First, the art of criticism.
Criticism should pay attention to art, strategy and method. What is critical art? The art of criticism is the skill, strategy and method of criticism. Criticism is not a simple matter. Criticism has the skills and art of criticism, and criticism has methods and means. We can't call all objections and disagreements criticism.
1, criticism should have the ability to criticize, not rushing headlong into it. Any critic always criticizes others because he doesn't like other people's ideas or scientific achievements. That is to say, first of all, your level and ability are roughly equal to the object of criticism, so you can see the shortcomings and deficiencies of others; Second, if you criticize others, you must first fully understand their achievements. On this basis, you are qualified to make irresponsible remarks. Third, in addition to having a relatively high ideological level and academic level, we should also know the skills and methods of criticism, and be able to skillfully use these skills and methods, so as to stand up and speak ill of others and be qualified to "light the red light" for others' achievements.
The Ministry of National Science appraises new products and technologies, and the participants are all well-known experts and scholars in related fields, instead of mobilizing one party to rush headlong into a frenzy, arguing endlessly and voting by show of hands, not because there are many people in favor and many people against it. Why? Because only experts and scholars have the ability to criticize, only experts and scholars can discover the beauty and defects in new products and technologies, and only experts and scholars have more rational thinking and scientific attitude.
2. Criticism should have a positive and correct purpose, not a negative and narrow purpose. The ancients said: the heart is right and the pen is right. In other words, whether the purpose of criticism is correct or not is very important. Criticism under the control of positive and correct purposes will inevitably bloom beautiful flowers of criticism. The direct result of this kind of good criticism is: firstly, in the process of criticizing others, the professional knowledge, ideological quality, academic accomplishment and academic ethics of the criticized person have been greatly improved, respected by the criticized person and their image has become higher; The second is to make the critics' professional knowledge, ideological achievements and academic achievements more perfect and mature. After criticism, the criticized person benefits from others' criticism and makes up for the shortcomings, so the criticized person has sincere gratitude to the criticized person and his image is more perfect. Third, improve and enjoy the bystanders, that is, those who are lucky enough to come into contact with this critical process, and let the bystanders appreciate this high-quality, high-quality criticism and criticism with appreciation in terms of ideology, academics, knowledge and morality, so as to benefit themselves; The fourth is to make the ideological field that everyone is concerned about more stable and the scientific cause more United, thus promoting the healthy and stable development of the whole cause. On the other hand, the so-called "criticism" dominated by negative and wrong purposes cannot be called criticism. At best, it is only a reaction of bad emotions, which can only endanger the stability in the ideological field and hinder the development of scientific undertakings.
Both critics and critics benefit and win-win, which is a significant sign of positive and correct criticism activities.
3. Criticism is both free and not free. Marx and Engels said in the Manifesto of the Producer Party that the future producer society "is such a consortium, in which everyone's free development is the condition for everyone's free development." (1) From this, we can understand that all thoughts and sciences that promote materialism and the idea of great harmony, as well as those who participate in these thoughts and sciences, should fully realize that criticism is both free and not free! If your criticism of others is helpful to thought, science and others, your criticism is free; On the other hand, your criticism of others is not free if it hinders thought and science, and if it slanders others' academic achievements and personal reputation. During the Yan 'an period, Comrade Mao Zedong pointed out in his speech at the Yan 'an Forum on Literature and Art that criticism had a "principled position". That's the truth.
All those who believe in capitalist ideals and beliefs, all those who have ideas, ideals, the pursuit of truth and love of science should keep this in mind.
4. Criticism should be correct and not distorted. No matter who criticizes others, we must first have a good and correct mentality and pay special attention to our own mentality. If a person's mentality is not correct, even distorted or extremely distorted, then the criticism in this case is very likely to evolve into personal attacks on others and defamation of reputation, which will easily lead to a series of adverse consequences. Therefore, such so-called "criticism" is to bear legal responsibility. In the field of thought and science, with the continuous improvement of people's moral level, this so-called "criticism" will certainly become less and less.
In short, criticism without art, strategy and incorrect mentality cannot be regarded as real criticism, let alone artistic criticism. Mr. Lu Xun said: "Abuse and intimidation are by no means fighting", which is the truth. What Mr. Lu Xun said here is actually a kind of criticism, but this kind of criticism is "abuse and intimidation", which can only be regarded as a siege in essence, or at best it is a criticism without art.
Second, criticism of art.
So, what kind of criticism can be regarded as artistic criticism?
1, promising criticism. In 1930s, when Mr. Lu Xun lived in Shanghai, he was often surrounded by some young artists. Many people admire this literary master and ask him for advice. Mr. Lu Xun sharply criticized the mistake that some young people were too impetuous at that time, did not pay attention to improving their literary quality, ideological quality and moral quality, and tried to become famous and married by slandering, suppressing and attacking others. He warned the young people earnestly. Try harder, don't think that in a few years, a few words and a few periodicals, you can make unprecedented achievements. One more thing: don't just want to erase another person and make him as empty as himself, but you must cross the standing predecessor and be taller than his predecessor. "(2) Mr Lu Xun is full of hope for young people. His teaching puts forward the problem of improving professional quality and professional accomplishment, the requirement of strengthening ideological quality and moral cultivation, and the clear direction of efforts. This criticism of Mr. Lu Xun is very artistic. His purpose is positive and correct. He hoped that China's literary world would develop correctly and healthily, and that young people would grow up healthily.
