The Integration of Scientific and Technological Achievements with Dialectical Thought — A Review and Prospect on the Centenary of the Publication of Engels’s *Dialectics of Nature*

It has been 100 years since Engels’s *Dialectics of Nature* was formally published in 1925. Although it is an unfinished manuscript by Engels, it reveals his insight into the laws of development of nature and the natural sciences, embodying his grand aspiration to integrate scientific and technological achievements with dialectical thought. The dissemination and study of *Dialectics of Nature* have continuously generated new vitality, making it an important theoretical source for views of nature, views of science and technology, and scientific methodology.

恩格斯的《自然辩证法》自1925年正式出版至今，已经100周年了。它虽然是恩格斯的未竟手稿，却展现了恩格斯对自然界与自然科学发展规律的洞察，体现了他将科技成果与辩证法思想结合起来的宏愿。《自然辩证法》的传播与研究，不断激发出新的活力，成为自然观、科技观和科学方法论的重要理论源泉。

The Tortuous Publication of *Dialectics of Nature*

《自然辩证法》的曲折问世

*Dialectics of Nature* is a manuscript in which Engels systematically reviewed the natural scientific achievements of his time between 1873 and 1883 and interpreted them using the method of dialectical materialism. On May 30, 1873, in a letter to Marx, Engels first proposed the conception and overall framework of a “dialectical thought of natural science,” planning to write a work that would comprehensively elucidate the inherent dialectics of nature. Over the following decade, Engels critiqued the then-popular vulgar materialism and social Darwinism, while absorbing achievements such as cell theory, the law of conservation and transformation of energy, and the theory of biological evolution, in an attempt to lay a foundation in natural history for materialist dialectics.

《自然辩证法》是恩格斯在1873年—1883年间系统梳理当时的自然科学成果并以辩证唯物主义方法加以阐释的手稿。1873年5月30日，恩格斯在致马克思的信中首次提出“自然科学的辩证思想”的构想与总体框架，计划写一部全面阐明自然界固有辩证法的著作。此后十年，恩格斯针对当时流行的庸俗唯物主义、社会达尔文主义进行批驳，同时吸收细胞学说、能量守恒和转化定律、生物进化论等成果，试图为唯物辩证法奠定自然史的基础。

However, due to the intervention of more urgent tasks, Engels twice set aside this manuscript. From May 1876 to July 1878, the German Social Democratic Party asked Engels to immediately counter Eugen Dühring’s systematic attack on Marxism, so he had to interrupt the writing of *Dialectics of Nature* and concentrate on composing *Anti-Dühring*. After Marx’s death in March 1883, Engels devoted all his energy to editing and publishing Volumes II, III, and IV of *Capital*, and never returned to the writing of *Dialectics of Nature*. Thereafter, Engels preserved the manuscript in four bundles and named each of them separately.

但是，恩格斯面对更迫切工作的介入，此手稿曾两度搁笔。1876年5月—1878年7月，德国社会民主党请恩格斯立即回击欧根·杜林对马克思主义的系统攻击，他只得中断《自然辩证法》的写作，集中精力撰写《反杜林论》。1883年3月马克思逝世，恩格斯于是把全部精力投入到《资本论》第二、三、四卷的整理和出版中，从此再未回到《自然辩证法》的写作。此后，恩格斯将手稿分为四束保存下来，并分别对它们进行了命名。

After Engels’s death, apart from private letters, all his correspondence, manuscripts, the correspondence between Marx and Engels, and his entire library were kept by the German Social Democratic Party. The Second International held a skeptical attitude toward the dialectics of nature, publishing only two pieces from it between 1896 and 1898, while the rest were locked away in a drawer. It was not until 1925 that the Russian-German bilingual edition of *Dialectics of Nature*, organized by David Riazanov, director of the Marx-Engels Institute of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (Bolsheviks), was first published in full in Volume 2 of the Moscow edition of the *Marx-Engels Archive*, making this important text known to the world.

