Thus, the materialist theory, the theory of the reflection of objects by our mind, is here presented [in Engels’ writings] with absolute clarity: things exist outside us. Our perceptions and ideas are their images. Verification of these images, differentiation between true and false images, is given by practice.[1-50]
This concatenation by Lenin of reflection and practice as elements of a unified dialectical materialist theory of epistemology indicates the orthodoxy of Mao’s own elaboration of the problem of epistemology. In both
Initiative … originates in seeking truth from facts, in the true reflections of objective conditions in the minds
The concept of reflection was also to appear in Mao’s “Sixty Articles on Work Methods” of 1958:
The human brain can reflect the objective world, although it is not easy to do so correctly. Correct reflection or the reflection which is closest to reality can be arrived at only after thinking and rethinking…. However great a man may be, his thoughts, views, plans and methods are a mere reflection of the objective world…[1-53]
Moreover, it is very clear from numerous references in his writings of the post-Liberation period that Mao continued to view practice as a critical element of Marxist epistemology.[1-54]Perhaps his best known statement on this issue from this period is “Where do correct ideas come from?” of May 1963. In this short text, Mao reiterates his belief in the dialectical materialist position on epistemology, and again links reflection and practice as key elements in the process of knowing the objective world:
Countless phenomena of the objective external world are reflected in a man’s brain…. Man’s knowledge makes another leap through the test of practice. This leap is more important than the previous one. For it is this leap alone that can prove the correctness or incorrectness of the first leap, i.e., of the ideas, theories, policies, plans or measures formulated in the course of reflecting the objective external world. There is no other way of testing truth…. Such is the Marxist theory of knowledge, the dialectical materialist theory of knowledge.[1-55]
The persistence in Mao’s thought of the epistemological concepts of reflection and practice and his continued linkage of the two indicates the significance of his employment of Soviet Marxist philosophical categories during the early Yan’an period.
Another very significant example of this influence which can be drawn from