Four Essays on Philosophy

by Mao Zedong

Originally published in China in 1966, this book contains four essays on philosophy by Mao Tse-tung. They include "On Practice," "On Contradiction," "On the Correct Handling of Contradictions Among the People," and "Where Do Correct Ideas Come From?"

Genres: Philosophy, Nonfiction, Theory, China, Politics, History

144 pages, Paperback

First published May 10, 1960

About the author

Mao Zedong, also transliterated as Mao Tse-tung, and commonly referred to as Chairman Mao, was a Chinese Communist revolutionary, guerrilla warfare strategist, Marxist political philosopher, statesman and leader of the Chinese Revolution. He was the architect and founding father of the People's Republic of China (PRC) from its establishment in 1949, and held control over the nation until his death in 1976. His theoretical contribution to Marxism–Leninism, along with his military strategies and brand of policies, are collectively known as Maoism.

Mao rose to power by commanding the Long March, forming a Second United Front with Kuomintang (KMT) during the Second Sino-Japanese War to repel a Japanese invasion, and later led the Communist Party of China (CPC) to victory against Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek's KMT in the Chinese Civil War. Mao established political and military control over most of the territory formerly contained within the Chinese Empire and launched a campaign to suppress counterrevolutionaries. He sent the Communist People's Liberation Army into Xinjiang and Tibet but was unable to oust the remnants of the Nationalist Party from Taiwan. He enacted sweeping land reform by using violence and terror to overthrow landlords before seizing their large estates and dividing the land into people's communes. The Communist Party's final victory came after decades of turmoil in China, which included the Great Depression, a brutal invasion by Japan and a protracted civil war. Mao's Communist Party ultimately achieved a measure of stability in China, though Mao's efforts to close China to trade and market commerce, and eradicate traditional Chinese culture, have been largely rejected by his successors.

Mao styled himself "The Great Helmsman" and supporters continue to contend that he was responsible for some positive changes which came to China during his three decade rule. These included doubling the school population, providing universal housing, abolishing unemployment and inflation, increasing health care access, and dramatically raising life expectancy. A cult of personality grew up around Mao, and community dissent was not permitted. His Communist Party still rules in mainland China, retains control of media and education there and officially celebrates his legacy. As a result, Mao is still officially held in high regard by many Chinese as a great political strategist, military mastermind, and savior of the nation. Maoists promote his role as a theorist, statesman, poet, and visionary, and anti-revisionists continue to defend most of his policies.

Reviews

[Gerwin van der Linden · Rating 4 out of 5]

A collection of great essays, but of course, they're not perfect.

The first essay, On Practice, is by far the best one all around. In this short essay, written in the summer of 1937 (along with the second essay, On Contradiction), Mao explains how knowledge (and as a result, theory) is obtained through the process of perceiving, cognising and conceptualisation, and the flaws of the theories of empiricism and rationalism. He goes on to explain how theory can only be proven correct by putting it back into practice, so to return the knowledge to the material world from which it came. Mao explains his theory in great detail, in terminology that isn't too hard to understand (he wanted to educate the masses, after all), and objectively. Every concept, theory and argument in this essay is well-nuanced, and he provides ample practical examples where necessary.

The second essay, On Contradiction, is a good read as well, but Mao drags some points out for far too long, and his tone is more preachy than in the previous essay. In this essay, Mao splendidly explains Dialectical Materialism, which theorises that change and development, both natural and social, take place as a result of the internal contradictions in things, as opposed to the metaphysical theory, which theorises that change takes place because of external factors. He also goes into detail about the importance of the material and the social conditions, and how they influence each other. Aside from forming the base of Maoism, however, Mao spends quite some time throughout the essay criticising counterrevolutionaries, especially the dogmatist Marxists. At some points, this even makes him sound bitter, and those shifts away from his theory do decrease the quality of this essay. Nonetheless, On Practice and On Contradiction are obviously the essays in which he lies the basis for his own brand of Marxism-Leninism, which obviously improves on Stalin's flawed ideology.

The third essay, On the correct handling of contradictons among the people, written in 1957 (seven years after the victory of CPC), is somewhat more of a drag. Divided into twelve sections, Mao explains how contradictions can be both antagonistic (between the people and the enemy) and non-antagonistic (between the people themselves), and how to deal with contradictions between specific groups. While he puts forth some really good points about dealing with less dangerous forces (like the bourgeoisie at that point) as well as with counterrevolutionaries. The rest of the essay, though, consists of him looking back at (and at times gloating over) the successes of the past years, and his plans for the future. This essay is a lot more openly propagandistic than the previous two, which seriously harms the quality of it. It is also far too long. The important parts of the essay could easily be contained within a third of the length of the essay.