恩格斯逝世后，除私人信件外，他的全部书信、手稿以及马克思和恩格斯之间的通信和全部藏书均由德国社会民主党保管。第二国际对自然辩证法持有怀疑态度，仅在1896年—1898年拿出其中的两篇予以发表，其余的则被锁进了抽屉。直至1925年，由联共（布）中央马克思恩格斯研究院院长梁赞诺夫所组织的俄、德双语版《自然辩证法》在《马克思恩格斯文库》莫斯科版第2卷首次刊行全文，这一重要文本才为世人知晓。

Engels left no precise instructions on how the unfinished manuscript should be arranged for publication. However, Engels himself organized the manuscript, leaving four bundles titled respectively: “Dialectics and Natural Science,” “Natural Research and Dialectics,” “Dialectics of Nature,” and “Mathematics and Natural Science. Various Notes.” The manuscript consists of 181 parts, including 10 essays and 169 notes and fragments, plus two draft plans. Although not all were completed as full texts, the draft plans provide later generations with a complete outline of chapter arrangement: historical introduction → general outline of dialectics → classification of sciences → specific natural sciences → human labor and technology → mathematics and methodology. These provided a reference for the arrangement of the manuscript’s publication.

未竟手稿如何安排出版，恩格斯并没有留下确切意见。但是，恩格斯亲自对手稿进行了整理，留下的四束手稿分别题为：《辩证法和自然科学》《自然研究和辩证法》《自然辩证法》《数学和自然科学。各种札记》。手稿一共181个部分，包括10篇论文、169段札记与片段，再加上两个计划草案。虽然未能全部成文，计划草案却为后人提供了完整的章节安排思路：历史导言→辩证法概论→科学分类→具体自然科学→人类劳动与技术→数学与方法论。它们为手稿出版的编排提供了参考。

Since Engels himself did not settle on a title, the titles used in various early editions differed slightly. The 1925 Russian edition was titled *Диалектика природы* (Dialectics of Nature); the 1927 German single-volume edition was renamed *Dialektik und Natur* (Dialectics and Nature); from the 1932 German edition onward, it was fixed as *Dialektik der Natur*, commonly translated into Chinese as *Ziran Bianzhengfa* (Dialectics of Nature).

由于恩格斯本人也未拟定书名。初期各个版本所采用的书名略有差异。1925年俄文版题作《Диалектика природы》（自然的辩证法）；1927年德文单行本改称《Dialektik und Natur》（辩证法与自然）；1932年德文版及此后才固定为《Dialektik der Natur》，中译通称《自然辩证法》。

As a philosophical text, Engels’s *Dialectics of Nature* has always been accompanied by both controversy and praise in international academic circles. On the one hand, it is regarded as a model of the integration of natural science with dialectical materialism, hailed by many historians of science, Marxist theorists, and scientists as a forward-looking philosophical text. On the other hand, due to its unfinished manuscript state, the method of its arrangement, and questions such as “whether the dialectics of nature is valid,” it has provoked reflection in both philosophical and scientific circles.

作为思想文本，恩格斯《自然辩证法》在国际学界一直是争论与赞誉并存。一方面，它被视为对自然科学与辩证唯物主义相结合的典范，被许多科学史家、马克思主义理论家和科学家誉为具有前瞻性的哲学文本；另一方面，它也因未竟的手稿状态、整理方式以及“自然辩证法是否成立”等问题，引发了哲学界与科学界的反思。

The Dissemination and Development of *Dialectics of Nature* in China

《自然辩证法》在中国的传播和发展

After Engels’s *Dialectics of Nature* was introduced to China, its influence was no longer confined to the theoretical level. It became an indispensable part of Marxist philosophy, and on this basis, it had a profound impact on the formation and evolution of Chinese scientific thought, the formulation and optimization of science and technology policy, and the construction of the education system, especially higher education curricula. *Dialectics of Nature* underwent a continuous process of translation, absorption, and advancement toward localized theoretical innovation in China, forming a deep interaction with China’s scientific and technological practice, philosophical research, and institutional construction.

恩格斯的《自然辩证法》传入中国后，其影响不再局限于理论层面。它成为马克思主义哲学不可或缺的一部分，在此基础上，它对中国科学思想的形成与演进、科技政策的制定与优化，以及教育体系尤其是高等教育课程建设，都产生了深远影响。《自然辩证法》在中国经历了一个由译介、吸收向本土化理论创新的不断推进过程，并与中国的科技实践、哲学研究和制度建设形成了深度互动。

1. 1932–1949: The Early Period of Dissemination of the Dialectics of Nature.

