盾关系，结合社会动态需求发展科技提供了理论武器。换言之，中国共产党发展科技的世界观不是教条僵化的，既在思想上高度重视当前阶段客观的具体实践条件，又强调以发展的眼光辨别实践条件变化引发的利与弊，避免静止不变的固化思维。

The “Two Essays” contain a people-centered mode of thinking. Class character is one of the most salient features of Marxist philosophy, which “openly declares that dialectical materialism serves the proletariat.” When studying the particularity of contradictions at different stages of a thing’s development, Mao Zedong took the relationship between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party in different historical periods as an example to illustrate that “the Communist Party, at whatever period, stands with the masses of the people and opposes imperialism and feudalism.” This marks the CPC’s consistent adherence to a people-centered value orientation. Based on this people’s standpoint, Chinese Communists study and grasp the principal social contradictions of different historical periods, making scientific and technological development a favorable lever for resolving these contradictions, thereby highlighting a worldview for developing science and technology guided by the value of putting the people first. Over the past century, the CPC has fully respected the principal position of the people. It has both relied closely on the people to develop science and technology, emphasizing the people’s pioneering spirit, and insisted on using science and technology for the people’s well-being, always taking the realization, safeguarding, and development of the fundamental interests of the broadest masses of the people as the primary criterion for measuring scientific and technological progress. This deep and steadfast sentiment for the people, and this adherence to the original aspiration of seeking happiness for the people, constitute both the people’s foundation of the CPC’s development of science and technology and a significant distinction from Western countries, where science and technology are driven by capital and developed for the purpose of pursuing surplus value.

“两论”内蕴以人为本的思维方式。阶级性是马克思主义哲学最显著的特点之一，“公然申明辩证唯物论是为无产阶级服务的”。毛泽东在研究事物发展各阶段的矛盾特殊性时，以不同历史时期国共两党关系为例，阐明“共产党则无论在哪一时期，均和人民大众站在一道，反对帝国主义和封建主义”，这就标识出中国共产党始终坚持以人民为中心的价值导向。基于人民立场，中国共产党人研判和把握不同历史时期的社会主要矛盾，将科技发展作为解决社会主要矛盾的有利抓手，凸显出以人民至上价值导向发展科技的世界观。百年来，中国共产党充分尊重人民主体地位，既紧紧依靠人民发展科技，注重发挥人民群众的首创精神，又坚持科技为民造福，始终将实现好、维护好、发展好最广大人民根本利益作为衡量科技进步的首要标准。坚定深厚的为民情怀，坚守为人民谋幸福的初心，这既是中国共产党发展科技的人民底色，也是中国与西方国家以资本驱动科技发展、以追求剩余价值为目的发展科技的显著区别。

(III) Practical Connection: The Realistic Implications of the “Two Essays” Reveal the CPC’s Methodology for Developing Science and Technology

（三）实践关联：“两论”的现实意蕴揭示中国共产党发展科技的方法论

In the initial draft of the “Two Essays,” *Dialectical Materialism (Lecture Outline)*, Mao Zedong pointed out that “dialectical materialism is the world outlook of the proletariat, and at the same time it is the method by which the proletariat understands the surrounding world and the method of revolutionary action; it is a unity of world outlook and methodology.” This assertion points to its value in practical application, revealing the CPC’s methodology for developing science and technology and highlighting the practical connection of philosophical theory serving reality.

