Practical Guidelines for Ideological and Political Education in the Digital Age

In recent years, new technological means derived from information technology—such as big data, precision algorithms, and artificial intelligence—have, like giant energy rays with infinite penetrating power, “penetrated into all levels of the social system, including politics, economy, and society, and related technologies have also appeared before us in a ‘capital-letter method’” [1]1 The term “立德树人” (fostering virtue through education) is a key concept in Chinese educational policy, emphasizing moral cultivation as the foundation of talent development.. “The world is entering an era in which big-data-driven artificial intelligence systems provide information for more and more aspects of life” [2]2 The term “以人为本” (people-centered) is a core concept in Chinese political discourse, emphasizing that people are the foundation and purpose of development, distinct from Western humanism.20. The operational logic of these new technological means highlights the digital transformation of information about the objects they concern; through the combination and optimization of digits, they achieve domination, control, and even reorganization of the objects concerned. Therefore, people also refer to the current era, in which digital technology is ubiquitous and demonstrates enormous efficacy, as the digital age. Xi Jinping emphasized: “Digitalization in education is a major breakthrough for China to open up new tracks for educational development and shape new advantages for educational development” [3]3 “Fostering virtue and nurturing talent” (立德树人) is a fundamental task of education in China, emphasizing moral cultivation as the basis for talent development.. Only by fully confronting the arrival of the digital age, deeply reflecting on the comprehensively digitalized social context, and rationally arranging the relationship between ideological and political education and digital technology can ideological and political education keep pace with the times and write a new chapter in the high-quality development of ideological and political education in the digital age.

近年来，由信息技术所衍生的大数据、精准算法、人工智能等新技术手段，犹如具有无限穿透力的巨能射线，“渗透到政治、经济、社会等社会系统各个层面之中，相关技术也以一种‘大写的方法’显现在我们面前”[1]。“世界正在进入一个由大数据驱动的人工智能系统为越来越多方面提供信息的时代。”[2]20这些新技术手段的运行机理凸显出把所关涉的对象的信息进行数字转化，通过对数字的组合和优化，实现对关涉对象的支配、控制，甚至重组。因此，人们又把当前这样一个数字化技术无所不在并且彰显出巨大效能的时代称之为数字化时代。习近平强调指出：“教育数字化是我国开辟教育发展新赛道和塑造教育发展新优势的重要突破口。”[3]思想政治教育唯有充分正视数字化时代的到来，深度审思全面数字化的社会背景，合理布局思想政治教育与数字技术的关系，才能顺应时代发展，谱写数字化时代思想政治教育高质量发展崭新篇章。

I. Adapting to the Digital Trend and Expanding the People-Centered Theoretical Horizon

一、顺应数字化潮流，拓展以人为本理论视野

Faced with the heat wave of comprehensive digitalization, ideological and political education cannot be avoided. Only by acting according to reason, following the trend, and actively adjusting itself can it transform the digital “variable” into an “increment” for its own practice. To this end, it is necessary to clarify the practical logic of ideological and political education and the operational mechanism of digital technology, and on this basis, properly handle the relationship between the two, enabling digital technology to empower ideological and political education. What is particularly important is to clarify the subject position of people in social activities and the people-oriented nature of ideological and political education. Taking this as a premise, we must adapt to the digital trend and implement the fundamental task of fostering virtue through education [立德树人].

面对全面数字化的时代热浪，思想政治教育无可回避，唯有循理而动、顺势而为，积极进行自我调适，才能将数字化“变量”转化为自身实践的“增量”。为此，必须在明确思想政治教育的实践逻辑、数字化技术的运行机理的基础上处理好二者之间的关系，使数字化技术赋能思想政治教育。其中尤为重要的是要明确人在社会活动中的主体地位、思想政治教育的人本属性，以之为前提，顺应数字化潮流，落实立德树人根本任务。

(A) Adapting to the digital trend and promoting the digitalization of ideological and political education is necessary for creatively applying and developing the Marxist anthropological thought of “objective existence” [对象性存在].

（一）顺应数字化潮流，推进思想政治教育数字化，是创造性运用和发展马克思主义“对象性存在”人学思想的需要

Ideological and political education is the work of cultivating and shaping people. Comprehensively understanding people, deeply grasping people, and guiding people to develop upward and toward goodness in an all-round way, starting from their essence and actual qualities, is the core task and ultimate purpose of ideological and political education. In the digital age, the most important thing in properly handling the relationship between ideological and political education and digital technology is to deeply and accurately grasp the relationship between digital technology and people. Compared with traditional technology, digital technology has both common attributes and special attributes. Therefore, to understand the relationship between digital technology and people, we must first look at the relationship between traditional technology and people, and second, look at what particularities digital technology, as a special technology different from traditional technology, has in its relationship with people, and whether these particularities change or overturn the relationship between traditional technology and people. Regarding the relationship between traditional technology and people, the Marxist philosophical view of objectification holds that people are objective existences; people make “their own life activity itself an object of their will and their consciousness” [4]4 “Fostering virtue through education” (立德树人) is a core principle of Chinese education policy, emphasizing moral cultivation as the foundation of talent development.56. Human essence is not innate or predetermined but is gradually acquired and realized in the practical activity of life, that is, objectifying activity. Marx believed that what people are “coincides with their production—both with what they produce and with how they produce” [4]4 “Fostering virtue through education” (立德树人) is a core principle of Chinese education policy, emphasizing moral cultivation as the foundation of talent development.147. “The hand-mill gives you society with the feudal lord; the steam-mill, society with the industrial capitalist” [4]4 “Fostering virtue through education” (立德树人) is a core principle of Chinese education policy, emphasizing moral cultivation as the foundation of talent development.222. Technology, as a marker of the objectifying essence of people, is true for both the era and the individual. In Marx’s “objectifying thinking,” technology and its facilities are the externalization and objectification of human essence, the confirmation of human essence that has already been realized.