1.1932—1949：自然辩证法的传播初期。

The first Chinese translation of *Dialectics of Nature* was the 1932 translation by Du Weizhi. As the earliest complete translation, it was reprinted multiple times in the 1930s and 1940s, playing a role of undeniable importance in the process of spreading Marxism to China.

《自然辩证法》第一个中文译本是出现于1932年的杜畏之译本。作为最早问世的全译成果，它在20世纪三四十年代先后多次重印，在马克思主义传播到中国的发展进程中，具有不可忽视的重要意义。

During the Yan’an period, the study and discussion of the dialectics of nature were closely integrated with the Marxist philosophical training of cadres. Comrade Mao Zedong emphasized the importance of integrating theory with practice in his report “Rectify the Party’s Style of Work,” which had a significant impact at the time. From 1940 onward, the liberated areas successively established the “Dialectics of Nature Discussion Group” and the “Natural Science Research Association” to study dialectical materialism, and designated the *Concise Edition of Dialectics of Nature* compiled by Xu Teli and Yu Guangyuan as a cadre reader.

延安时期，自然辩证法的学习与探讨是与干部的马克思主义哲学培训紧密结合的。毛泽东同志在《整顿党的作风》报告中强调了理论联系实际的重要性，在当时产生了很大影响。自1940年起，解放区先后成立了“自然辩证法讨论会”和“自然科学研究会”，进行辩证唯物主义的学习，并把徐特立、于光远编译的《自然辩证法简编》定为干部读本。

2. 1949–1978: The Development Process of the Dialectics of Nature.

2.1949—1978：自然辩证法的发展进程。

In the early period after the founding of New China, theoretical exploration of the dialectics of nature maintained a direct connection with the concurrent Marxist theoretical education; the two complemented each other, jointly promoting the popularization of philosophical thought and the construction of the theoretical system. The 1950 translation by Zheng Yili and the 1955 co-translation by Cao Baohua, Yu Guangyuan, and Xie Ning of *Dialectics of Nature* were published successively. In 1956, the Party Central Committee, based on the overall strategic situation of national construction, issued the call to “march toward science.” In the same year, the China Dialectics of Nature Discipline Planning Conference was held, which formulated and adopted the *Draft Twelve-Year (1956–1967) Research Plan for Dialectics of Nature (Philosophical Problems in Mathematics and Natural Science)*, and at this conference established “dialectics of nature” as a discipline, emphasizing that this discipline would play an important theoretical guiding role in the development of science and technology. The Institute of Philosophy of the Chinese Academy of Sciences also formally established a Dialectics of Nature Research Group that year, the first specialized academic institution for research on the dialectics of nature after the founding of New China.

新中国成立初期，自然辩证法的理论探索与同期进行的马克思主义理论教育保持着直接的关联，二者相辅相成，共同推动了哲学思想的普及与理论体系的建设。1950年郑易里译本，1955年曹葆华、于光远、谢宁合译本《自然辩证法》相继问世。1956年，党中央立足国家建设的战略全局，发出“向科学进军”的号召。同年，中国自然辩证法学科规划会议召开，会议制订和通过了《自然辩证法（数学和自然科学中的哲学问题）十二年（1956—1967）研究规划草案》，并在这次会议上把“自然辩证法”确立为一门学科，强调这一学科对科学技术的发展将能起重要的理论指导作用。中国科学院哲学研究所也在这一年正式设立了自然辩证法研究组，这是新中国成立后首个专门从事自然辩证法学术研究的机构。

3. From Reform and Opening Up to the Present: The Development of the Cause of Dialectics of Nature and Its Disciplinary Institutionalization.

3.改革开放至今：自然辩证法事业的发展与学科建制。

Since reform and opening up, research on the dialectics of nature in China, while inheriting historical traditions and integrating with practical development, has gradually formed its own unique academic characteristics and disciplinary orientation.