毛泽东在“两论”初稿《辩证法唯物论（讲授提纲）》中指出，“辩证法唯物论是无产阶级的宇宙观，同时又是无产阶级认识周围世界的方法和革命行动的方法；它是宇宙观和方法论的一致体”，这一论断指向现实应用价值，揭示出中国共产党发展科技的方法论，彰显出哲学理论为现实服务的实践关联。

The “Two Essays” manifest a tenacious spirit of practical work. In *On Practice*, Mao Zedong pointed out: “The knowledge that grasps the laws of the world must be brought back to the practice of changing the world, to the practice of production, the practice of revolutionary class struggle and national struggle, and the practice of scientific experiment.” Since the founding of the CPC, this spirit of translating theory into practice has been consistently implemented throughout the course of scientific and technological development. During the revolutionary war period, the CPC followed practice as its guide, correctly analyzed the primary and secondary contradictions in scientific and technological development, and focused on developing science and technology in fields such as agriculture, military industry, medicine, and communications, thereby initiating the CPC’s self-reliant development of science and technology. After the founding of the People’s Republic of China, the CPC continued to uphold the style of seeking truth from facts and working hard and diligently, promoting the establishment of a model of scientific and technological攻关 (key problem-solving) led by state will and coordinated by multiple departments. Under the blockade and encirclement of the United States and other Western capitalist countries, relying on a tenacious spirit of practical work, it “marched toward science.” Major national instruments such as the “two bombs, one satellite”[2]2 “Two bombs, one satellite” (两弹一星) refers to China’s successful development of the atomic bomb, the hydrogen bomb, and the artificial satellite in the 1960s and 1970s. were successively unveiled, achieving qualitative breakthroughs in scientific and technological development. After reform and opening up, the CPC promoted a pragmatic spirit, put forward the thesis that “science and technology are the primary productive forces,” and through practical exploration gradually deepened its understanding. In the integration of an effective government and an efficient market, it organized and coordinated scientific research forces from different disciplines, departments, and natures to forge ahead with determination. Entering the New Era, fine work styles such as genuine hard work and tenacious struggle have continuously provided strong impetus for solving problems such as “bottlenecks” in key core technologies, reflecting the methodological significance of the spirit of practical work on the journey to building a world-leading scientific and technological power.

“两论”彰显顽强的实干精神。毛泽东在《实践论》中指出：“抓着了世界的规律性的认识，必须把它再回到改造世界的实践中去，再用到生产的实践、革命的阶级斗争和民族斗争的实践以及科学实验的实践中去。”中国共产党成立以来，将理论转化为实践的实干精神始终贯彻于科技事业发展历程。革命战争时期，中国共产党以实践为遵循，正确分析科技发展的主次矛盾，着重发展农业、军工、医疗、通信等领域的科学技术，拉开了中国共产党自力更生发展科技的序幕。中华人民共和国成立后，中国共产党继续坚持求真务实、实干苦干的作风，推动建立国家意志主导、多部门协同的科技攻关模式，在美国等西方资本主义国家围追堵截下，依靠顽强的实干精神“向科学进军”，“两弹一星”等大国重器相继面世，科技发展取得质的突破。改革开放后，中国共产党弘扬务实精神，提出“科学技术是第一生产力”的论断，通过实践探索逐步深化认识，在有为政府和有效市场的嵌合中组织协调不同学科、不同部门和不同性质的科研力量锐意进取。进入新时代，真抓实干、顽强奋斗等优良作风为解决关键核心技术“卡脖子”等问题持续供给强劲动力，在建设世界科技强国的征程中映射出实干精神的方法论意义。