思想政治教育是培养人、塑造人的工作，全面地认识人、深刻地把握人，从人的本质和现实品质出发，引导人向上向善全面发展，是思想政治教育的核心任务和终极旨趣。数字化时代合理处置思想政治教育与数字技术的关系，最为重要的是深刻准确地把握数字技术与人的关系。数字技术与传统技术相比，既有共同属性，又有特殊属性。因此，理解数字技术与人的关系，首先要看传统技术与人的关系，其次要看数字技术作为不同于传统技术的特殊技术，其与人的关系具有哪些特殊性，这些特殊性是否改变或颠覆了传统技术与人的关系。就传统技术与人的关系来看，马克思主义哲学对象化观点认为，人是对象化的存在，人使“自己的生命活动本身变成自己意志的和自己意识的对象”[4]56。人的本质不是生来就有或先天确定的，而是在生命实践活动，即对象化活动中逐渐获得和实现的。马克思认为，人是什么样的，“这同他们的生产是一致的——既和他们生产什么一致，又和他们怎样生产一致”[4]147。“手推磨产生的是封建主的社会，蒸汽磨产生的是工业资本家的社会。”[4]222技术作为人的对象化本质的标示，无论对于时代，还是个人都是如此。在马克思的“对象化思维”中，技术及其设施是人的本质的外化和对象化，是人的已经实现了的本质的确证。

Furthermore, Marx also followed objectifying thinking to explain human essence from the perspective of “need.” In Marx’s view, “need” is a category that constructs and represents the relationship between subject and object. “Hunger is a natural need; therefore… it needs nature outside itself, an object outside itself” [5]210. As the subject of “need,” people inevitably identify the object that is the object of “need,” and the object of need is not only the object identified by people but also the objectification and confirmation of people’s own essence. This view is not merely a philosophical speculation; in daily life, people usually understand things this way. For example, we call money-worshippers “people addicted to luxury and dissipation,” those who indulge solely in feasting and pleasure “gluttons and drunkards,” and those who take benevolence as their own responsibility and bear the great righteousness of the nation “people of lofty ideals and benevolence.” Such expressions are all manifestations of objectifying thinking. Moreover, Marx also followed objectifying thinking to explain the generative changeability of human essence from the changeability of human needs. He believed: “The first need itself, having been satisfied, the activity of satisfying, and the already acquired tools for satisfying, give rise to new needs” [4]4 “Fostering virtue through education” (立德树人) is a core principle of Chinese education policy, emphasizing moral cultivation as the foundation of talent development.159. This means that the objects people need, including the means and tools people use to satisfy needs—whether means and tools based on traditional technology or those based on digital technology—are all objectifications, externalizations, and confirmations of human essence.

此外，马克思还沿循对象性思维，从“需要”的角度阐释人的本质。在马克思看来，“需要”是建构和表征主客体关系的范畴，“饥饿是自然的需要；因此……它需要自身之外的自然界、自身之外的对象”[5]210。人作为“需要”的主体必然会指认作为“需要”之对象的客体，而需要之对象不仅是人所指认的对象，而且是人自身本质的对象化和确证。这一观点不仅仅是一种哲学的思辨，在日常生活中人们通常也是这么理解事物的，如我们把拜金主义者称为“纸醉金迷之徒”，把一味沉浸于酒肉享乐的人称为“酒肉之徒”，把“仁以为己任”担当民族大义的人称为“仁人志士”，诸如此类的表述都是对象化思维的体现。不仅如此，马克思还沿循对象性思维，从人的需要的变化性阐释人的本质的生成变化性。他认为：“已经得到满足的第一个需要本身、满足需要的活动和已经获得的为满足需要而用的工具又引起新的需要”[4]159，也就意味着，人所需要的对象包括人满足需要所运用的手段和工具，无论以传统技术为载体的手段和工具，还是以数字技术为载体的手段和工具，都是人的本质的对象化、外化和确证。

(B) Adapting to the digital trend and promoting the digitalization of ideological and political education is necessary for innovating and developing ideological and political education based on the major transformation of the mode of human existence and development.

（二）顺应数字化潮流，推进思想政治教育数字化，是立足人的生存发展方式的重大变革创新发展思想政治教育的需要

According to Marxist objectifying thinking, people exist in an objectifying manner. The objects involved in people’s life activities—whether objects people “invent and create” or objects people “need and use”—are all objectifications and confirmations of human essence. This is particularly evident in the context of traditional technology. The commonality between digital technology and traditional technology determines that digital technology is also an objectification and confirmation of human essence. Of course, some may not accept this conclusion based on the major differences and divergences between digital technology and traditional technology. So what exactly are the fundamental differences and divergences between digital technology and traditional technology? Can these differences and divergences really overturn or change the conclusion that “technology is an objectification and confirmation of human essence”? To answer this question, the key is still to understand and grasp digital technology and its relationship with people from an essential level. In essence, digital technology is information technology based on digits or digital codes; that is, it presents the information of an object in the form of digits or digital codes, transforming a real object as a “structural-functional entity” into a “digital structural-functional entity.” When the object concerned by digital technology is “people,” it also presents people’s information in the form of digits or digital codes, transforming a real person as a “structural-functional entity” into a person as a “digital structural-functional entity.”