改革开放以来，中国的自然辩证法研究在继承历史传统的基础上，结合现实发展，逐渐形成了自身独特的学术特色和学科定位。

In the 1980s, *Dialectics of Nature*, by virtue of its interdisciplinary character and its close ties with science, technology, and philosophy, played an important role in China’s academic and intellectual circles, becoming a vanguard force in promoting ideological emancipation and theoretical innovation. In 1981, the Chinese Society for the Study of *Dialectics of Nature* was formally established, providing an important platform for nationwide academic discussion. Around this time, a series of major specialized academic journals closely related to the development of the discipline were launched, including *Journal of Dialectics of Nature* (1979), *Studies in Dialectics of Nature* (1985), and *Science, Technology and Dialectics* (1984) (later renamed *Studies in Philosophy of Science and Technology*). These journals provided a stable academic vehicle for research and academic exchange in *Dialectics of Nature* and the philosophy of science and technology. In 1987, the State Education Commission formally listed *Dialectics of Nature* as a compulsory Marxist theory course for master’s degree students in all science, engineering, agriculture, and medical specialties in institutions of higher education, while also stipulating that universities must offer a course titled “Modern Scientific and Technological Revolution and Marxism” for doctoral students in these same specialties. In the same year, in order to better promote the professionalization of the discipline, the Ministry of Education adjusted the secondary discipline category “*Dialectics of Nature*” under the philosophy major for graduate students to “Philosophy of Science and Technology (*Dialectics of Nature*).” With the continuous improvement of the disciplinary system, *Dialectics of Nature* achieved remarkable progress in teaching systems, scientific research, and talent cultivation.

20世纪80年代，自然辩证法凭借其跨学科特性，以及与科学技术和哲学之间的紧密联系，在中国的学术界和思想界发挥了重要作用，成为推动思想解放与理论创新的先锋力量。1981年，中国自然辩证法研究会正式成立，为全国性的学术研讨搭建了重要平台。在此前后，一系列与学科发展息息相关的重要专业学术期刊相继问世，包括《自然辩证法通讯》（1979年）、《自然辩证法研究》（1985年）、《科学技术与辩证法》（1984年）（后更名为《科学技术哲学研究》）等。这些期刊为自然辩证法及科学技术哲学的研究与学术交流提供了稳定的学术载体。1987年，国家教委将“自然辩证法”正式列为高等院校理工农医科各专业硕士研究生的马克思主义理论课程，同时规定高校必须给理工农医科各专业博士研究生开设“现代科学技术革命与马克思主义”课程。同年，为了更好地推进学科向专业化方向发展，教育部将研究生哲学专业下属的二级学科目录“自然辩证法”调整为“科学技术哲学（自然辩证法）”。随着学科建制的不断完善，自然辩证法在教学体系、科学研究、人才培养等方面取得了引人瞩目的进展。

In the 1990s, the philosophy of science and technology (*Dialectics of Nature*) achieved institutionalization within the national higher education system, being established as a secondary discipline under the first-level discipline of philosophy. This process not only consolidated its position in the academic system but also provided institutional guarantees for the localized study of *Dialectics of Nature*.

20世纪90年代，科学技术哲学（自然辩证法）在全国高等教育体系中实现了建制化，被确立为哲学一级学科下的二级学科。这一进程不仅巩固了其在学术体系中的地位，也为自然辩证法的本土化研究提供了制度保障。

In the first decade of the 21st century, research in the philosophy of science and technology became more closely aligned with the needs of the times, exhibiting a trend of diversified development. The relationships between nature and humanity, between science and technology and society, and between science and the humanities became central topics in theoretical circles.

21世纪的第一个十年，科学技术哲学的研究更加贴近时代需求，呈现出多元化发展趋势。自然与人、科技与社会、科学与人文的关系成为理论界的中心论题。

In the second decade of the 21st century, research in the philosophy of science and technology focused on strengthening scientific awareness and ecological awareness throughout society; it deeply analyzed the integration of the scientific spirit and the humanistic spirit. It actively cultivated the concepts and mechanisms of original innovation, striving to promote China’s transformation from a large country in science and technology into a powerful country in science and technology.

21世纪的第二个十年，科学技术哲学研究注重在全社会强化科学意识、生态意识；深度透析科学精神与人文精神的融合。积极培育原始创新的理念和机制，努力促进中国从科技大国向科技强国的转变。

At present, China’s cause of *Dialectics of Nature* and the discipline of philosophy of science and technology have entered a new stage of development. They are actively embracing the new round of the scientific and technological revolution, striving to respond to the opportunities and challenges brought by the breakthrough progress of new quality productive forces, artificial intelligence, new energy, new materials, and life technologies.

