The Three Dimensions of Marx’s View of Civilization

The question of civilization has always been a matter of great concern in the history of thought, and different thinkers have their own unique insights into civilization. In Marx’s view, human practice is the foundation for analyzing civilization, human development is the yardstick for evaluating civilization, and the realization of human liberation is the ideal pursuit of communist civilization. These three elements together constitute the three basic dimensions of Marx’s view of civilization.

文明问题在思想史上一直都是备受关注的问题，不同思想家对文明都有着自己的独到见解。在马克思看来，人的实践是解析文明的基础，人的发展是评析文明的尺度，实现人的解放是共产主义文明的理想追求，这三者共同构成了马克思文明观的三重基本维度。

Human Practice: The Foundation for Analyzing Civilization

人的实践：解析文明的基础

Modern Western research on civilization was deeply influenced by Enlightenment thought, which sought to break the ideological shackles of religious theology that had persisted since the Middle Ages, emphasizing attention to human beings themselves, examining human society from a human rather than a divine perspective, and confirming that human society’s transition from a state of natural savagery to a state of civilization and enlightenment was achieved through the power of human reason. Modern society was thus seen as a civilized society intrinsically aligned with the rational spirit. This research tradition continued into Marx’s era and gave rise to various distinctive research directions, including historical studies represented by François Guizot and anthropological studies represented by Lewis Henry Morgan, among others. These studies refuted the theological view of history, asserted the subjective position of human beings in the process of civilization’s development, and possessed undeniable progressive significance. However, while emphasizing human subjectivity, they also used a metaphysical mode of thinking to generalize “man” as the “abstract commonality” of all human traits, grasping civilization from the standpoint of “abstract man.” Consequently, the study of man became the study of human ideas, inner nature, and self-desire, and the quest for human civilization inevitably fell into the quagmire of idealism. Civilization was regarded as a product of human ideas, and the progress of civilization was seen as the progress of human ideas and the satisfaction of self-desire.

近代西方文明研究深受启蒙主义思潮的影响，力求打破中世纪以来宗教神学的思想禁锢，突出对人本身的关注，站在人的视角而非神的视角考察人类社会，确证人类社会从自然蒙昧状态走向文明开化状态是依靠人的理性力量实现的，现代社会就是一个与理性精神内在契合的文明社会。这一研究传统一直延续到马克思的时代，并衍生出各有特色的研究方向，当中既有以基佐为代表的历史学研究，也有以摩尔根为代表的人类学研究，等等。这些研究驳斥了神学史观，主张人在文明发展进程中的主体地位，具有不可抹灭的进步意义。然而，在强调人的主体性的同时，却又以形而上学的思维方式把“人”概括为人的一切“共性的抽象”，从“抽象的人”出发把握文明。于是，对人的研究就变成对人的思想观念、内在本性和自我欲求的研究，对人类文明的求索便不可避免地深陷唯心主义的泥淖，文明被视为人思想观念的产物，文明进步被视为人思想观念的进步和自我欲求的满足。

Different from the logical approach of “abstract man,” Marx analyzed civilization based on human ontological existence, that is, the practical activity of “producing material life itself,” placing the study of civilization within the scientific category of human practice. As Engels said, “civilization is a matter of practice, a social quality,” [1]1 Friedrich Engels, “Speech at the Grave of Karl Marx,” in Karl Marx and Frederick Engels, *Collected Works*, vol. 24 (Moscow: Progress Publishers, 1989), p. 467. The exact phrasing in the original is “civilization is a matter of practice, a social quality,” from Engels’s *Outlines of a Critique of Political Economy* (1844). and civilization is, in the final analysis, a creation of human practice within various specific social relations.

区别于“抽象的人”的逻辑进路，马克思是基于人的本体性存在即“生产物质生活本身”的实践活动解析文明，将文明研究置于人类实践这一科学范畴以内。如恩格斯所说，“文明是实践的事情，是社会的素质”，文明归根到底是处在各种特定社会关系当中的人的实践创造物。

Practice is the endogenous driving force of civilization’s development. In Marx’s view, what fundamentally influences the development of civilization is material production practice. Driven by the development of productive forces and the internal contradictory movement of society, the entire development of society presents itself as a process of dialectical negation, a “self-sublation.” This process is precisely the process of human society continuously moving toward progress. The development of productive forces adds vitality and injects momentum into the flourishing of civilization, creating the necessary material foundation and constituting the ultimate determining force of civilization’s development. Of course, affirming the general progressive trend of human social development does not mean that the development process of human society will be a straight and smooth path. In fact, this process is full of twists and turns, or may involve factors of stagnation, setbacks, or even regression. However, the historical trend of continuous progress in human society will not change, which also means that civilization will draw inexhaustible momentum from the continuous development of production practice.