按照马克思主义的对象化思维，人以对象化的方式存在，人的生命活动所关涉的对象，无论是人“发明、创造”出的对象，还是人“需要、使用”的对象，都是人的本质的对象化和确证。这在传统技术背景下，尤为明显。数字技术与传统技术的共性，决定了数字技术亦是人的本质的对象化和确证。当然，也许有人依据数字技术与传统技术的重大区别和差异不认可这一结论。那么数字技术与传统技术的根本区别和差异到底是什么，这种区别和差异真的能够推翻或改变“技术作为人的本质的对象化和确证”这一结论吗？要解答这一问题，关键还是要从本质的层面认识和把握数字技术及其与人的关系。数字技术从本质上来看，是以数字或数字编码为载体的信息技术，即把对象的信息以数字或数字编码的方式予以呈现，把现实的作为“结构功能体”的对象转化为“数字结构功能体”。而数字技术所关涉的对象是“人”的时候，也就把人的信息以数字或数字编码的方式予以呈现，把现实的作为“结构功能体”的人转化为作为“数字结构功能体”的人。

Fundamentally, whether digital technology transforms objects other than people into objects as “digital structural-functional entities” or transforms people themselves as objects into people as “digital structural-functional entities,” it is all a human invention and creation, a manifestation of human technological capability and level, and a reflection of the improvement of human cognitive and practical abilities. Therefore, the development and application of digital technology is, on the whole, a human progress. When it comes specifically to ideological and political education, it has even more special significance and is more worthy of close attention, in-depth research, and rational application by the vast number of ideological and political education workers.

从根本上来讲，数字技术无论是把人之外的其他对象转化为作为“数字结构功能体”的对象，还是把人自身作为对象转化为“数字结构功能体”的人，都是人类自身的发明创造，都是人自身技术能力与水平的体现，都体现了人自身认识与实践能力的提高。因此，数字技术的发展和应用总体来讲是人类的进步，而具体到思想政治教育，则具有更加特殊的意义，更值得广大思想政治教育工作者高度关注，深入研究，合理运用。

Ideological and political education is work done with people. Profoundly understanding people and comprehensively grasping them are the prerequisites and keys to smoothly carrying out ideological and political education. This first of all means understanding people at the essential level, as Marx said: “Theory is capable of convincing the masses as soon as it demonstrates ad hominem, and it demonstrates ad hominem as soon as it becomes radical. To be radical is to grasp things by the root. But for man the root is man himself.”[4]4 “Fostering virtue through education” (立德树人) is a core principle of Chinese education policy, emphasizing moral cultivation as the foundation of talent development.10 Understanding people from their root emphasizes understanding them at the essential level. However, the essential is always abstract and intrinsic; it is not something we can easily grasp through sensation and intuition. As an intrinsic, abstract determination, the essential necessarily manifests itself through external phenomena, as determined by the basic principle of the dialectical unity of essence and phenomenon. Therefore, we can always, and must, understand the intrinsic essence of things by grasping external phenomena. The same holds true for understanding the essence of man. Marx profoundly pointed out: “But the essence of man is no abstraction inherent in each single individual. In its actuality it is the ensemble of the social relations.”[4]4 “Fostering virtue through education” (立德树人) is a core principle of Chinese education policy, emphasizing moral cultivation as the foundation of talent development.139 This profound thesis provides important inspiration and guidance for understanding the essence of man and the relationship between man and digital technology in the digital age.

思想政治教育是做人的工作，深刻地认识人、全面地把握人是顺利开展思想政治教育的前提和关键。这首先意味着要从本质的层面认识人，诚如马克思所言：“理论只要彻底，就能说服人。所谓彻底，就是抓住事物的根本。而人的根本就是人本身”[4]10。从人的根本认识人，强调的就是从本质的层面认识人，然而本质的东西总是抽象的、内在的，并不是我们感觉和直观就可以轻易把握到的。本质作为内在的抽象的规定性，必然通过外在的现象呈现出来，这是由本质与现象辩证统一的基本原理所决定的。因此，我们总是能够并且也必须通过对外在现象的把握认识事物的内在本质，这对于认识人的本质来说也是如此。马克思深刻地指出：“人的本质不是单个人所固有的抽象物，在其现实性上，它是一切社会关系的总和。”[4]139这一深刻论断，对于数字化时代认识人的本质以及人与数字化技术的关系具有重要启发和指导意义。

(3) Adapting to the digital trend and advancing the digitalization of ideological and political education is a necessity for keeping pace with the times and concretely implementing the people-centered educational concept in depth.

（三）顺应数字化潮流，推进思想政治教育数字化，是与时俱进深入具体落实以人为本教育理念的需要

The essence of man “is by no means predetermined and fixed, but can only correspond to his activities, being generated from activities and changing with changes in activities.”[6]10 Whether under traditional technological conditions or digital technological conditions, understanding the essence of man cannot be done by regarding man as an isolated, abstract individual; it must be done by understanding his mode of practical activity and the relationships he forms with others and with things. Crucially, the virtuality and infinite expandability of numbers and digital technology can free people from the constraints and limitations of “physical objects,” enabling a more comprehensive and vivid grasp of human essence in the virtual space of information. It can even use holographic information technology and intelligent generation technology to present human essence in a vivid, lifelike, and concrete manner, thereby breaking through relatively fixed and one-sided understandings of human essence and achieving a comprehensive, dynamic, and processual grasp of it.

人的本质“决不会是前定的和固定不变的，而只能与他的活动相适应，从活动中创生、随活动的变化而变化”[6]10。无论是在传统技术背景下，还是在数字技术背景下，认识人的本质，不能把人作为孤立、抽象的个体加以认识，而必须通过认识其实践活动方式及其与他人、他物结成的关系来认识。尤为重要的是，数字和数字技术的虚拟性、无限拓展性可以使人们摆脱“实物”的束缚和限制，在信息虚拟空间更加全面鲜活地把握人的本质，甚至可以利用全息信息技术、智能生成技术鲜活逼真形象地呈现人的本质，从而突破对人的本质相对固定、片面的把握，实现对人的本质的全面、动态、过程性的把握。

In short, based on the Marxist concept of objectification thinking and the Marxist thesis on the actuality of human essence and its relational manifestation, a careful examination of digital technology and its relationship with man reveals that digital technology holds significant value for deeply, comprehensively, and vividly grasping human essence and doing a good job in ideological and political education. “As society becomes increasingly digital, and as artificial intelligence becomes more integrated into government functions and various products, its impact may become unavoidable for us.”[2]2 The term “以人为本” (people-centered) is a core concept in Chinese political discourse, emphasizing that people are the foundation and purpose of development, distinct from Western humanism.232 Marx once said: “Industry and the already existing objectified existence of industry are an open book of the essential powers of man, a psychology of man that is sensuously present before us.”[5]192 Is the widespread application of digital technology not also an open book of human essence in the digital age and a psychology of human essence laid open before us? Therefore, the arrival and rapid development of the digital age require us to keep pace with the times, expand our theoretical horizons, follow the trend, and continuously innovate and improve the pattern and logic of ideological and political education.

