Abstract

For a long time，Marx’s discourse of modernity has been stuck in German classical philosophy，but it is one-sided to interpret Marx’s thought of modernity only from the criticism and transcendence of Hegel and Feuerbach.The shortcoming of this research approach is that Marx’s criticism of modernity based on German classical philosophy is only the criticism in the field of social consciousness and neglects the criticism in the field of social existence.The German classical philosophy provided the methodological revelation for Marx’s modernity critique and could not be the realistic basis of Marx’s modernity critique.Taking “British Practice” as the starting point，this paper examines the issue of modernity in Marx’s theory of social criticism in order to overcome the one-sidedness of studying Marx’s thought of modernity based on German classical philosophy，realize the organic combination of criticism of social consciousness and criticism of social existence，further expand the research horizon of Marx’s thought of modernity，and show the integrity，scientific and practicality of Marx’s critique of the modernity society.

In Marx’s context，the critique of the modernity society is not only a critique of social consciousness including political law consciousness，morals，philosophy，but also criticism of social existence based on the mode of society.As for the logical approach of Marx’s critique of the modernity society，its modernity social critique has undergone a logical turn from the critique of consciousness of society to the critique of social existence，and the “material benefit” is the intrinsic source of stimulating this turn.Marx’s critique of the modernity society began with Hegel’s criticism of legal philosophy and focused on the relationship between law，man and state，while the backward social reality in Germany could not be regarded as the realistic basis for Marx’s criticism of legal philosophy，and the perplexity of “material benefit” finally prompted Marx to look for the answer to the problem beyond the confines of German classical philosophy to “British Practice”.“British Practice” clearly shows the historical generation，internal crisis and historical trend of modernity society，and objectively reflects that modernity society is a historical development process from self-affirmation to self-denial and self-transcendence.Marx’s critique of the modernity society based on “British Practice” not only reveals the real source of surplus value，but also lays the foundation of historical materialism that social being determines social consciousness.This paper aims to reveal the material source of modern social alienation by Marx’s critical Analysis of “British Practice”，to clarify the general law of modernity social development and to reconstruct the modernity society.

Marx’s critique of the modernity society based on “British Practice”consists of four parts which are the critique of social dynamic mechanism，the critique of social operating mechanism，the critique of social ideology and the construction of new modernity society.The alienation of the modernity society focuses on opposition between the industrial civilization and the human beings，the social operating mechanism based on capital increment，class consciousness of liberalism.Through revealing the essence of technology，social operating mechanism and social ideology，Marx’s critique of the modernity society is aimed to search actual method of overcoming the alienation of modernity society，eventually realizing the final destination that capitalism modernity society is replaced by the socialist modernity society.

Marx’s reference to German classical philosophy，especially the critical absorption of Hegel’s dialectics and theory of civil society thoughts，has laid a methodological foundation for the Critique of modernity society.But Marx’s modernity social critique is not limited to the social consciousness critique，but turns the attention focus to the society reality，turns to the most modernity characteristic “British practice”.Only “British practice” can dispel the problem of Marx’s “material benefit”，only “British practice” can comprehensively show the historical formation and historical trend of modernity society，only “British practice” can provide realistic basis for Marx’s Critique of Modernity society.Marx’s modernity Social critique based on “British Practice” expands the research horizons of Marx’s modernity thought，enriches the connotation of Marxist philosophy，and highlights the strong vitality，explanatory power and creativity of Marx’s historical materialism thought.

Key Words：Marx，“British Practice”，the Critique of Modernity Society