当下，中国自然辩证法事业和科技哲学学科进入新的发展阶段，正在积极主动迎接新一轮科技革命，努力回应新质生产力、人工智能、新能源、新材料、生命技术的突破性进展带来的机遇和挑战。

The Centenary Commemoration and Prospect of *Dialectics of Nature*

《自然辩证法》的百年纪念与展望

Entering the 21st century, this work, *Dialectics of Nature*, published a hundred years ago, once again impacts people’s intellectual horizons. In response to the call of the times, commemorating the centenary of the publication of *Dialectics of Nature* is not only a tribute to a classic but also a continuation of the effort to expand its intellectual boundaries and academic potential.

进入21世纪，《自然辩证法》这部百年前出版的著作再次冲击人们的思想视野。在时代的召唤中，纪念《自然辩证法》出版百年不仅是向经典致敬，更是要继续拓展其思想边界与学术潜能。

1. “Activating” the 21st-century vitality of *Dialectics of Nature*.

1.“激活”《自然辩证法》的21世纪生命力。

As an unfinished work, *Dialectics of Nature* both reflects Engels’s ambition to outline the overall logic of the natural sciences and leaves vast space for innovation. *Dialectics of Nature* is not merely a document in the history of thought; it is a theoretical treasure trove capable of engaging in dialogue with contemporary transformations in science and technology. It often maintains its vitality in the following ways: as a “resource pool of ideas” for ecological critique; as a “nonlinear philosophical prototype” for systems science and AI ethics; as the institutional cornerstone of the interdisciplinary field of “science, technology and society”; and so on. The author selects the most prominent examples below.

《自然辩证法》作为一部未竟之作，既反映了恩格斯试图勾勒自然科学整体逻辑的雄心，也留下了广阔的创新空间。《自然辩证法》不仅是一份思想史文献，更是一部能够与当代科学技术变革进行对话的理论宝库，它常常以下述方式保持活力：作为生态批判的“思想资源库”；作为系统科学、AI伦理的“非线性哲学原型”；作为“科学技术与社会”交叉学科的制度基石；等等。笔者择其显要者列举如下。

First, it promoted the development of the theory of “metabolic interaction.” [6]6 The term “metabolic interaction” (代谢循环) here refers to the concept of *Stoffwechsel* (metabolism) used by Marx and Engels to describe the material exchange between humanity and nature, later developed by ecological Marxists into a critique of capitalist ecological disruption. The American scholar John Bellamy Foster regards Engels as one of the foundational thinkers of modern ecology. He further points out that it is precisely this profound critical materialist perspective that led Engels to emphasize the absurdity of the then-dominant concept of “conquering nature”—as if nature were an alien territory to be arbitrarily subdued, and as if humanity were not situated within the earth’s material metabolic processes. And this attempt to conquer the earth, once various critical thresholds (or tipping points) are breached, will ultimately only invite what he metaphorically referred to as nature’s “revenge.”

第一，推动了“代谢循环”论的发展。美国学者福斯特认为，恩格斯是现代生态学的奠基思想家之一。他进一步指出，正是这种深刻的批判唯物主义视角，促使恩格斯强调了当时主流的“征服自然”观念的荒谬性——仿佛自然是一片可随意征服的异己领地，又仿佛人类并非置身于地球的物质代谢过程之中。而这种试图征服地球的做法，一旦突破了各类关键阈值（或转折点），最终只会招致他所喻指的自然的“报复”。

Second, it laid the logical foundation for the field of anthropological philosophy of technology. The American scholar Stephen Jay Gould regarded “The Part Played by Labour in the Transition from Ape to Man” as a 19th-century precursor to the theory of “gene-culture coevolution.” As a scholar critical of “extreme genetic determinism,” Gould confirmed that Engels’s theory shares a deep logical connection with gene-culture coevolution. Some other scholars believe that Engels’s “hand-tool-brain” co-evolutionary model provides a historical prototype for research on “embodied cognition” in artificial intelligence.

第二，奠定了人类学—技术哲学领域的逻辑基础。美国学者古尔德将“劳动在从猿到人转变过程中的作用”视为“基因—文化共进化”理论的19世纪先驱。作为批判“极端基因决定论”的学者，古尔德确认恩格斯理论与基因—文化共进化的深层逻辑相通。还有一些学者认为，恩格斯的“手—工具—大脑”协同演化模型为人工智能“具身认知”研究提供了历史原型。

Third, it promoted the new trend of “digital dialectics of nature.” In the face of algorithmic governance and big data surveillance, some young European and American scholars have organized workshops on “Digital Dialectics of Nature,” proposing to apply Engels’s “quality-quantity transformation” to explain the ethical dilemmas of “emergence” and the “black box” in deep learning, attempting to establish “dialectical categories for algorithmic explainability”; they have rewritten “negation of the negation” as “algorithmic iteration—human supervision—re-iteration” to discuss the explainability ethics of deep learning, making this 19th-century manuscript of *Dialectics of Nature* an important reference text in current debates on AI governance.