简言之，立足马克思主义的对象化思维、马克思主义关于人的本质的现实性及其关系性呈现等重要理论基点，深刻审视数字化技术及其与人的关系，可以真切地体会到数字技术对于我们深刻全面鲜活地把握人的本质，做好思想政治教育工作具有重要价值。“随着社会日益数字化，人工智能日益融入政府职能和各种产品中，其影响可能使我们避无可避。”[2]232马克思曾经说过：“工业的历史和工业的已经生成的对象性的存在，是一本打开了的关于人的本质力量的书，是感性地摆在我们面前的人的心理学。”[5]192数字技术的普遍应用，不也是数字化时代关于人的本质的书和打开了的关于人的本质的心理学吗？因此，数字化时代的到来及其迅猛发展，要求我们必须与时俱进拓展理论视野，顺势而为，不断创新和改进思想政治教育格局和理路。

II. Leveraging Digital Technology to Deepen the People-Centered Educational Concept

二、借力数字化技术，深化以人为本教育理念

Adhering to a people-centered approach in ideological and political education requires deepening and specifying which human traits or attributes are taken as the foundation. In the history of human thought, regarding the concept of people-centeredness, Western traditional philosophy has seen a divergence between defining human nature by rational spirit or by sensual desire; the former views man as an angel, the latter as a beast. Feuerbach regarded man as a “sensuous object,” while Marx regarded man as “sensuous activity.” In the textbook *Basic Principles of Marxism*, man is defined as a complex living being possessing multiple attributes such as naturalness, sociality, and spirituality. These ideas and concepts provide important mirrors for us to deepen and implement the people-centered educational concept in the digital age.

思想政治教育坚持以人为本，要求深化和具体到以人的什么特质或属性为本。在人类思想史上，关于以人为本的观点，西方传统哲学曾出现过或以理性精神规定人性，或以感性欲望规定人性的分歧，前者视人为天使，后者视人为野兽；费尔巴哈把人视为“感性对象”，而马克思把人视为“感性活动”，在《马克思主义基本原理》教材中则把人规定为兼具自然性、社会性、精神性等多重属性的复杂的生命体。这些思想理念，为我们立足数字化时代，深化落实以人为本教育理念，提供了重要镜鉴。

To deepen and implement the people-centered educational concept in ideological and political education, we should avoid the polar opposition of Western traditional philosophy that views man either as an angel or as a beast, transcend Feuerbach’s mechanical view of man as a “sensuous object,” and implement the Marxist dialectical view of man as “sensuous activity.” This fully follows and bases itself on the multiplicity and complexity of human life-nature emphasized by Marxism, deepening the implementation of the people-centered educational concept. In the current era of digital flourishing, achieving this educational goal requires, as a prerequisite, a profound understanding and grasp of the Marxist viewpoint discussed earlier that man exists in an objectified manner. It also requires leveraging digital technology to comprehensively and vividly grasp the life characteristics of people, guide their life practices, and shape their spiritual character.

思想政治教育深化落实以人为本教育理念，应避免西方传统哲学或把人视为天使或把人视为野兽的两极对立的人性观，超越费尔巴哈把人理解为“感性对象”的机械人性观，要贯彻马克思主义把人理解为“感性活动”的辩证人性观，从而充分遵循和依据马克思主义所强调的人之生命本性的多重性、复杂性，深化落实以人为本教育理念。在当前数字化勃兴的时代，实现这一教育目标，前提是深刻地理解和把握前文所论述的马克思主义关于人以对象化方式存在的观点，借力数字化技术，全面、生动地把握人的生命特质，引导人的生活实践，塑造人的精神品格。

(1) Leveraging digital technology can avoid isolated and one-sided viewpoints, implement an organic and interconnected holistic viewpoint, and achieve a comprehensive grasp and holistic cultivation of educational objects.

（一）借力数字化技术可以避免孤立片面的观点，落实有机联系的整体性观点，实现对教育对象的全面性把握、整体性培育

Real people, as living beings, whether in terms of their multiple existences like limbs and senses, or their multidimensional attributes like naturalness, sociality, and spirituality, constitute a holistic existence where multiplicity coexists, multiple dimensions co-exist, and all are linked and integrated into one. The person we perceive intuitively is a holistic person. However, once we understand people through rational means and grasp them through concepts, every link in our cognitive process and every concept we use to express understanding always represents a partial, one-sided understanding of people. Only by linking these one-sided understandings and aggregating the determinations of people through different concepts can we form an understanding of the holistic, organic interconnection of people. But under traditional technological conditions, this holistic, organically interconnected understanding could only be grasped through philosophical speculation or “habitual association.” Our concrete understanding of people and the conceptual descriptions of that concrete understanding were always isolated, one-sided, and even partial. These shortcomings can be effectively overcome through digital technology, especially through databases or big data formed by digital technology.