The “Two Essays” manifest a strong problem consciousness. In *On Contradiction*, Mao Zedong clearly stated that materialist dialectics fundamentally concerns “two world outlooks; the universality of contradiction; the particularity of contradiction; the principal contradiction and the principal aspect of a contradiction; the identity and struggle of the aspects of a contradiction; the place of antagonism in contradiction,” etc. To handle these complex and diverse contradictions, one must adhere to basic principles such as concrete analysis of concrete conditions, comprehensive analysis, and analysis of key points. One must conduct a comprehensive investigation starting from the specific and minute historical environment and the overall process of a thing’s development, while paying attention to the principal contradiction while grasping the overall situation — “once this principal contradiction is grasped, all problems can be readily solved.” Looking back at the key junctures in the development of China’s scientific and technological undertakings, the CPC has always firmly grasped the correct direction of scientific and technological innovation with a clear problem orientation, identified the principal contradiction and the principal aspect of the contradiction from among the tangled web of contradictory relationships, and achieved the strategic goal of commanding the overall situation and breaking through each part individually. During the revolutionary war period, the CPC focused on developing military, medical, and agricultural production technologies, striving to achieve victory in revolution and war on the basis of continuously consolidating the material foundation, thereby changing the relations of production characterized by oppression and exploitation, fundamentally overthrowing the rule of the semi-colonial and semi-feudal order, and achieving national independence and people’s liberation. During the period of peaceful development, the CPC took the liberation and development of productive forces as its problem orientation, continuously improved its capacity for scientific and technological innovation, always adhered to the role of science and technology as the primary productive force, and promoted the realization of national prosperity and strength and the common prosperity of the people. Faced with the volatile international competition in science and technology and the arduous and heavy tasks of scientific and technological innovation, new contradictions and problems constantly emerge. Maintaining a strong problem consciousness reflects the important methodological inspiration of the “Two Essays” for preventing and resisting various risks and tests under the “changes unseen in a century.”

“两论”彰显强烈的问题意识。毛泽东在《矛盾论》中明确指出，唯物辩证法在根本上关涉“两种宇宙观；矛盾的普遍性；矛盾的特殊性；主要的矛盾和主要的矛盾方面；矛盾诸方面的同一性和斗争性；对抗在矛盾中的地位”等，处理这些纷繁复杂的矛盾，必须坚持具体问题具体分析、全面分析和重点分析等基本原则，从具体而微的历史环境、事物发展的整体过程出发加以综合考察，在把握全局的同时关切主要矛盾——“捉住了这个主要矛盾，一切问题就迎刃而解了”。回顾我国科技事业发展的关键节点，中国共产党始终以鲜明的问题导向牢牢把握科技创新的正确方向，从芜杂的矛盾关系中找准主要矛盾和矛盾的主要方面，实现统领全局、各个击破的战略目标。革命战争时期，中国共产党着力发展军事、医疗和农业生产技术，在不断夯实物质基础上力求实现革命和战争胜利，进而改变被压迫和被剥削的生产关系状况，从根本上推翻半殖民地半封建的统治秩序，实现民族独立和人民解放。和平发展时期，中国共产党以解放和发展生产力为问题导向，持续提高科技创新能力，始终坚持科技的第一生产力作用，推动实现国家繁荣富强和人民共同富裕。面对波谲云诡的国际科技竞争形势和艰巨繁重的科技创新任务，新的矛盾和问题不断涌现，保持强烈的问题意识，体现出“两论”对于防范和抵御“百年未有之大变局”下各种风险考验的重要方法论启示。

III. Contemporary Enlightenment from the “Two Essays” in Promoting Scientific and Technological Self-Reliance and Self-Strengthening

三、“两论”助推科技自立自强的时代启示

In his speech at the ceremony marking the centenary of the CPC, Xi Jinping pointed out that we must “use Marxism to observe the times, grasp the times, and lead the times.” On the new journey toward the second centenary goal,[3]3 The second centenary goal (第二个百年奋斗目标) refers to the goal of building China into a modern socialist country that is prosperous, strong, democratic, culturally advanced, harmonious, and beautiful by the middle of the 21st century, marking the centenary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 2049. deeply exploring the contemporary value of the “Two Essays” has important guiding significance for advancing scientific and technological self-reliance and self-strengthening.

习近平在庆祝中国共产党成立100周年大会上的讲话中指出，要“用马克思主义观察时代、把握时代、引领时代”。在迈向第二个百年奋斗目标的新征程上，深刻发掘“两论”的当代价值，对于推进科技自立自强具有重要的指导意义。

First, grasp the laws of the movement and change of things, adhere to the “unchanging” nature of the Party’s leadership, and accelerate the “change” of institutional adjustment.