第三，促进了“数字自然辩证法”的新动向。面对算法治理、大数据监控，欧美一些青年学者举办“Digital Dialectics of Nature”工作坊，提出把恩格斯“质变量变”用于解释深度学习“涌现”与“黑箱”伦理困境，尝试建立“算法可解释性的辩证范畴”；他们把“否定之否定”改写为“算法迭代—人工监督—再迭代”，用于讨论深度学习的可解释性伦理，使《自然辩证法》这部19世纪手稿成为当下AI治理论辩的重要参考文献。

Fourth, it serves as a “nonlinear philosophical prototype” for systems science. Ilya Prigogine and Isabelle Stengers, in *Order Out of Chaos: Man’s New Dialogue with Nature*, perceived the correlation between dialectics and complexity science; the “quantity-quality transformation” model provides a philosophical prototype for dissipative structure theory. The dialectical thinking embedded in *Dialectics of Nature* acknowledges the unity of contingency and necessity, which to a certain extent provides a developmental template for nonlinear philosophy. According to statistics from the China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), among highly cited papers in the field of philosophy of science and technology over the past decade, approximately 70% of research results focus on the three major directions of ecological philosophy, innovation governance, and complex systems—topics that are precisely highly consistent with the core concerns of *Dialectics of Nature*.

第四，作为系统科学的“非线性哲学原型”。普里戈金、斯唐热在《从混沌到有序：人与自然的新对话》中洞察到了辩证法与复杂科学之间的关联性，“量变—质变”模型为耗散结构理论提供哲学原型。《自然辩证法》中蕴含的辩证思维承认偶然性与必然性的统一，这在一定程度上为非线性哲学提供了发展模板。据中国知网（CNKI）数据统计，近十年来科学技术哲学领域的高被引论文中，约70%的研究成果聚焦于生态哲学、创新治理与复杂系统三大方向，这些议题恰与《自然辩证法》的核心关切高度契合。

Fifth, it serves as the institutional cornerstone of the interdisciplinary field of “science, technology and society.” With the continuous improvement of the disciplinary system and the increase in the number of researchers, the philosophy of science and technology has gradually evolved into an “incubation platform” for many emerging disciplines. This process has not only enriched the connotation of the discipline but also promoted the vigorous development of interdisciplinary research, especially the broad prospects shown by “science, technology and society” in both theoretical construction and practical application. *Dialectics of Nature* has gradually expanded from its initial focus on the philosophy of nature and the view of nature to encompass the philosophy of science, including scientific epistemology and methodology, the philosophy of technology, and the history of scientific and technological thought. It has further extended to the practically oriented study of science, technology and society, including directions such as science and technology policy, science and technology management, and science and technology ethics. At the same time, it has absorbed research results from emerging and interdisciplinary fields such as the science of science, latent science, futurology, and systems science, forming a multi-layered, broad-domain, comprehensive and intersecting academic system, deepening theoretical exploration and strengthening the function of practical guidance. At present, it is precisely the “period of theoretical expansion” for the philosophy of science and technology. Under the guidance of a relaxed and flexible “big bag” development strategy, a comprehensive school of philosophy of science and technology that spans the frontiers and intersections of the natural sciences and the philosophical and social sciences is steadily rising. The interdisciplinary field of “science, technology and society” not only absorbs and integrates scholars from different research directions but also continuously advances in theoretical exploration and methodological innovation, constantly enhancing the interdisciplinarity and inclusiveness of the discipline.