现实的人作为鲜活的生命体，无论是五官四肢等多重存在，还是其自然性、社会性、精神性等多维属性，都是一个多重共存、多维共在、联结凝聚为一体的整体存在。我们直观所感知到的人是一个整体的人，但是一旦我们以理性的方式认识人、以概念的方式来把握人的时候，我们认识过程的每一个环节、我们用以表达认识的每一个概念，总是对人的局部的、片面性的认识和把握，只有使片面的认识联结起来，把通过不同的概念对人的规定汇总起来，才能形成对人的整体的有机联系的认识。但是这种整体的有机联系的认识，在传统技术背景下只有通过哲学的思辨或“习惯性联想”的方式才能得以领会，而我们对于人的具体认识以及对于具体认识的概念描述，总是孤立的、片面的，甚至是以偏概全的，而这些弊端通过数字技术特别是借助于数字技术所形成的数据库或大数据，则能够得到有效克服。

Digital technology can comprehensively collect and aggregate information about people in digital form, forming databases or big data about people. Numbers themselves are naturally linked and continuous; digital technology can present information about people directly and holistically, without the need for philosophical speculation or habitual association. That is to say, digital technology can transform the dialectical development process of cognition under traditional technological conditions—from concrete intuition to abstract one-sidedness, and then to abstract (speculative) concreteness—into a process from concrete intuition to virtual abstraction, and then to virtual concreteness. In other words, by leveraging digital technology, it is possible to virtually yet holistically and vividly present the life characteristics of people. As long as we clearly define the research object, digital technology can present us with a holistic, vivid, and lifelike image of the object, aggregated from data information.

数字技术能够把关于人的信息以数字的方式全面地收集、汇聚起来，形成关于人的数据库或大数据，数字本身是自然联结和连续的，数字技术能够把关于人的信息直接地整体性地呈现出来，无须借助于哲学思辨或习惯性联想。也就是说，数字技术能够把传统技术条件下的，由直观的具体到抽象的片面，再到抽象的（思辨的）具体的认识辩证发展的过程，现实地转化为由直观的具体到虚拟的抽象，再到虚拟的具体的过程。即借助于数字技术，能够虚拟地却是整体生动地呈现人的生命特质。只要我们明确研究对象，数字技术就能够给我们展现一个由数据信息汇聚而成的整体的生动、鲜活的关于对象的形象。

(2) Leveraging digital technology can avoid mechanical and static viewpoints, implement a developmental and changing generative viewpoint, and achieve a dynamic grasp and continuous guidance of educational objects.

（二）借力数字化技术可以避免机械静止的观点，落实发展变化的生成性观点，实现对教育对象的动态性把握、持续性引导

The authentic state of human life is a state of dynamic generation, whether it concerns the natural physical life of a person or their social spiritual character. However, when we grasp people through objectifying thinking and treat their objectified existence as some specific artifact or identity, we often violate the generative and changing nature of people, instead understanding them as a relatively fixed, already completed being. On this point, some scholars have keenly pointed out: “As the crystallization of the essence of cosmic evolution, humanity has once been everything, yet cannot be reduced to any one thing it once was—that is, it is nothing at all.” [6]27 Confucius said, “The gentleman is not a vessel” [7]20, emphasizing that a person should not become a relatively fixed, singular existence, but should become a continuously enriched, comprehensively developed person—this also contains similar and interconnected viewpoints. In fact, not only does understanding human attributes through objectified artifacts lead to the ideological drawbacks of stasis, fixation, and closure, but using linguistic concepts to express our understanding of people likewise leads to these same drawbacks. Because concepts have definite meanings, the “determination” of a person or thing by a concept is also a “limitation” of that person or thing, and “limitation” inevitably produces the negative consequences of stasis, fixation, and closure. What the ancients meant by “The Way that can be spoken is not the constant Way; the name that can be named is not the constant name” [8]2, and what people often refer to as “words cannot fully express meaning,” likely also indicates the problem we are pointing out here.

人的生命的本真状态，是一种动态生成中的状态，无论人的自然肉体生命还是人的社会精神品格都是如此。但是，当我们依循对象化思维把握人，而作为人的对象化存在是某种具体器物或身份的时候，往往就违背了人的生成变化性，而把人理解成了某种相对固定的已完成了的存在物。关于这一点，有学者就敏锐地指出：“人作为宇宙进化精华的结晶，他什么都曾经是过，然而又不能把他归结为任一是过的事物，即什么都不是”[6]27。孔子讲“君子不器”[7]20，强调人不应该成为某种相对固定的单一性的存在，而应该成为不断丰富着的全面发展的人，其中也蕴含相似相通的观点。事实上，不仅借助于对象化的器物理解人的属性会导致静止、固定、封闭的思想弊端，而且我们借助于语言概念来表达对人的认识，同样会导致对人的理解的静止、固定、封闭的思想弊端。因为概念具有确定的意涵，概念对于人或物的“规定”即是对人或物的“限定”，而“限定”必然会产生静止、固定、封闭的消极后果。古人所讲的“道可道，非常道；名可名，非常名”[8]2。以及人们常说的“言不尽意”，大概也表明了我们这里所指出的问题。

To avoid understanding and recognizing human issues from a mechanical and static perspective, it is necessary to transcend the modes of thinking and discourse systems that, under traditional technological conditions, use artifacts or written language as carriers to express and define people. Instead, we should employ new carriers of thought and discourse that differ from these and align with the generative and changing nature of people. Digital technology and data information can precisely meet this need. The digital informational grasp of people—that is, the collection and aggregation of digital information—enables it to virtually depict and present human forms and attributes without “adhering to” any artifact, thereby avoiding the limitations of materialized determination. Moreover, because digital data itself does not exist in isolation but forms a continuous system, it naturally endows its determination of people with continuity and extensibility. Furthermore, the process of grasping people through datafication and informatization is itself a process of continuous information aggregation and enrichment. This generative nature of continuous aggregation precisely corresponds to the generative nature of changes in human essence and attributes, thereby enabling data information to tend toward alignment and synchronization with the development and changes of people themselves.