实践是文明发展的内源动力。在马克思看来，对文明发展起到根本影响的是物质生产实践。由于生产力的发展以及社会内在矛盾运动的驱动，整个社会发展呈现为辩证否定的“自我扬弃”的过程，这个过程就是人类社会不断迈向进步的过程。生产力的发展为文明繁盛增添活力、注入动力，创造了必要的物质基础，构成文明发展的最终决定力量。当然，肯定人类社会发展的总体进步趋势，并不意味着人类社会的发展进程会是一个直线式的坦途。事实上，这个过程乃是布满曲折或是出现停滞、顿挫甚至倒退因素的过程，但人类社会不断进步的历史走势并不会改变，这也意味着文明同样会在生产实践的不断发展中汲取到不竭的动力。

Practical activity shapes and generates the characteristics of civilization. Marx regarded practice as a “conscious life activity” that characterizes “the species-character of man.” [2]2 Karl Marx, “Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844,” in *Collected Works*, vol. 3 (Moscow: Progress Publishers, 1975), p. 276. In the practical activity of transforming the world, man shapes the external world with himself as the measure, transforming the original state of objects in a direction that conforms to human aesthetics and needs. Man’s essential powers are vividly demonstrated, creating splendid and rich civilizational achievements. In this sense, civilization, from its emergence to its development, is rooted in human practice, and the unique inner qualities of civilization are forged from it. First, civilization is a category of practice. Civilization is the result of human practice; without human practice, there would be no so-called human civilization. Second, civilization is a category of history. Human practice is constantly developing, and civilization will also develop continuously following practice. Finally, civilization is a category of society. Civilization is the sum total of wealth created jointly by human spiritual power and productive forces; it is a significant marker of the progress and development of human society.

实践活动塑造生成文明特质。马克思把实践视为表征“人的类特性”的一种“有意识的生命活动”。人在改造世界的实践活动中以自身为尺度去形塑外部世界，使对象的本然性状朝着符合人的审美和需要的方向转化，人的本质力量得到生动演绎，创造出灿烂丰富的文明成果。就此而论，文明从产生到发展都根源于人类实践，从中淬炼生成文明的独特内质。首先，文明是实践范畴。文明是人类实践的成果，没有人类实践就没有所谓的人类文明。其次，文明是历史范畴。人类实践是不断发展的，文明亦会跟随实践而不断发展。最后，文明是社会范畴。文明是人类精神力和生产力共同创造的财富总和，它是人类社会发展进步的显著标识。

Human Development: The Yardstick for Evaluating Civilization

人的发展：评析文明的尺度

As is well known, the examination and critique of capitalism is the core theme of Marx’s thought and theory. Capitalist civilization, as a modern form of civilization built on the capitalist mode of production, makes the developmental situation of human beings within this form of civilization the focus of Marx’s study of civilization.

众所周知，对资本主义的考察批判是马克思思想理论的核心议题，资本主义文明作为建立在资本主义生产方式基础上的现代文明形态，人在这一文明形态中的发展境况就构成马克思文明研究的重点。

Marx affirmed the “civilizing aspect” of capitalism. Capitalism has created unprecedentedly enormous productive forces, “more massive and more colossal than all past generations together,” [3]3 Karl Marx and Frederick Engels, *Manifesto of the Communist Party*, in *Collected Works*, vol. 6 (Moscow: Progress Publishers, 1976), p. 489. possessing historical progressiveness surpassing all previous forms of civilization. In Marx’s view, the great civilizing role of capital lies in the fact that “it has created a social stage, compared with which all earlier stages appear only as local developments of humanity and as nature-worship.” [4]4 Karl Marx, *Grundrisse: Foundations of the Critique of Political Economy*, trans. Martin Nicolaus (London: Penguin, 1973), p. 409. Capitalist civilization has made important contributions to promoting human development, greatly highlighting human meaning and value. First, capitalism freed people from isolated regions around the world from their closed-off state of mutual separation, ending humanity’s previous condition of “being self-sufficient, confined to existing needs and repeating the old way of life,” [5]5 Ibid., p. 410. gradually integrating the world, changing the mode of human interaction, broadening the scope of human communication, and enriching the connotation of humanity itself. Second, with advanced science and technology and developed social production, capitalism broke the previous state of passive dependence of humanity on nature, so that people no longer prostrated themselves before nature, “subjecting nature (whether as consumer goods or as means of production) to human needs.” [6]6 Ibid., p. 409. Finally, capitalist civilization created free time for laborers, expanded the space for people to pursue their own development, cultivated the social attributes of human beings, and helped to foster new social factors.