Finally, the fourth 'essay', Where do correct ideas come from?, is a short text reiterating some parts of the previous three essays, but basically repeats that ideas can only be proven correct after putting them back into practice, and adjusting them according to errors made. It's a nice, short conclusion.

So all in all, these four essays put forth some great theories, but Mao spends far too much time criticising his opponents (which is of course justified, but he shouldn't do it in theoretical essays) and gloating over his own success. Nevertheless, after getting a better understanding of Mao's theories, I'm definitely more sympathetic to his ideology (with a critical eye, of course).

[Nhi · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very accesible read for beginning Marxists! My personal favorites were On Practice and On Contradiction. I would definitely recommend reading Stalin’s Dialectical and Historical Materialism as a precursor.

[B Sarv]

Four Essays on Philosophy by Mao Zedong

The Four Essays referred to in the title are, “On Practice”, “On Contradiction”, “On the Correct Handling of Contradictions Among the People” and “Where Do Correct Ideas Come From.”

My overall impression of the essays was a combination of ambivalence and revelation. The ambivalence came as a result of all the high praise the Chairman had for Josef Stalin. The revelation came from some of the perspectives that he shared. As a result of reading this book I also developed an interest in finding out more about dialectic materialism. Philosophy has never been a strength of mine, however, so I’m not sure how that will go.

One of the groups that receives the most criticism in his essay, “On Contradiction” are people he labels dogmatists. I was particularly interested in this because it immediately reminded me of a book I read entitled “The Assassination of Maurice Bishop” by Godfrey Smith. In it, I learned that Bishop’s main adversary within the New Jewel Movement was Bernard Coard, who Smith often described as dogmatic. The Chairman wrote, “The principle of using different methods to resolve different contradictions is one which Marxist-Leninists must strictly observe. The dogmatists do not observe this principle; they do not understand that different methods should be used to resolve different contradictions; on the contrary, they invariable adopt what they imagine to be an unalterable formula and arbitrarily apply it everywhere, which only causes setbacks to the revolution or makes a sorry mess of what could have been done well.” (p. 39) Well this was a perfect description of the outcome of the Grenada Revolution as a result of Coard’s dogmatism - written decades before it happened. This was one of those moments in reading this book that I felt Chairman Mao had hit the nail on the head.

In the same essay he also spoke about imperialism in a way that made me think of Haiti, the Dominican Republic and much of the developing world. “When imperialism carries on its oppression not by war, but by milder means - political, economic and cultural - the ruling classes in semi-colonial countries capitulate to imperialism and the two form an alliance for the joint oppression of the masses of the people.” (p. 52). There are several historical examples of this and for evidence one need only think of the decades of U.S. support for Duvalier and his cronies in Haiti and Rafael Trujillo in the Dominican Republic.

Many of the things the author wrote about made me think about things I had encountered in other reading. For example, he makes the following statements about democracy and the existence of the Commuist Party in other countries: “The legal existence of the Communist Party is tolerated in some capitalist countries, but only to the extent that it does not endanger the fundamental interests of the bourgeoisie; it is not tolerated beyond that.” (p. 85) A little earlier he said: “But this so-called two-party system is nothing but a device for maintaining the dictatorship of the bourgeoisie; it can never guarantee freedom to the working people.” (p. 85). Twentieth century American history stands as proof of both of these statements. In the first instance, while the Communist Party was established in the United States it was ruthlessly suppressed by the corporate media, the FBI and various other governmental and non-governmental entities. This is particularly ironic because that nation touts itself as a paragon of democracy and liberal views towards freedom of speech and assembly, but its actions are not those of a secure democracy, rather those of a corporatist hypocrisy. In addition, the “so-called two-party” system in the United States has never been on the side of working people. One clear example of this is the decades long struggle to implement universal health care as a right. Another example is the undermining of the labor movement by legislative and judicial action.