要避免以机械静止的观点认识和理解人的问题，就要超越传统技术条件下以器物或文字语言为载体表述、规定人的思维方式和话语体系，运用与之不同的、与人的生成变化性相契合的新的思想与话语载体，而数字技术和数据信息恰恰能够满足这一需要。数字对人的信息化把握，即数字信息的收集汇聚，使其能够“不着”任何器物地、虚拟地刻画和呈现人的样态与属性，也就避免了实物化规定的限定性。加之数字本身不是孤立存在的，而是一个连续的系统，自然地就会使其对人的规定具有连续性、延展性。此外，以数据化、信息化方式把握人的过程本身是一个信息不断汇聚、丰富的过程，这种不断汇聚的生成性恰恰因应了人自身本质及属性的变化生成性，从而能够使数据信息与人自身的发展变化趋向于同向同轨。

(3) Leveraging digital technology can avoid the view that people are alienated from the world, implement the view of the mutual generation of people and the world as a unity, and achieve an open grasp and coherent shaping of educational subjects.

（三）借力数字化技术可以避免人与世界相疏离的观点，落实人与世界一体的相生性观点，实现对教育对象的开放性把握、贯通性塑造

The Marxist worldview tells us that people are people within the world, and the world is the world of people. We cannot discuss the world apart from people, nor can we discuss people apart from the world. Marx once said that the “perceptual world around us is by no means something directly given from the beginning of the world, always identical, but the product of industry and social conditions” [4]4 “Fostering virtue through education” (立德树人) is a core principle of Chinese education policy, emphasizing moral cultivation as the foundation of talent development.155. He also believed: “Nature, insofar as it is not the human body itself, is the inorganic body of man” [5]161. In Marx’s view, the process of human development is the process of mutual generation between people and the world (nature). He profoundly pointed out: “Completed naturalism equals humanism, and as completed humanism equals naturalism” [5]185, and “Society is the completed essential unity of man with nature, the true resurrection of nature, the realized naturalism of man and the realized humanism of nature” [5]187. Additionally, the famous Western existentialist philosopher Heidegger used the term “Dasein” to refer to this special kind of life existence that is human, emphasizing the mutual generation, co-construction, and co-presence of people and the world. As Heidegger stated: “Dasein, as it is, is in the world in the mode of being-in-the-world” [9]82.

马克思主义世界观告诉我们，人是世界中的人，世界是人的世界，不能脱离人谈世界，也不能脱离世界谈人。马克思曾经说过，我们“周围的感性世界决不是某种开天辟地以来就直接存在的、始终如一的东西，而是工业和社会状况的产物”[4]155。他还认为：“自然界，就它自身不是人的身体而言，是人的无机的身体。”[5]161在马克思看来，人类发展的过程，就是人与世界（自然）相互生成的过程。他深刻地指出：“完成了的自然主义，等于人道主义，而作为完成了的人道主义，等于自然主义”[5]185，“社会是人同自然界的完成了的本质的统一，是自然界的真正复活，是人的实现了的自然主义和自然界的实现了的人道主义”[5]187。此外，西方著名生存论哲学家海德格尔用“此在”指称人这种特殊的生命存在，强调的也是人与世界的相生、同构、共在的属性。正如海德格尔所言：“此在如其所在地就在世界之中存在。”[9]82

Undoubtedly, people should be understood and grasped within the world they inhabit—that is, within their specific life circumstances—namely, in the integrated, mutually generative relationship between people and the world. However, whether in theoretical research or daily life, people are always accustomed to understanding people through the thinking of subject-object dichotomy, or even subject-object opposition, to the point of attending to one aspect while neglecting the other, falling into one-sidedness. Either people are isolated from the world, one-sidedly emphasizing the subjective aspect, or the world is regarded as a self-existing world unrelated to people, one-sidedly emphasizing the objective aspect, while failing to see the mutual permeability between subject and object, or the co-generative co-presence of people and the world. This ultimately makes it impossible to truly grasp the real state of real people in the real world. However, digital technology can informatize and datafy people and the world around them, forming an information repository or big data that comprehensively reflects and grasps people and their world. Moreover, these information repositories or big data are always in a state of continuous enrichment and growth. When researchers need it, the information about people and the world can be holographically present, fully entering the researcher’s field of vision. Furthermore, long-term data aggregation will enable the information about people and the world to vividly reflect the “original” state of the co-presence of people and the world. That is to say, whether it is data about people or data about their life world, as data collected and aggregated through digital information and presented to researchers, their homogeneity and holographic presence determine that digital technology and its grasp of people and their life world must be a co-present reflection of people and their life world, without causing alienation or opposition between people and the world.

毋庸置疑，应该把人放在其所在的世界即具体生活境遇中予以理解和把握，即在人与世界一体相生关系中理解和把握人。但是，无论在理论研究还是日常生活中，人们总是习惯于以主客二分甚至主客对立的思维来理解人，以至于顾此失彼，陷于片面性之中。要么把人从世界中隔离出来，片面强调主体、主观的方面，要么把世界视为与人无关的自在的世界，片面强调客体、客观的方面，而看不到主客体之间的相互渗透性、人与世界的相生共在性，最终导致无法真切地把握真实世界中的人的真实样态。然而，数字技术却能够把人及其周围的世界信息化、数据化，形成全面反映和把握人及其世界的信息库或大数据，并且这些信息库或大数据一直处于不断丰富增长的状态。当研究者需要时，人与世界的信息就能够全息到场，全面进入研究者的视界，而且长期的数据汇聚会使关于人与世界的信息逼真地映现出人与世界共在的“本有”状态。也就是说，无论是关于人的数据还是关于人的生活世界的数据，作为数据以数字信息收集汇聚及其向研究者的呈现，其同质性、全息到场性，决定了数字技术及其对人及其生活世界的把握，必然是人与其生活世界共在映现，而不会造成人与世界的疏离与对立。

III. Skillfully Use Digital Logic to Implement the Fundamental Task of Fostering Virtue and Nurturing Talent [3]3 “Fostering virtue and nurturing talent” (立德树人) is a fundamental task of education in China, emphasizing moral cultivation as the basis for talent development.

三、善用数字化逻辑，落实立德树人根本任务

The development of digital technology profoundly changes people’s ways of living and interacting, exerting a far-reaching impact on ideological and political education. Ideological and political education “can only master the complexity of technology transforming education by directly confronting the technological trends of the times and scientifically grasping their inherent logic” [10], combining the basic laws of ideological and political education with digital logic to implement the fundamental task of fostering virtue and nurturing talent.