马克思肯定了资本主义的“文明面”。资本主义创造出空前巨大的生产力，“比过去一切世代创造的全部生产力还要多，还要大”，具有超越以往一切文明形态的历史进步性。在马克思看来，资本的伟大的文明作用在于“它创造了这样一个社会阶段，与这个社会阶段相比，一切以前的社会阶段都只表现为人类的地方性发展和对自然的崇拜”。资本主义文明为推动人的发展作出重要贡献，极大彰显了人的意义和价值。首先，资本主义把世界上各个孤立地区的人群从相互隔绝的封闭状态中解脱出来，结束了人类原先那种“闭关自守地满足于现有需要和重复旧生活方式的状况”，使世界逐步融为一体，改变了人类的交往方式，拓宽了人类的交往范围，丰富了人本身的内涵。其次，资本主义以先进的科学技术和发达的社会生产，打破了以往人类对自然界被动依赖的状态，使人不再匍匐于自然脚下，“使自然界（不管是作为消费品，还是作为生产资料）服从于人的需要”。最后，资本主义文明为劳动者创造了自由时间，为人拓展了追求自身发展的空间，培养了人的社会属性，有助于催生新的社会因素。

Marx criticized the “anti-civilizing aspect” of capitalism. Although capitalism has brought many favorable conditions for human development, all of this is merely a false “manifestation of civilization.” The fundamental malady of capitalist civilization lies in the fact that “all the progress of civilization, or in other words, every increase in the social productive forces (the productive forces of labor itself, to be precise) … does not enrich the worker, but only enriches the capitalist.” [7]7 Karl Marx, “Wage Labour and Capital,” in *Collected Works*, vol. 9 (Moscow: Progress Publishers, 1977), p. 203. Capitalist civilization is a modern form of civilization with “capital” as its subject; capital is the guiding and controlling force of civilization’s development, which determines that all achievements of civilization’s development are ultimately used to sacrifice to the self-expansion of capital. First, the core logic of capital is the unlimited “self-expansion, the creation of surplus value.” To achieve this goal, it must constantly “suck in living labor,” that is, the exploitation and oppression of workers. This is undoubtedly a “vile civilization built on the slavery of labor,” [8]8 Karl Marx, “The Future Results of British Rule in India,” in *Collected Works*, vol. 12 (Moscow: Progress Publishers, 1979), p. 221. at the cost of harming human life and stifling human development. Second, the machine-based large-scale industry that arose with capitalist civilization, while releasing enormous productive potential, also degraded human beings into mere “appendages” of the machine. Human creative ability was distorted in the repetitive mechanized social division of labor, ultimately steering the comprehensive development of human beings toward one-sided, deformed, and stunted development. Finally, although capitalist civilization changed the situation in the pre-capitalist period where human development was constrained by the community, granting individuals the possibility of independent development, in essence, capitalism is a form of civilization “based on the dependence on things.” [9]9 Karl Marx, *Grundrisse*, p. 158. While individuals gained a certain degree of freedom by breaking free from the previous “relations of personal dependence,” they fell into “relations of dependence on things.” The prominence and assertion of the subjectivity of “things” implies the obscuring and dissolution of human subjectivity. Human beings are completely “deprived of all free activity, both physical and spiritual,” [10]10 Karl Marx, *Capital*, vol. 1, trans. Ben Fowkes (London: Penguin, 1976), p. 548. reduced to slaves of “things,” becoming frenzied competitors for capital and wealth. In this way, human self-needs, the exercise of abilities, and the expression of individuality can only be confined within the narrow form of reification. At best, human beings are “victims” and “stepping stones” for capital’s profit-making, rather than the value destination of civilization’s development.

马克思批判了资本主义的“反文明面”。尽管资本主义为人的发展带来许多有利条件，但这一切都只是虚假的“文明表现”。资本主义文明的根本弊病就在于：“文明的一切进步，或者换句话说，社会生产力（也可以说劳动本身的生产力）的任何增长……都不会使工人致富，而只会使资本家致富。”资本主义文明是以“资本”为主体的现代文明形态，资本乃文明发展的导控力量，这就注定了文明发展的一切成就最终都是用于献祭资本增殖。首先，资本的核心逻辑是无限式地“增殖自身，创造剩余价值”，实现这一目的必须不断“吮吸活劳动”即对劳动者的剥削与压榨，这无疑是一种以戕害人的生命和扼杀人的发展为代价的，“建立在劳动奴役制上的罪恶的文明”。其次，伴随资本主义文明而兴起的机器大工业，在释放出巨大生产潜力的同时，也把人贬低为机器的“附庸”，人的创造能力在周而复始的机械化社会分工中遭遇扭曲，最终把人的全面发展导向了片面、畸形和残缺的发展。最后，资本主义文明虽然改变了前资本主义时期人的发展受共同体束缚的情况，赋予人独立自主的发展可能。然而，资本主义实质上是“以物的依赖性为基础”的文明形式，个人在摆脱以往那种“人的依赖关系”而获得一定的自由限度的同时，却又坠入“对物的依赖关系”之中。“物”的主体性的凸显与张扬意味着人主体性的遮蔽与消解，人被彻底“夺去身体上和精神上的一切自由活动”而沦为“物”的奴隶，成为资本财富的狂热竞逐者。这样一来，人的自我需要、能力施展和个性诠释就只能被圈禁在狭隘的物化形式之中，人充其量就是资本牟利的“牺牲品”和“垫脚石”，而非文明发展的价值归宿。

