The Classical Semantics and Contemporary Significance of Karl Marx

LI Yi, LI Zhen

Abstract： "Human rights" are based on the universality of human beings and have always represented human beings' pursuit of freedom and liberation， so the study of human rights should not be limited to the particular experiences of a certain type of civilization or a certain stage of history. From the macro perspective of the history of human society development， Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels reflected on the achievements and limitations of human rights thought in Enlightenment era and bourgeois view of human rights practice， and probed into the root causes of their difficulties in entering reality and even their "alienation." They carefully examined the idealist conception of the philosophy of law and established a socialist theoretical framework for human rights from a materialist perspective. By analyzing the material basis of the bourgeois view of human rights and the reality of social relations， Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels profoundly criticized the bourgeois view of human rights as an inversion of "abstraction and concreteness，" refuted the conceptual attributes of the "theory of human right as a natural right，" and emphasized the social historical and practical root of human rights - not only revealing the historical rule that political emancipation in the sense of the bourgeois revolution is only a stage goal of the historical mission of human emancipation， but also exposing the subject of bourgeois view of human rights as a class with hypocrisy and alienated nature representing the interests of bourgeois privilege and the capital， and clarifying the class attributes of human rights in the context of a class society， which leads to human rights inevitably serving the interests of the ruling class and perpetuating historical inequality. As a result， the realization of human rights and human emancipation requires the elimination of classes， and the main body of this movement is the proletariat. At the same time， its core content and symbol is the realization and universalization of the proletariat's human rights. With the deepening influence of capitalism around the world， the bourgeois view of human rights has come to be regarded as a universal and eternal "universal value，" and its human rights discourse has， contrary to people's will， been an alternative way of contemporary Western ideological penetration and power politics. However， after carefully examining the classical semantics of Karl Marx's and Friedrich Engels' concept of human rights， we can find that the bourgeois view of human rights interprets the general connotation of "human rights" to a certain extent. Still， as a special experience at a certain historical stage， it is insufficient to elaborate on the rich ideological connotations of "human rights" as the goal of human emancipation. The legal system of the bourgeois view of human rights has certainly achieved the stage goal of "political emancipation of man" but as a system with class limitations， it is not sufficient to achieve the ultimate goal of "human emancipation，" which is the free and comprehensive development of the human being. Human rights， oriented towards the free and comprehensive development of human beings， require both critical discourse and constructive theory and practice; they should not only emphasize the class-based nature of human rights at the current stage but also promote the shared values of all human beings and the common prosperity of the world. To further achieve the goal of human rights， we must continue to enrich and develop the theoretical framework of socialist human rights constructed by Marxism in the course of socialist human rights practice： for the nature， human rights should have the attribute of human emancipation; for the content， human rights should become an absolute right; and for the practice， we should advocate a pluralistic approach to human rights development.

KEY WORDS： Karl Marx; Friedrich Engels; bourgeois view of human rights; socialist view of human rights; human emancipation