第五，作为“科学技术与社会”交叉学科的制度基石。随着学科体系的不断完善以及研究人员数量的增加，科技哲学逐渐演化成为众多新兴学科的“孵化平台”。这一过程不仅丰富了学科内涵，也推动了交叉研究的蓬勃发展，特别是“科学技术与社会”在理论建构与实践应用上展现出广阔的前景。自然辩证法已从最初侧重自然哲学和自然观的方向，逐步扩展为涵盖科学认识论与方法论的科学哲学、技术哲学以及科技思想史领域。并且进一步延伸至与实践紧密相关的科学技术与社会研究，包括科技政策、科技管理以及科技伦理等方向。同时，它还吸纳科学学、潜科学、未来学、系统科学等新兴学科和交叉学科的研究成果，形成一个多层次、宽领域、综合交叉的学术体系，深化理论探讨，强化实践指导功能。当下，正是科技哲学发展的“理论拓展期”。在宽松而灵活的“大口袋”发展策略指导下，一个跨越自然科学与哲学社会科学边缘与交叉领域的综合性科技哲学学派，正在冉冉升起。“科学技术与社会”交叉学科不仅吸纳和整合了来自不同研究方向的学者，还在理论探讨与方法论创新上不断推进，持续增强学科的交叉性和包容性。

2. The contemporary value of *Dialectics of Nature* is also often reflected in some important theoretical and practical activities.

2.《自然辩证法》的当代价值还常常体现在一些重要的理论与实践活动中。

First, theoretical innovation and the perfection of the Marxist view of nature. *Dialectics of Nature* broke through the abstract framework of Hegelian idealism, and its philosophical innovation is regarded as “the first systematic elaboration of the dialectical materialist view of nature.” It is necessary to grasp its contemporary reference role in elevating a new view of nature, providing theoretical guidance for green development and the construction of an ecological civilization, and becoming an important philosophical basis for promoting the policy of high-quality development.

第一，理论创新与马克思主义自然观的完善。《自然辩证法》突破了黑格尔唯心主义的抽象框架，它的哲学创新被视为“辩证唯物主义自然观的第一次系统阐述”。要抓住它在当代对提升新自然观所具有的借鉴作用，为绿色发展、生态文明建设提供理论指导，成为推动高质量发展政策的重要哲学依据。

Second, the philosophical support for the scientific outlook on development and technological innovation. *Dialectics of Nature*’s dialectical analysis of various branches of natural science provides methodological reference for contemporary scientific and technological innovation. Researchers in emerging fields such as modern systems science and quantum mechanics can draw on the holistic thinking of the dialectics of nature to enhance their capacity for interdisciplinary integration and promote scientific and technological innovation.

第二，科学发展观与技术创新的哲学支撑。《自然辩证法》对自然科学各门类的辩证分析，为当代科学技术创新提供了方法论参考。现代系统科学、量子力学等新兴领域的研究者可借助自然辩证法的整体性思维，提升跨学科整合能力，推动科技创新。

Third, education and talent cultivation. The study and practice of *Dialectics of Nature* help cultivate composite talents capable of transforming philosophical thinking into scientific research practice. It will continue to serve as an important textbook for the integration of philosophy and natural science at the graduate level, helping students establish a Marxist worldview and a scientific outlook on development.

第三，教育与人才培养。《自然辩证法》的学习实践有助于培养能够把哲学思维转化为科研实践的复合型人才。它将继续成为研究生阶段哲学与自然科学结合的重要教材，帮助学生树立马克思主义世界观和科学发展观。

Fourth, practical critique and social transformation. Engels positioned dialectics as a tool of “practical critique,” emphasizing that human practical activity in transforming nature must follow the laws of nature. In the contemporary context of scientific and technological ethics, artificial intelligence governance, and resource utilization policy-making, this view will powerfully remind decision-makers to maintain reverence and respect for nature while advancing technology.

第四，实践批判与社会转型。恩格斯把辩证法定位为“实践批判”工具，强调人的实践活动对自然的改造必须遵循自然规律。这一观点在当代的科技伦理、人工智能治理以及资源利用政策制定中，将有力提醒决策者在技术进步的同时保持对自然的敬畏与尊重。

This manuscript, born in 19th-century Europe, spanning three centuries, and still in the process of formation, is, as intended, unremittingly fulfilling its “unfinished” mission.

这部诞生于19世纪欧洲、跨越三个世纪、仍在生成中的手稿，一如所愿，正在不懈地完成其“未竟”的使命。

(Author: Liu Dachun, Emeritus First-Level Professor, School of Philosophy, Renmin University of China)

（作者：刘大椿，系中国人民大学哲学院荣誉一级教授）

Online Editor: Huihui

网络编辑：慧慧