Human Liberation: The Ideal Pursuit of Communist Civilization

人的解放：共产主义文明的理想追求

“When Marx studied human civilization, the value orientation and goal he pursued were very clear, namely human emancipation and the free and comprehensive development of the individual.” To achieve human emancipation, people must be freed from the shackles of capitalism, enabling them to enjoy full freedom. On this basis, people can escape labor servitude, extend and expand a higher level of space for self-development, focus on the exertion of creative ability, pursue the elevation of the spiritual level, and cultivate all-round and diversified civilized qualities in free and conscious practical activities. Only by realizing the transition and leap from the capitalist to the communist stage of civilization can the goal of complete human emancipation and the pursuit of free and comprehensive development be truly achieved.

“马克思研究人类文明，其价值指向和追求的目标是非常明确的，这就是人类解放和人的自由全面发展。”为了实现人的解放，就必须把人从资本主义的枷锁中解脱出来，使人享有充分自由。在此基础上，人能够摆脱劳动奴役，延伸拓展出更高层次的自我发展空间，注重创造能力的发挥，追求精神层次的提升，在自由自觉的实践活动中涵养人的全方位和多样化的文明素养。只有实现从资本主义向共产主义文明阶段的转型跃迁，人完全解放的目标和自由全面发展的追求才能真正达成。

The development of the individual and the development of others achieve unity. “The free development of each is the condition for the free development of all” is a distinctive feature of the communist stage of civilization. This means that equal rights among members of society are fully guaranteed, individual self-development no longer comes at the cost of depriving others of development opportunities or squeezing others’ development space, and the presentation of individual free individuality and the exertion of individual potential are ultimately aimed at promoting the development of others. Thus, the will of each person for free and comprehensive development can receive universal respect and recognition from society.

个人的发展与他人的发展获得统一。“每个人的自由发展是一切人的自由发展的条件”是共产主义文明阶段的鲜明特征。这便意味着，社会成员之间的平等权利得到充分保障，个体的自我发展不再以剥夺他人的发展机会、挤压他人的发展空间为代价，个体自由个性的呈现和自我潜能的发挥最终都是为了促进他人的发展，这就使每个人自由全面发展的意愿都能得到社会的普遍尊重和认可。

Human labor and human development achieve unity. Communism, as a stage of civilization that has eradicated private ownership of the means of production, means that labor is no longer a coercive means of livelihood, individuals are no longer confined to fixed social divisions of labor, and they need not rigidly develop the labor skills required by capitalist production. People can autonomously engage in labor that meets their own developmental needs. In this way, “labor will become attractive labor, the self-realization of the individual,” and individual abilities will be comprehensively enriched and enhanced in social labor.

人的劳动与人的发展获得统一。共产主义作为根除了生产资料私有制的文明阶段，劳动不再是具有强迫性质的谋生手段，个人不再受限于固定的社会分工，不必僵化地发展资本主义生产所要求的劳动技能，人能够自主地从事符合自身发展需要的劳动。如此一来，“劳动会成为吸引人的劳动，成为个人的自我实现”，个人的能力将会在社会劳动中获得全面丰富和提升。

The comprehensive development of the individual and the comprehensive progress of society achieve unity. Communism is both a stage of civilization in which the intellectual and physical abilities of each person are comprehensively elevated and a stage in which the talents and potential of each person are fully exerted. “The comprehensive development of individuals and their common social productive forces become their social wealth.” On the one hand, the comprehensive development of the individual greatly promotes the development of social production and the accumulation of social wealth, coalescing into a powerful driving force for the comprehensive progress of society. On the other hand, the comprehensive progress of society also becomes a solid foundation for the comprehensive development of the individual, and human subjectivity, creativity, and self-transcendence will be fully manifested.

人的全面发展与社会的全面进步获得统一。共产主义既是每个人智力和体力全面提升的文明阶段，也是每个人才能和潜质全面发挥的文明阶段，“个人全面发展和他们共同的社会生产能力成为他们的社会财富”。一方面，人的全面发展极大促进了社会生产的发展和社会财富的积累，凝聚成为推动社会全面进步的强劲动力；另一方面，社会的全面进步也成为人全面发展的坚实依托，人的主体性、创造性以及自我超越性将得到完全展现。

Online editor: Paul

网络编辑：保罗