The volumes written by Ai to which Mao had access prior to and during the writing of his own philosophical essays included Dazhong zhexue (Philosophy for the Masses) and Sixiang fangfalun (Methodology of Thought).[1-159] The former had been first published in January 1936, and it is highly likely that Mao did read and annotate it, although his personal copy of the volume has not survived.[1-160] The latter was published in January 1937 (second edition), and Mao’s annotated copy of this text has survived.[1-161] The annotations made by Mao on this text were of much less significance (in terms of text and content), Chinese specialists contend, in the writing of On Contradiction and On Practice, than were his annotations on the Soviet texts Dialectical and Historical Materialism and A Course on Dialectical Materialism.[1-162]
As with Li Da’s Shehuixue dagang, the volumes by Ai Siqi referred to by Mao contained a wealth of material relevant to his philosophical project of comprehending and elaborating the basic concepts and categories of dialectical materialism. For example, Chapter Three of Philosophy for the Masses is entitled “The epistemology of dialectical materialism”, and Chapter Four “The laws (faze) of materialist dialectics”. This latter chapter contains individual sections on the laws of the unity of opposites, the mutual transformation of quantity and quality, and the negation of the negation. This chapter also includes discussion of several other of the categories referred to by Mao in his Lecture Notes, including appearance and essence, form and content, and chance and necessity. What is distinctive about the approach taken by Ai in this volume is that the abstruse subject matter of dialectical materialism is explained in a straightforward manner, and more importantly perhaps for Mao’s own application of dialectical materialism to Chinese realities, the text contains numerous examples of dialectics taken from everyday life.
Ai Siqi’s Methodology of Thought similarly contains a chapter on the laws (faze) of dialectical materialism with individual sections on each of the fundamental laws discussed in Philosophy for the Masses. There is also a section on formal logic, and epistemology (including sections on reflection theory and the process of development of cognition).
Mao also read and made notations on Ai Siqi’s Zhexue yu shenghuo (Philosophy and Life)[1-163] in September 1937, that is, immediately following the writing of his other essays on philosophy. Mao thought highly of this text, as attested by a letter of congratulation he wrote to Ai.[1-164] Mao did, however, challenge Ai on the issue of whether a difference is a contradiction. Ai had argued that “different things are not in contradiction” but that “under certain conditions difference can become a contradiction”. Mao thought this an incorrect way of putting it. “Differences exist in all things in the world, and under certain conditions are contradictions, and the reason is that difference is contradiction, is so-called concrete contradiction”.[1-165] A translation of Mao’s “Extracts” from Ai’s Philosophy and Life appears in this anthology.