Two other ideas that came out in the Essays struck me. Mao said, “Now there are two different attitudes towards learning from others. One is the dogmatic attitude of transplanting everything, whether or not it is suited to our conditions. This is no good. The other attitude is to use our heads and learn those things which suit our conditions, that is, to absorb whatever experience is useful to us. That is the attitude we should adopt.” (131) This makes a lot of sense to me and I have implemented it in small ways, even in my classroom. It is also a reason for assessing “foreign aid” with an eye of suspicion, since a lot of that kind of aid comes with strings attached. If we use our heads and see that the attached strings do not suit our conditions, we can realize that accepting it is more detrimental than it is beneficial. Finally, I think his perspective that all discussion, debate and resolution of decisions should start, “from a desire for unity, resolving contradictions through criticism or struggle and arriving at a new unity on a new basis.” (p. 87) Fundamentally, this would be what would empower any nation - an ethic of unity that supersedes a personal desire for wealth, power, or fame. I feel like this is what patriotism is about - not unity against a common enemy for a time but all parties striving for the best consensus which would bring about justice, truth and charity as ideals.

I enjoyed this look back on history, which also served as a test for the ways of thinking with which I was raised. I wonder what he would say if he were alive today and able to look back on where he was versus where China and the world are today.

[Dee · Rating 5 out of 5]

These works are simply indispensable to understand Marxism, its epistemological method, and dialectical materialism. A fantastic and accessible read that demands constant revisiting.

[Luke · Rating 3 out of 5]

A caveat: I read "cinq essais philosophique" so the essays I read could differ a bit from these four. I think, however, that they differ little.

I found Mao's writing and argumentation clear, powerful and, at times, even beautiful. I especially enjoyed the metaphor of a hundred flowers blooming. I came away from his work, furthermore, with a stronger understanding of the epistemological system of dialectics--and dialogue, for that matter. Because of Mao's emphasis on the importance of dialectics, and therefore of contradictory ideas, he presents a seemingly tolerant epistemological and political system--I mean to say a system that allows room for other ideas, gives them due consideration and together comes to a better understanding of a matter, with both opposing sides willing to bend their own view to that winds of reason and logic. He seemingly presents a sort of Socratic ideal. However, his ideas do concern me in that they do not provide a system as tolerant as he would have us believe.

My 20th century copy came directly from China. In addition, my special French language addition certainly indicates that the authorities would have authorized such information to move to the West. Much as many of the people living in China received, I imagine, propaganda, so to with this book. I speculate! Nevertheless, even in his work there rests and inkling of the dictator Mao who murdered many folks that did not agree with him. 1) Mao lays out a distinction about the types of contradictions. One type he labels as "contradictions along side the people" and the other, "contradictions against the people." He views the first group as natural and beneficial in society. The second group he views as enemies of the people and the state, right up to par with imperialistic Japan and USA. Although he does provide sic criteria for differentiating between these two contradictions, he does so in a later essay. In practice, too, he seemsly ruled in the second categories many Chinese who disagreed with him.
We must remember that he does almost exclusively cite Lenin when he does cite other Marxist thinkers. Lenin saw that the proletariat would not revolt by themselves. Thus, he established an elite group of trained revolutionaries to start the revolution. In effect, he made an aristocratic élite to help the proletariat gain access to a more equal society--the irony! Similarly, despite using Marx's idea of the "dictatorship" of the masses, we can see by example from Mao that he didn't democratically follow through. Moreover, he often turned fellow proletarians one against the other. Despite nice ideas of the dialectic, because Mao's government effectively replaced capitalistic, imperialistic ideology on a one-to-one basis, anyone, even if patriotic and ultimately a Marxist, that didn't agree completely with Mao could have ended up in hot water; this new state ideology rewarded folks who agreed with the dominant ideology and rewarded those who turned in perceived traitors. In effect, then, any dissident, however loyal to Marxism, could find him or herself at a social disadvantage (e.g. Getting job promotions, studying at university, etc.). In sum, Infound myself agreeing with many of Mao's points--especially those taken from Marx. However, I think the book that I read did serve an important role as a piece of propaganda and, moreover, despotism seems to lurk in between the lines.

[Michael Boyte · Rating 5 out of 5]

A clear, concise, and remarkably preciant collection of essays, breaking down the Marxist approach to knowing and changing the world. I read from a lovely Foreign Language Press edition, but it's all available on Marxists.org as well. On practice, on contradiction, on the correct handling of contradictions among the people, and where do correct ideas come from; all stand on their own as remarkable interventions, moments in the history of revolution, and instructions on how to think. Together they're a remarkable polemic against idealism, mechanical materialism, and dogma, and a solid introduction to dialectical materialism. Particularly worth contrasting with the more deterministic and mechanical approach of 'Foundations of Leninism', and a must read for anyone serious about changing the world.