数字技术的发展深刻改变着人的生存交往方式，对思想政治教育带来了深远影响。思想政治教育“唯有直面技术冲击的时代潮流，科学把握其内在逻辑，才能驾驭技术变革教育的复杂性”[10]，把思想政治教育基本规律与数字化逻辑相结合，落实好立德树人根本任务。

(1) Become Familiar with the Process Paradigm of Digital Technology Empowering Scientific Research

（一）熟悉数字技术赋能科学研究的流程范式

To use digital technology to empower ideological and political education, one must first understand the basic mechanism of scientific research involving digital technology, and on this basis, clarify the basic mode of digital technology’s participation in ideological and political education. Currently, some scholars have provided a summary explanation of the basic paradigm of scientific research involving digital technologies represented by artificial intelligence technology, clarifying the basic process of applying digital technology to scientific research: “According to the research goals of human scientists, relevant data and knowledge are translated into machine language. On this basis, a neural network capable of achieving the research goals is constructed, and through training, functions (between data and knowledge) are fitted, and a larger problem-solving space is obtained through generalization” [11]. In this process, the “autonomous operation” process combining digital machines and digital information is a “black box” link that specific scientific and technical workers in various industries do not need to participate in. “In some cases, scientists do not build specialized neural networks but, based on general large models (such as ChatGPT, etc.), input professional knowledge into them, train and fine-tune them, transforming them into specialized domain models, thereby acquiring professional domain knowledge and assisting scientific research activities” [11]. Therefore, the above description of the process paradigm of digital technology participating in scientific research can be summarized into three basic links: first, the researcher poses a question; second, using machines and digital technology to collect data, clarify goals, and shape data relationships; third, the researcher seeks solutions to the problem from the machine and digital technology system, and screens, optimizes, and verifies the conclusions.

运用数字技术赋能思想政治教育，首先要理解数字技术参与的科学研究的基本机制，在此基础上明确数字技术参与思想政治教育的基本方式。当前已有学者对以人工智能技术为代表的数字技术参与科学研究的基本范式进行了总结性阐释，明确了数字技术应用于科学研究的基本流程——“依据人类科学家的研究目标，将相关数据、知识转译为机器语言，在此基础上构建可实现研究目标的神经网络，并通过训练拟合出（数据、知识间的）函数，通过泛化来获得更大的解题空间”[11]。在这一流程中，数字机器与数字信息相结合“自主运转”的过程，就各行业具体科技工作者来说，是无须参与的“黑箱”环节，“在某些情况下，科学家并不构建专业的神经网络，而是在通用大模型（如ChatGPT等）的基础上，对其输入专业知识并进行训练与微调，使其转变成专业领域模型，从而获取专业领域知识、辅助科研活动”[11]。因此，上述关于数字技术参与科学研究流程范式的描述，可以概括为3个基本环节：一是研究者提出问题，二是借助于机器及数字技术收集数据、明确目标、形构数据关系，三是研究者向机器及数字技术系统求解问题，并对结论进行筛选、优化、验证。

If the operational mechanism, process paradigm, and basic links of digital technology participating in scientific research are combined with the process and laws of ideological and political education, integrating the educational goals and requirements of ideological and political education with digital technology, a practical plan and working model for digital technology empowering ideological and political education can be formed.

如果把数字技术参与科学研究的运行机理、流程范式、基本环节与思想政治教育过程及其规律相结合，融思想政治教育育人目标、要求与数字技术于一体，就可以形成数字技术赋能思想政治教育的实践方案和工作模式。

(2) Clarify the Practical Strategy for Digital Technology Empowering Ideological and Political Education

（二）明确数字技术赋能思想政治教育的实践方略

Ideological and political education, as an activity that systematically influences and shapes educational subjects in accordance with the qualities and literacy requirements proposed by the state and society for the objects of education, follows the basic logic of raising problems, analyzing problems, and solving problems. It addresses the gap and contradiction between the state and society’s requirements for the qualities and literacy of educational subjects and the actual state of those subjects’ qualities and literacy. From the perspective of its working logic and themes, leveraging digital technology to empower and enhance it is not only necessary but also feasible.

思想政治教育作为依据国家和社会提出的关于教育对象的素质和素养要求，对教育对象进行系统的有目的的影响与塑造活动，沿循提出问题、分析问题、解决问题的基本思路，解决国家和社会关于教育对象素质和素养要求与教育对象现实的素质和素养状况之间的差距和矛盾问题。从其工作思路和主题来看，借助于数字技术对其赋能增效不但必要，而且可行。

Competent authorities and ideological and political education workers, in their daily work, strive to fully convert all information—every element of education, each process, policy documents, special cases, etc.—into digital information, establishing a powerful, continuously enriched and updated digital information system. When implementing specific work tasks, they raise the problems to be solved, input them into the data information repository to collect information and materials, inquire about work ideas, and solicit work plans, which can greatly improve work efficiency. In this process, the educator’s act of raising problems and clarifying work tasks is the prerequisite and key link. To implement this link well, in addition to the educator clarifying the basic problems they face through careful observation and deep reflection, it is also necessary to rely on the information repository or big data to address two aspects: first, clarifying the state and society’s educational goals and requirements; second, clarifying the relevant qualities and literacy status of the educational subjects. On this basis, the tasks to be completed and the problems to be solved are further clarified and transformed into work instructions for digital machines and data systems. These work instructions are then input into the digital machines and data systems, and with the help of the machines and data systems, work ideas and solutions are formed. The subsequent work involves the educator further optimizing and refining the work ideas and plans, conducting trial implementation and testing, and evaluating their actual effects against the state and society’s educational goals. Naturally, the entire process information will be remembered and recorded by the data system, so that each use of the digital system serves to enrich, update, and strengthen it, gradually perfecting the digital ideological and political education system.

