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| The Element Theory of Marx and Engels |
| Wang Xiaochao |
| Institute for Marxist Religious Studies in New Era, Hangzhou City University, Hangzhou 310015, China |
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Abstract Element is a frequently used term in the scientific research of K. Marx and F. Engels. The Complete Works of Marx and Engels uses “element” 2,741 times in total. Its main meanings include: (1) components; (2) necessary factors; (3) principles; (4) nature and characteristics; (5) chemical composition. The word is also combined often with other nouns to form different kinds of categories, such as production element, thinking element, etc. In contrast to the extensive use of the term in the study of economics and philosophy, K. Marx and F. Engels mentioned “religion and elements” only three times and never mentioned “the element of religion”.Engels summarized Dühring’s research method as “element method”, and pointed out that Dühring’s element method has the nature of transcendentalism. Element method is a reductionism approach, which is characterized by restoring the complicated things into simple and clear things, simplifying the complicated things through analysis, grasping the entirety and the changing process by using the nature of the most basic elements, and restoring propositions to individual concepts for analysis in scientific research. Although element method plays a certain role in scientific research, it also has great limitations. The theories derived from the application of the element method, such as the Phlogiston Theory, actually prevented people from knowing the truth in scientific research.Marx and Engels did not talk about the role of element method in the study of religion. However, the later scholars of religious studies seem to have an obsession with the element method, and many of them have put forward kinds of theories of religious elements. After the reform and opening up, Chinese scholars also attached importance to the application of the element method in the theoretical research, and the result is that the religious element theory has played an increasingly important role in the whole religious theory system. It is not wrong to pay attention to the elements composing religions, but the problem is whether we can recognized the limitations of the element method.Lü Daji’s “theory of four elements of religion” is the product of dialectical thinking, not the product of “element method”. Lü has a clear understanding of the limitations of the element method. He knew that the definition given by the elements method had a metaphysical character, not a dialectical one. He also knew that the distinction between religion and non-religion certainly marked the beginning of the scientific study of religion, and determined the object of religious study, but the conclusion reached by the use of the element method is either one or the other, either white or black, and if we stand still and refuse to make progress, we will be away from the in-depth grasp of religion.The generative method of Lü’s theory of four elements of religion is not the elements method, but the genetic method. Nor does the element method function in the study of religion as an independent method, but as a subordinate method of historical materialism and dialectics. Taking materialist dialectics as the fundamental method of Marxist religious study is the clearest manifestation of Marxist religious theory’s modernization and Sinicization.
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Received: 06 December 2023
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2024, Vol. 54 