第一，把握事物运动变化规律，坚持党的领导之“不变”，加快制度调适之“变”。

Mao Zedong repeatedly emphasized in the “Two Essays” that objective things are in constant motion and change, and that laws must be grasped in light of actual conditions. In this regard, accurately assessing the “change” and “unchanging” nature of objective things is key. The Party’s leadership is the “unchanging” foundation for the development of scientific and technological undertakings in the New Era, while the “change” of institutional adjustment endows scientific and technological development with inexhaustible vitality. To promote scientific and technological self-reliance and self-strengthening, it is necessary to focus on the unity of the Party’s leadership and the acceleration of institutional adjustment.

毛泽东在“两论”中反复强调，客观事物是不断运动变化的，要结合实际情况把握规律。就此而论，精准研判客观事物的“变”与“不变”是关键，党的领导是新时代科技事业发展的“不变”之基，制度调适之“变”赋予科技发展不竭活力，推进科技自立自强必须注重党的领导与加快制度调适相统一。

The Party’s leadership is the greatest political advantage of China’s scientific and technological innovation. Advancing self-reliance and self-strengthening in science and technology must ensure that the Party’s leadership remains “unchanged.” First, the core position remains “unchanged”: fully leverage the Party’s role in coordinating the overall situation and harmonizing all parties, optimize the allocation of responsibilities among the Party’s organizational, propaganda, political and legal affairs departments, integrate human, material and financial resources that are in a dispersed state, form a joint force for achieving self-reliance and self-strengthening in science and technology, and ensure that all regions, departments and institutions “unify their thinking and action with the Party Central Committee’s deployment for scientific and technological undertakings.” [6]6 Quotation from the speech of Xi Jinping at the 2021 Conference of Academicians of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Chinese Academy of Engineering. Second, the leadership strategy remains “unchanged”: on the one hand, grasp the overall objectives and general direction of scientific and technological development at the macro level, deeply couple it with the national overall development plan, and ensure that the overall design for self-reliance and self-strengthening in science and technology is rationally aligned with the 14th Five-Year Plan; on the other hand, coordinate the various levels and aspects of scientific and technological development at the micro level, refine the timetable and roadmap, accelerate the formulation of forceful guiding policies, and keep pace with the times in grasping the key nodes and forward direction of self-reliance and self-strengthening in science and technology. Third, the “key minority” remains “unchanged”: strive to enhance the professional qualities of leading cadres at all levels in recognizing scientific and technological theory, understanding scientific and technological applications, and promoting scientific and technological innovation, “both acting as leaders and becoming experts, continuously strengthening the ability to lead and promote scientific and technological innovation,” [7]7 Quotation from Xi Jinping’s speech at the 2018 Conference of Academicians of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Chinese Academy of Engineering. understand and grasp self-reliance and self-strengthening in science and technology from the height of maintaining the overall political situation, and strengthen the leading role of setting an example and guiding subordinates.

党的领导是我国科技创新的最大政治优势，推进科技自立自强必须保证党的领导“不变”。一是核心地位“不变”，充分发挥党统筹全局、协调各方的作用，优化党的组织、宣传、政法等部门的职责配置，将处于分散状态的人力、物力和财力等资源整合起来，形成实现科技自立自强的合力，确保各地区、各部门、各机构把思想和行动“统一到党中央对科技事业的部署上来”。二是领导方略“不变”，既要宏观把握科技发展的总目标和大方向，深度耦合国家整体发展规划，确保科技自立自强的总体设计合理衔接“十四五”规划，又要微观协调科技发展的各层级、各方面，细化时间表和路线图，加快制定有力的指导政策，与时俱进地把握科技自立自强的重要节点和前进方向。三是关键少数“不变”，着力提升各级领导干部认知科技理论、理解科技应用、推动科技创新等专业素质，“既当好领导，又成为专家，不断增强领导和推动科技创新的本领”，从站稳政治大局的高度认识和理解科技自立自强，增强以身作则、以上率下的引领作用。