主管部门和思想政治教育工作者，在日常工作中努力把教育的每种要素、各个过程、政策文件、特殊案例等全部信息充分转化为数字化信息，建立起强大的不断充实更新的数字信息系统，在落实具体工作任务时，提出要解决的问题，输入数据信息库收集信息资料、问询工作思路、征求工作方案，能够极大地提高工作效率。在这一过程中教育者提出问题、明确工作任务是前提和关键环节，落实好这一环节，除了需要教育者通过细心体察和深入思考明确自己面对的基本问题，还需要借助于信息库或大数据解决两个方面的问题，一是明确国家和社会的育人目标和要求，二是明确教育对象的相关素质素养状况，在此基础上使要完成的任务和解决的问题进一步明确化，并转化为数字机器及数据系统工作指令，然后把工作指令输入数字机器及数据系统，借助机器及数据系统形成工作思路和解决方案。后续的工作便是教育者进一步优化完善工作思路和方案，进行试行检验，并把其效果对照国家与社会的育人目标进行实效评价。当然整个流程信息会被数据系统记忆和留痕，从而使每一次对数字化系统的运用都是对系统的充实、更新和强化，使数字化思想政治教育系统日臻完善。

(III) Adhere to a people-centered approach to enhance the quality and level of digital ideological and political education

（三）坚持以人为本提升数字化思想政治教育质量水平

Currently, the application of digital technology in ideological and political education is still in its initial stage, and there is still a considerable distance from a high-level digital ideological and political education that fully demonstrates its efficiency advantages; multiple efforts are required. In terms of the current model of ideological and political education work, offline, embodied, and real-world educational and teaching models remain the dominant mode. However, we must recognize that the digitalization of ideological and political education is an irreversible major trend. While grounded in the present and carrying out offline, embodied, real-world ideological and political education work, educational authorities and the vast number of educators should actively look to the future, promote the digital development of ideological and political education, enhance the ability to apply digital technology, and comprehensively advance the digitalization process of ideological and political education. This involves comprehensively converting the principles and methods, policy documents, elements and mechanisms, case materials, etc., of ideological and political education into digital information, and constructing an increasingly rich and powerful digital information resource repository for ideological and political education that reflects the will of the Party and the state and meets the needs of citizens’ literacy improvement. Cyberspace is the frontline of ideological work; digital technology and digital information space are sharp tools and key battlegrounds for ideological struggle. To cultivate new-era figures capable of shouldering the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, it is necessary to strengthen the application of digital technology and the construction of digital positions. As the digital technology capabilities of the vast number of ideological and political education workers improve and the digital ideological and political education information repository is enriched and perfected, ideological and political education practice will increasingly rely on digital technology and digital information. High-level digital ideological and political education will become an important carrier for high-quality and efficient ideological and political education.

当前，数字技术的思想政治教育应用尚处于起步阶段，离效能优势充分彰显的高水平数字化思想政治教育尚有较大距离，须作多方面努力。就目前的思想政治教育工作模式来讲，线下的、涉身的、现实的教育教学模式依然是思想政治教育的主导模式。但是，我们要意识到思想政治教育的数字化乃是不可逆转的大趋势，教育主管部门和广大教育工作者在立足当下做好线下的、涉身的现实的思想政治教育工作的过程中，要积极面向未来，推动思想政治教育数字化发展，提高数字技术应用能力，整体推进思想政治教育数字化进程，把思想政治教育的原理方法、政策文件、元素机制、案例素材等全方位地向数字信息转化，构建日益丰富强大的反映党和国家意志，满足公民素养提升需要的思想政治教育数字信息资源库。网络空间是意识形态工作的前沿阵地，数字技术和数字信息空间是意识形态斗争的利器和重镇，培养堪当民族复兴大任的时代新人，必须强化数字技术应用和数字阵地建设。随着广大思想政治教育工作者数字技术能力的提高和数字化思想政治教育信息库的充实完善，思想政治教育实践会越来越倚重数字技术和数字信息，高水平的数字化思想政治教育将成为优质高效思想政治教育的重要载体。

Of course, no matter how far digital ideological and political education develops, it can never completely replace offline, embodied, real-world ideological and political education—just as robots cannot completely replace humans, and artificial intelligence cannot completely replace human intelligence. A people-centered approach is a fundamental principle consistently adhered to in ideological and political education. Whether in the current process of digitalizing ideological and political education or after the emergence of high-level digital ideological and political education in the future, digital technology and digital resources are only auxiliary means for us to do a good job in ideological and political education work. The conclusions and plans for ideological and political education generated by digital technology and digital resources must be evaluated and corrected against the pre-set goals of ideological and political education. Every key step and important link in the digitalization process of ideological and political education must be maintained with high vigilance and critical reflection. Only in this way can we avoid the alienating phenomenon of humans being controlled and counter-controlled by technology and machines, and effectively implement the fundamental task of fostering virtue through education. [4]4 “Fostering virtue through education” (立德树人) is a core principle of Chinese education policy, emphasizing moral cultivation as the foundation of talent development.

当然，无论数字化思想政治教育发展到何种地步，其终归无法完全取代线下、涉身、现实的思想政治教育，这与机器人无法完全取代人、人工智能不能完全取代人类智能是一个道理。以人为本是思想政治教育始终坚持的基本原则，无论是在当下的思想政治教育数字化进程中，还是未来的高水平的数字化思想政治教育出现以后，数字技术与数字资源都只是我们做好思想政治教育工作的辅助手段。对于数字技术和数字资源所生成的思想政治教育结论和方案，都要对照预先设定的思想政治教育目标予以评价和矫正，对于思想政治教育数字化进程中的每一个关键步骤和重要环节都要保持高度审思和警醒，唯有如此，才能避免出现人被技术和机器反制的异化现象，优质高效地落实立德树人根本任务。

Online editor: Tongxin

网络编辑：同心