An Inquiry into the Theoretical Path of Human Emancipation

Based on The German Ideology, this paper deeply analyzes the theoretical path of "human emancipation" by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. Marx proposed the concept of the "real individual," emphasizing that the essence of man lies in concrete social relations rather than abstract individuals, a view that laid the foundation for the starting point of emancipation. Human emancipation requires the dual emancipation of thought and practice, enabling people to gain true freedom from alienated labor. Individual emancipation is not the final emancipation and still requires the emancipation of the community. Therefore, the paper analyzes that the historical necessity of the illusory community is caused by private ownership and insufficient productive forces. However, the internal contradictions of this community will promote further social awakening, creating conditions for the reversion to the true community. The realization of the true community requires highly developed productive forces, the demise of private ownership, and the seizure of power by the proletariat as preconditions. This will be a historical "retrospective" process, marking humanity's liberation from capitalist constraints toward a social form of freedom and all-round development.