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The dialectical movement of practice and cognition and its laws

The dialectical movement of practice and cognition is a leap from perceptual cognition to rational cognition, and from rational cognition to practice. It is a dialectical development process of practice, cognition, practice again, cognition again, and endless cycles. From practice to cognition, and then from cognition to practice, people realize the dialectical movement process of understanding specific things. After two leaps, is the movement of practice and cognition completed? The answer is: it is both completed and not completed.

(I) The completion and incompleteness of the dialectical movement of practice and cognition

  1. It is said to be "completed"

  2. For the cognition of specific things. In this stage of the leap from cognition to practice, if the expected purpose can be achieved, and the expected ideas, theories, plans and programs can be turned into facts or roughly turned into facts in practice, then people's cognition movement of a certain objective process in a certain development stage can be considered completed. For example, the realization of engineering plans, the confirmation of scientific hypotheses, the completion of excellent works of art, the implementation of socialism from ideal to reality, etc., all belong to the realization of the expected purpose and the confirmation of the original cognition. However, the actual situation is often more complicated:

  3. The complexity and variability of things: Even the understanding of individual and specific things has to go through many repetitions. Unexpected situations often occur in practice, and the original ideas, theories, plans and programs may not be in line with reality in part or in full. Therefore, partial changes and adjustments or even complete changes in ideas, theories, plans and programs are possible.

  4. Multiple failures and error corrections: Many times, after many failures and constant error corrections, the unity of the subjective and the objective can be achieved and the expected results can be obtained in practice.

  5. It is said that it is "not completed again"

  6. In terms of the forward progress and forward development of the process of practice and cognitive movement. People's practice is moving forward and developing forward, and people's cognitive movement should also move forward and develop accordingly. After many repetitions from practice to cognition, and then from cognition to practice, a certain idea, theory, plan and program has achieved the expected results in practice. This is only for the cognitive movement of a certain individual thing or a certain type of thing. However, as Xi Jinping pointed out: "There is no end to practice, and there is no end to theoretical innovation. The world is changing every moment, and China is also changing every moment. We must keep up with the times in theory." The practice of changing objective reality moves forward again and again, and people's understanding of objective reality deepens again and again. The movement and change of the objective real world will never end, and people's understanding of truth in practice will never end. Therefore, we must "continue to understand the laws, and continue to promote theoretical innovation, practical innovation, institutional innovation, cultural innovation and other aspects of innovation."

(II) The basic process of the dialectical movement of practice and cognition

  1. The repetitive cycle and infinite development of cognition

  2. Mao Zedong emphasized: "A correct cognition often needs to go through many repetitions from matter to spirit, from spirit to matter, that is, from practice to cognition, and from cognition to practice, before it can be completed." In this way, "practice, cognition, practice again, cognition again, repeating endlessly, and the content of each cycle of practice and cognition has been relatively advanced to a higher level. This is the entire epistemology of dialectical materialism, and this is the unity of knowledge and action in dialectical materialism." This process is the basic process of the development of the dialectical movement of cognition, and it is also the general law of the movement of cognition, indicating that cognition is a process of repetitive cycle and infinite development.

  3. This process is not only a process of cognition deepening and developing in the direction of scientificity on the basis of practice, but also a process of practice deepening and advancing in the direction of rationality under the guidance of cognition. This process is neither a closed cycle nor a linear development. It is often full of twists and turns and even repetitions, so it is a process of wave-like advancement and spiral rise.

  4. The unity of the subjective and the objective

  5. In the dialectical movement of practice and cognition, the subjective must be unified with the objective, and cognition must be unified with practice. This unity is the unity of the contradiction between cognition and practice in development, and is a concrete and historical unity.
  6. Concrete unity: refers to the fact that subjective cognition must be consistent with objective practice at a certain time, place, and conditions. It is concrete, not abstract.
  7. Historical unity: refers to the fact that subjective cognition must be consistent with objective practice at a specific historical development stage. Since objective practice is concrete and historical, subjective cognition should also be concrete and historical. When objective practice changes, subjective cognition should also change accordingly. "Our conclusion is the concrete historical unity of the subjective and the objective, theory and practice, knowledge and action, and opposes all erroneous ideas of the "left" or the right that are separated from concrete history."

Summary

The dialectical movement of practice and cognition and its laws embody the core ideas of Marxist epistemology. The process of cognition is a process of continuous deepening and repeated cycles. Through the constant alternation of practice and cognition, the subjective and objective, theory and practice, knowledge and action realize the concrete historical unity, and promote the continuous progress and development of human society.