如何理解“人类创造历史”——对一个复杂命题的新解读

Rethinking "Men Make History"——A New Analysis of a Complex Statement

"人类创造历史"是一个由马克思提出、但却未来得及加以详细说明的复杂命题,其中包含了"人类是谁"、"历史是什么"、"人类如何创造历史"、"人类在什么条件下创造历史"等有待进一步廓清的问题。必须结合"历史性"、"反思性"等概念才能理解"历史"的含义,必须从结构二重性的角度出发才能理解"创造"的含义。从总体来说,该命题以一种非常精练的方式概括了人类行动与社会历史之间的关系。它表明,历史是人类创造的,但历史并不总是按照人类设计好的方案向前发展,行动的意外后果和行动未预见到的后果是人类在创造历史的过程中必然发挥作用的因素。马克思对于资本主义的分析有着重大的意义,我们当今仍然未能超出马克思生活的时代给他提出的问题。

＂Men make history＂ is a complicated statement brought forward by Karl Marx but was not clearly illustrated by him. This concise statement in fact contains questions such as ＂Who is man＂, ＂What is history＂, ＂How does man make his history＂, and ＂Under what kind of background does man make his history＂, etc. The understanding of the connotation of ＂history＂ needs to connect it with the concepts of ＂historicity＂ and ＂reflexivity＂, as well as ＂make＂ with the duality of structure. Generally speaking, this statement precisely generalized the relationship between human action and social histo- ry. It indicates that men make history, but the latter does not always develop along the blue print of the designation of human race. Unintended consequences and unforeseen consequences are necessary accompanied with the process of making history. Marx＇s analysis of capitalism has great significance, so far we haven＇t walked out the problems disclosed by him.