Innovation is the primary driving force leading scientific and technological development. Advancing self-reliance and self-strengthening in science and technology must accelerate institutional adjustment with a sense of urgency that “time waits for no one.” First, seek “change” through optimizing institutional creation: on the one hand, starting from the latest situation in which China’s scientific and technological development has shifted from following to running alongside and leading, broaden the scope of top-level design; on the other hand, starting from the risk of “bottleneck” in key core technologies, pinpoint the focus of top-level design, and in the organic combination of points and scope, proactively create an institutional blueprint that adapts to the new situation of self-reliance and self-strengthening in science and technology. Second, seek “change” through advancing institutional implementation: on the one hand, advocate the value orientation of developing science and technology through self-reliance in the implementation of grassroots institutions, maintaining the “stability” of institutional implementation; on the other hand, promptly summarize representative and generalizable experiences of scientific and technological innovation, refine them into rules and regulations at the appropriate time, highlight the “progress” of grassroots exploration, and in the spiral ascent of “stability” and “progress,” provide sufficiently forceful institutional support. Third, seek “change” through thickening institutional advantages: on the one hand, rely on the institutional advantage of “concentrating resources to accomplish major tasks” to promote leaps in scientific and technological innovation, upholding the “correctness” of institutional advantages; on the other hand, construct a new type of nationwide system under the conditions of the socialist market economy, with diverse actors, refined division of research labor, and reasonable performance evaluation, creating “newness” in institutional advantages, and in the resonance of “correctness” and “newness,” transform the institutional advantage of “concentrating resources to accomplish major tasks” into abundant efficacy for self-reliance and self-strengthening in science and technology.

创新是引领科技发展的第一动力，推进科技自立自强必须以时不我待之“变”加快制度调适。一是以优化制度创设谋“变”，既要从我国科技发展由跟跑转向并跑、领跑的最新态势出发，拓宽顶层设计的面，又要从应对关键核心技术“卡脖子”的风险出发，抓准顶层设计的点，在点与面的有机结合中主动创设适应科技自立自强新形势的制度蓝图。二是以推进制度落实谋“变”，既要在基层制度执行中倡导自力更生发展科技的价值导向，保持制度落实的“稳”，又要及时总结具有代表性、推广性的科技创新经验，适时提炼为规章制度，凸显基层探索的“进”，在“稳”与“进”的螺旋上升中提供足够有力的制度支撑。三是以厚植制度优势谋“变”，既要依靠“集中力量办大事”的制度优势，推进科技创新跨越，守制度优势之“正”，又要构建社会主义市场经济条件下行为主体多元、研发分工细化、绩效评价合理的新型举国体制，创制度优势之“新”，在“正”与“新”的同频共振中将“集中力量办大事”的制度优势转化为科技自立自强的丰沛效能。

Second, analyze and judge the relationship of contradictions, firmly grasp the “internal cause” of self-reliance, while taking into account the “external cause” of openness and cooperation.

第二，分析研判矛盾关系，紧抓“内因”自力更生，兼顾“外因”开放合作。

Mao Zedong clarified the contradictory relationship between internal and external causes in the “Two Essays.” [8]8 “Two Essays” refers to Mao Zedong’s *On Practice* (1937) and *On Contradiction* (1937). This has strong pertinence and guidance for deeply analyzing the contradictory issue of “endogenous development” versus “external introduction,” which concerns whether self-reliance and self-strengthening in science and technology can be achieved. Advancing self-reliance and self-strengthening in science and technology must not only firmly grasp the internal cause, basing itself on the fundamental point of self-reliance, but also take into account the external cause, adhering to international exchange and cooperation that is open, inclusive, mutually beneficial and shared.