[Sinan Öner]

Chinese Communist Party General Secretary, Founder of People's Republic of China, Historian, Philosopher, Poet, Diplomat, Politician, Writer Mao Zedong's "Four Essays on Philosophy" book contains his four different articles about philosophical questions which Mao Zedong improved! Mao Zedong thinks "on contradiction" and "dialectics of Chinese society" in his articles mostly. What is "contradiction" in concepts of philosophy, sciences and societies? Mao Zedong improved Marx's and Lenin's thoughts on "dialectic methodology" and "on contradiction" in his articles since his youth. Mao Zedong uses Chinese philosophy tradition for understanding modern philosophical concepts and questions, Mao Zedong warns Chinese Communists about "contradictions" of the world - in philosophy, in sciences, in social changes!

[Colin Helpio · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mao clearly lays out the importance of having a social practice and the process and development of knowledge in two of his essays here: "On Practice" and "Where Do Correct Ideas Come From?". They are both illuminating and I would recommend to anyone interested in anti-capitalist politics.

His essays on contradiction can be pretty heady and can feel circulatory at times. They were my least favorite but I believe I gained a better understanding of dialectical materialism after having read them.

These are a rather shirt read so you ought to give it a shot.

[Sunni | vanreads]

This is an interesting book on the philosophy of Mao Zedong. I found it to be helpful in understanding how certain philosophies have shaped China’s culture. Maybe I’ll update this later with a more detailed analysis and comparison.

[Kate · Rating 5 out of 5]

Compared to other Marxist writers and figures, Mao is very good at breaking down fundamental concepts in an accessible way to the every day person, which totally aligns with his belief in the Marxist theory of knowledge, social practice and the mass line.

[Ally McIntyre]

Very enjoyable, lucid read that broadened my understanding of dialectical materialism.

[van1998 · Rating 5 out of 5]

- การพัฒนาของกระบวนการภาวะวิสัย เป็นการพัฒนาที่เต็มไปด้วยความขัดแย้งและการต่อสู้

- นักลัทธิมาร์กยอมรับว่า ในกระบวนการพัฒนาที่สัมบูรณ์และทั่วไปของจักรวาลนั้น การพัฒนาของกระบวนการเฉพาะแต่ละกระบวน ล้วนเป็นสิ่งสัมพัทธ์ทั้งสิ้น
ฉะนั้น ในกระแสธารที่ไหลไม่รู้จบแห่งสัจธรรมสัมบูรณ์ ความรับรู้ของคนเราที่มีต่อกระบวนการเฉพาะของขั้นพัฒนาที่แน่นอนแต่ละขั้น จึงเป็นเพียงสัจธรรมสัมพัทธ์เท่านั้น
ยอดรวมแห่งสัจธรรมสัมพัทธ์ อันนับไม่ถ้วนนั่นแหละ คือสัจธรรมสัมบูรณ์

[Andika Abdul Basith · Rating 4 out of 5]

materialisme dialektis mengatakan bahwa teori-teori sangat bergantung pada praktek. Pengetahuan yang sesungguhnya hanya bisa didapatkan dari praktek-praktek. Yang paling menggelikan adalah ketika "orang-orang yang serba tahu" yang mendapat pengetahuan setengah matang dari ruang-ruang kelas lalu menyatakan dirinya "nomor satu di dunia".

Jika kita mempunyai teori yang tepat, tetapi hanya mengobrolkannya saja atau memasukkannya ke dalam laci, maka ini tidak ada artinya biar bagaimanapun juga baiknya

[Remo · Rating 1 out of 5]

Mi padre tenía este libro en su estantería y, aprovechando que en Filosofobia Filosofía teníamos a Marx, me lo leí para ver cómo el marxismo había influido a Mao. Y, sorprendentemente, lo único que había hecho Mao era fusilar, en sentido metafórico, a Marx. Leí el libro con todo Marx bastante fresco en la cabeza, y ni una sola idea del libro de Mao había quedado sin enunciar por Marx. Mao no aportó nada nuevo. Así que por ese lado decepcionado, pero por otro es una reenunciación del marxismo que cualquiera que lea no dejará de reconocer.

[Jozerep · Rating 4 out of 5]

Aquí encontré dos Maos. El Mao de 1937, con ideas claras que animan a seguir su camino hacia la revolución, y el Mao de 1957, dedicado a justificarse , después de muchos años de gobierno, con argumentos que ya no se sienten del todo sólidos. Un libro invaluable para acercarse a uno de los hombres más importantes de la historia.

[Nativeabuse · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is my second Mao book, really this is just disappointing again. It is just way too deep into theory and weird stuff that doesn't really interest me at all. Not much history or practical application here.

Really bland and next to unreadable.

[Dietcokedick]

good stuff here

[Ivan Labayne · Rating 3 out of 5]

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