Five Essays on Philosophy - by Mao Tsetung
So, this morning I woke up thinking how I wanted to go to the airport. Not really to fly away anywhere, but I miss that solid block of reading time I get before boarding. So, I went to have maintenance done on my truck - nearly as good for a long block of time - and I got at least superficially through Mao.
Hm. Great translation was my first thought (by Foreign Languages Press in Peking) - very accessible text. I'd be curious how its style is in the original Chinese.
Info here on Mao - http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/cold.war/kbank/profiles/mao/ - I don't recall reading his philosophy before. He has some really great ideas here - such as the relationship between practice and knowledge (rational and perceptive knowledge), the value of contradiction (and the differentiation from antagonism), and the nature of change and essence. But there were some very troubling ideas - such as his justification for persecuting his enemies, the reeducation of all, and the fact that his predictions for the Soviet Union were clearly invalidated over the past 20 years.
So, what does this mean? Because I was all with him in the beginning with his reasoning - his application is where I get hung up. I think Falun Dafa/Gong, I think Tiananmen Square, etc. Can somebody's ideas be so right and yet the manifestations often wrong? Fundamentally I disagree with him because I believe that if a system is correct and sound, one need not persecute its opposition.
Perhaps the way I'm able to be a Marxist is because he didn't manifest his ideas himself. Or because I read the texts too long ago, but now I'd find them more contentious. I still believe that socialism is a natural successor to capitalism - a more evolved state. So, I'm sometimes baffled by current affairs - perhaps the different market systems flow back and forth. Perhaps people aren't ready? Shrug. I'm still holding my breath for the real revolution, hoping I get to take part.
Hm. Great translation was my first thought (by Foreign Languages Press in Peking) - very accessible text. I'd be curious how its style is in the original Chinese.
Info here on Mao - http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/cold.war/kbank/profiles/mao/ - I don't recall reading his philosophy before. He has some really great ideas here - such as the relationship between practice and knowledge (rational and perceptive knowledge), the value of contradiction (and the differentiation from antagonism), and the nature of change and essence. But there were some very troubling ideas - such as his justification for persecuting his enemies, the reeducation of all, and the fact that his predictions for the Soviet Union were clearly invalidated over the past 20 years.
So, what does this mean? Because I was all with him in the beginning with his reasoning - his application is where I get hung up. I think Falun Dafa/Gong, I think Tiananmen Square, etc. Can somebody's ideas be so right and yet the manifestations often wrong? Fundamentally I disagree with him because I believe that if a system is correct and sound, one need not persecute its opposition.
Perhaps the way I'm able to be a Marxist is because he didn't manifest his ideas himself. Or because I read the texts too long ago, but now I'd find them more contentious. I still believe that socialism is a natural successor to capitalism - a more evolved state. So, I'm sometimes baffled by current affairs - perhaps the different market systems flow back and forth. Perhaps people aren't ready? Shrug. I'm still holding my breath for the real revolution, hoping I get to take part.
posted by NOLA at 10:19 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home