毛泽东在“两论”中澄清内外因的矛盾关系，对于深刻分析“内生”与“外引”这一事关科技自立自强能否实现的矛盾问题，有着极强的针对性和指导性。推进科技自立自强不但要紧抓内因，立足自力更生的根本基点，而且要兼顾外因，坚持开放包容、互惠共享的国际交流合作。

Firmly grasping the internal cause and basing oneself on the fundamental point of self-reliance is the way to treat the “root” of advancing self-reliance and self-strengthening in science and technology. First, strengthen independent innovation capability: accurately identify the general trend and breakthrough points of the new round of technological change, accelerate the gathering of innovation factors, achieve major breakthroughs in forward-looking basic research and leading original achievements, improve the overall efficiency of the market-oriented innovation chain, strive to promote more achievements of self-reliance and self-strengthening in science and technology from technological advantages to market advantages, and comprehensively elevate China’s position in the global innovation landscape. Second, serve the needs of major national strategies: break down spatial barriers, unit boundaries and interest silos, concentrate elite forces across fields, industries and units, construct an organizational model and research model for scientific and technological innovation featuring industrial synergy, regional coordination, resource integration and complementary advantages, and strive to promote scientific and technological innovation oriented toward the needs of major national strategies. Third, follow the laws of scientific and technological innovation and talent development: orderly advance scientific and technological innovation by tiers, categories and stages, focus on cultivating strategic scientific and technological talents, leading scientific and technological talents, young scientific and technological talents and high-level innovation teams with global vision and international standards, and stimulate the vitality of scientific and technological innovation among all types of talents.

紧抓内因、立足自力更生的根本基点是推进科技自立自强的治“本”之道。一是加强自主创新能力，找准新一轮科技变革的总趋势和突破口，加快集聚创新要素，实现前瞻性基础研究和引领性原创成果的重大突破，提高市场导向的创新链整体效能，努力推动更多科技自立自强的成果从技术优势发展为市场优势，全面提升我国在全球创新格局中的位势。二是服务国家重大战略需求，打破空间阻隔、单位壁垒和利益藩篱，集中跨领域、跨行业、跨单位的精锐力量，构建产业协同、区域统筹、资源整合、优势互补的科技创新组织模式和攻关模式，着力推动以国家重大战略需求为目标导向的科技创新。三是遵循科技创新规律和人才成长规律，分梯次、分门类、分阶段地有序推进科技创新，注重培养具有全球视野和国际水平的战略科技人才、科技领军人才、青年科技人才和高水平创新团队，激发各类人才的科技创新活力。

Taking into account the external cause and deepening openness and cooperation is the strategy for treating the “symptoms” of advancing self-reliance and self-strengthening in science and technology. First, cultivate a global perspective: objectively analyze the dialectical and unified relationship between self-reliance and self-strengthening in science and technology and deepening openness and cooperation, deeply recognize that China’s scientific and technological development and world scientific and technological progress are a “community with a shared future” that is closely linked, actively respond to common challenges facing humanity such as climate change, energy resources, and health, and continuously broaden the thinking for international scientific and technological openness and cooperation. Second, introduce advanced technology: draw on the strengths of others, willingly accept new achievements that are conducive to raising the level of China’s social productive forces and improving the people’s lives, strive to achieve the introduction, digestion, absorption and re-innovation of new technologies while ensuring national security, realize the combination of attracting capital, talent and technology at a higher starting point, and effectively integrate global scientific and technological resources. Third, strengthen interactive cooperation: actively integrate into the global scientific and technological innovation network, implement a more open, inclusive, mutually beneficial and shared international scientific and technological cooperation strategy, explore innovation dialogue mechanisms at multiple levels and with mutual benefit and win-win outcomes under the new situation, cultivate growth points for risk-sharing and benefit-sharing in international scientific and technological cooperation, accelerate the global flow and allocation of innovation factors such as talent, capital and technology, and create a pattern of scientific and technological openness and cooperation that is all-round, multi-level and broad in scope.

兼顾外因、深化开放合作是推进科技自立自强的治“标”之策。一是培养世界视野，客观分析科技自立自强与深化开放合作的辩证统一关系，深刻认识到中国科技发展与世界科技进步是休戚相关的“命运共同体”，积极应对气候变化、能源资源、卫生健康等人类的共同挑战，不断拓宽国际科技开放合作的思路。二是引入先进技术，博采众长，悦纳有利于提高我国社会生产力水平、有利于改善人民生活的新成果，在保证国家安全的前提下努力实现新技术的引进消化吸收再创新，在更高起点上实现引资、引智和引技相结合，有效整合全球科技资源。三是加强互动合作，主动融入全球科技创新网络，实施更加开放包容、互惠共享的国际科技合作战略，探索新形势下层次多样、互利共赢的创新对话机制，培育国际科技合作风险共担和利益共享的增长点，加快人才、资本、技术等科技创新要素的全球流动和配置，打造全方位、多层次、广领域的科技开放合作格局。

Third, adhere to the unity of the subjective and the objective, advance “objective world” technological innovation, and firmly stand on the “subjective world” people’s standpoint.

第三，坚持主客观相统一，推进“客观世界”技术创新，站稳“主观世界”人民立场。

Mao Zedong emphatically pointed out in the “Two Essays” that transforming the objective world and the subjective world, and their relationship, is an important practical task for the proletarian party. This important thought constitutes the basic standpoint of the Chinese Communist Party in understanding and transforming the world. To advance self-reliance and self-strengthening in science and technology, it is necessary to correctly analyze the many realistic conditions of technological innovation in the objective world, while at the same time applying rational knowledge to scientific and technological practice, firmly standing on the “subjective world” people’s standpoint.

毛泽东在“两论”中着重强调，改造客观世界和主观世界及其关系是无产阶级政党的重要实践任务。这一重要思想构成了中国共产党认识世界和改造世界的基本立足点，推进科技自立自强，必须在客观世界中正确分析技术创新的诸多现实条件，同时将理性认识运用于科技实践，站稳“主观世界”人民立场。

The practical proof of transforming the objective world is that technological innovation determines the level of development of China’s scientific and technological undertakings. From the dimension of “instrumentality,” advancing technological innovation is the key to self-reliance and self-strengthening in science and technology. First, focus on basic research: deeply recognize that basic research is the source of technological innovation, accurately grasp the characteristics of basic research such as large investment scale, long cycle for results, and high risk of failure, build a multi-actor, multi-gradient basic research community including national laboratories and high-level research universities, achieve more original innovation achievements “from 0 to 1,” and strengthen the foundation for technological innovation. Second, tackle core technologies: deeply recognize that “key core technologies cannot be obtained by asking, buying or begging,” achieve independent control in key generic technologies, cutting-edge leading technologies, modern engineering technologies, and disruptive technological innovations, solve the major bottleneck problem of key core technologies being controlled by others, and fundamentally enhance the hard power of technological innovation. Third, expand applied development: take the emergence of new industries and the transformation and upgrading of traditional industries as breakthrough points, open up the “last mile” from technological innovation achievements from samples to products to commodities, accelerate the construction of an industrial system with coordinated development of the real economy, scientific and technological innovation, modern finance and human resources, and inject new momentum into technological innovation.

改造客观世界的实践证明，技术创新决定我国科技事业的发展水平。从“器”的维度来看，推进技术创新是科技自立自强的关键所在。一是聚焦基础研究，深刻认识基础研究是技术创新的源头，准确把握基础研究投资规模大、见效周期长、失败风险高等特点，打造国家实验室、高水平研究型大学等多主体、多梯度的基础研究共同体，实现更多“从0到1”的原始创新成果，为技术创新强基固本。二是攻坚核心技术，深刻认识“关键核心技术是要不来、买不来、讨不来的”，要在关键共性技术、前沿引领技术、现代工程技术、颠覆性技术创新等方面实现自主可控，解决关键核心技术受制于人的重大瓶颈问题，从根本上提高技术创新的硬实力。三是拓展应用开发，以新兴产业发展和传统产业转型升级为突破口，打通技术创新成果从样品到产品再到商品的“最后一公里”，加快建设实体经济、科技创新、现代金融、人力资源协同发展的产业体系，为技术创新注入新动能。

Transforming the subjective world aims to guard against the crisis of “alienation” that may be induced by the improper application of technology, to clarify the true meaning of the subject’s mastery of technology, and to break free from the domination of instrumental rationality. From the dimension of the “Way” (道), taking a firm people-centered stance helps eliminate the crisis of technicism that over-relies on the “instrument” (器), thereby highlighting the value orientation of scientific and technological self-reliance and self-strengthening. First, activating spiritual strength: “A nation without spiritual strength can hardly stand on its own among the nations of the world.” Taking a firm people-centered stance requires delving deeply into the value connotations and exemplary deeds of the “Two Bombs, One Satellite” spirit [9]9 “Two Bombs, One Satellite” (两弹一星) refers to China’s successful development of the atomic bomb, the hydrogen bomb, and artificial satellites in the 1960s and 1970s, a landmark achievement in national defense and technology., the manned spaceflight spirit, the scientist spirit, and so forth, guiding the vast number of scientific and technological workers to take scientific and technological self-reliance and self-strengthening as their mission, and to consciously practice the requirements of embracing the motherland and benefiting the people. Second, safeguarding a better life: “The needs and calls of the people are the voice of the times for scientific and technological progress and innovation.” Taking a firm people-centered stance requires “taking the satisfaction of the people’s aspiration for a better life as the foothold of scientific and technological innovation, and taking benefiting the people, enriching the people, and improving people’s livelihoods as important directions for scientific and technological innovation.” This is achieved by producing abundant scientific and technological products, providing high-quality scientific and technological services, and other forms to enhance people’s well-being, effectively increasing the people’s sense of gain and happiness. Third, respecting the principal position of the people: To rely on the masses to accelerate the pace of scientific and technological self-reliance and self-strengthening in the era, taking a firm people-centered stance requires stimulating the initiative and enthusiasm of the broadest masses of the people to consciously engage in scientific and technological innovation, constructing and exploring institutional mechanisms for the broad participation of multiple subjects in scientific and technological innovation, and gathering the fundamental driving force for scientific and technological self-reliance and self-strengthening.

改造主观世界，旨在警惕技术运用失范可能诱发“异化”危机，厘清主体驾驭科技的本真意涵，走出工具理性的宰制。从“道”的维度来看，站稳人民立场有利于消除过分倚重“器”的技术主义危机，彰显科技自立自强的价值旨归。一是激活精神力量，“一个没有精神力量的民族难以自立自强”，站稳人民立场应当深挖“两弹一星”精神、载人航天精神、科学家精神等价值内涵和先进事迹，引导广大科技工作者以科技自立自强为己任，自觉践行胸怀祖国、造福人民的要求。二是护航美好生活，“人民的需要和呼唤，是科技进步和创新的时代声音”，站稳人民立场“要把满足人民对美好生活的向往作为科技创新的落脚点，把惠民、利民、富民、改善民生作为科技创新的重要方向”，通过生产丰富科技产品、提供优质科技服务等形式增进民生福祉，切实增强人民群众的获得感和幸福感。三是尊重主体地位，依靠人民群众加快科技自立自强的时代步伐，站稳人民立场必须激发最广大人民群众自觉投身科技创新的主动性与积极性，构建和探索多元主体广泛参与科技创新的体制机制，汇聚科技自立自强的根本动力。

(The author is an associate professor at the School of Marxism, East China Normal University.)

（作者系华东师范大学马克思主义学院副教授）

Online editor: Tong Xin

网络编辑：同心