At the same time, Mr. Lu Xun also asked young people not to kill others. In other words, anyone who wants to achieve his career should not tear down the steps of others, dig up the foundation of others, and try to raise himself and show himself by belittling and slandering others. It is wrong to do that, and the result can only be to ruin others, ruin yourself and make yourself more mediocre.
2. Criticism must stick to the truth. Gramsci Antonio, the founder of the Italian Production Party and a Marxist theorist, reviewed and summarized his revolutionary career and Italian history in a fascist prison. He solemnly pointed out that "truth is revolutionary", which means that a revolutionary political party, an advanced class group or stratum and an excellent social member must attach importance to truth and stick to it, otherwise, if they lose truth, they will lose their advanced nature. Speaking of criticism, if your criticism of others is wrong and your accusation of others is untrue, then your criticism is worthless. Therefore, any excellent element can criticize others, but the criticism must be true.
Kedl Hull, the former Secretary of State of the United States, once famously said, "Truth has not put on pants, and lies have circled the earth half a circle". Why do lies spread faster than the truth? This is because truth is more complicated and needs more time to be recognized.
In any case, no matter what kind of criticism is made, no matter who or what ideas are targeted at, critics should avoid spreading rumors and lies against the criticized, and should not make personal attacks on the criticized. Rumors and lies are the enemies of criticism.
In order to achieve the purpose of discrediting and bringing down others, it is extremely wrong to create rumors and lie at the expense of dominating public opinion tools, which is completely incompatible with the purpose and ideal of revolutionary political parties, and is a blatant blasphemy against the advanced nature of revolutionary political parties and a blatant slander against their militancy. Advanced nature and militancy are the inherent fundamental attributes of a revolutionary political party and the fundamental guarantee that it can defeat all enemies.
3, objective and fair, split criticism. After Lenin led the victory of the October Revolution, the first socialist regime in the world was established. In this process, socialist theorists are faced with a theoretical blank. Under the new socialist system, it is inevitable to make all kinds of mistakes in theoretical exploration, sometimes even directional political mistakes.
When Lenin criticized comrades who made mistakes, on the one hand, he insisted on objectivity and justice, on the other hand, he insisted on splitting into two. Lenin pointed out when opposing plekhanov's opportunism vacillation: "plekhanov's personal achievements were great in the past. During the 20 years of 1883- 1903, he wrote many outstanding works, especially those against opportunists, mahists and populists. " (3) Later, he further pointed out: "If you don't study all the philosophical works written by plekhanov, you can't be a conscious and real producer of * * *, because this is an excellent work in the whole international Marxist literature." (4) In the irreconcilable struggle with Kaucki, Lenin did not forget to give a positive evaluation of Kaucki's early works, thinking that Kaucki's early theoretical works were "the best works in the world's best social democratic literature." (5) When Lenin criticized these theorists who made mistakes, he always insisted on dichotomy, opposed metaphysics and killed them with a stick.
Allowing comrades who have made mistakes to correct their mistakes has created conditions for consolidating the new regime and uniting all forces that can be United. This is also the embodiment of political democracy of advanced political parties and revolutionary leaders. The correct criticism method advocated by Lenin sets an example for us.
4. Criticism that promotes unity. Christianity faced a complicated situation in its early days, and some believers also had different understandings of Christianity, resulting in internal contradictions. Therefore, Jesus warned his disciples that those who do not oppose us are our friends. It means: be broad-minded, correctly handle internal and external contradictions, and correctly treat different opinions.
During the Yan 'an period, Comrade Mao Zedong created a famous critical formula: unity-criticism-unity. His old man's house further explained that it is necessary to break the old foundation of unity and realize new unity on the new basis through criticism or struggle. From Comrade Mao Zedong's words, we can understand that the purpose of criticism is to help comrades, improve their understanding and ideological level, and thus promote unity and prosperity. The art of criticism advocated by Comrade Mao Zedong, if implemented, will undoubtedly be very beneficial to the criticized comrades and friends; It is also very beneficial to criticized ideas and science. Comrade Mao Zedong also asked the party's leading cadres at all levels to treat comrades who made mistakes, adhere to the principle of "learning lessons and saving lives", stop beating sticks and swearing, give comrades who made mistakes a chance to correct their mistakes, and don't put people in prison under the guise of the rule of law.
During the "Cultural Revolution", Comrade Mao Zedong resolutely opposed the wrong practice of Lin Biao Group to expel Deng Xiaoping from the Party membership, and insisted on retaining Deng Xiaoping's Party membership twice. This limited the handling of Deng Xiaoping's mistakes to the political struggle within the party, and arranged a series of measures to protect Deng Xiaoping, which not only prepared the conditions for Deng Xiaoping's comeback of 1974 and 1977, but also left our party with an "opposition" who often opposed important work. In fact, it is Mao Zedong's consistent leadership style to allow a certain degree of "opposition" within the Party. This is the self-confidence of revolutionary leaders and political parties, and it is also the need of the party's cause, which can make our party make fewer mistakes or avoid making mistakes on some important issues. Mao Zedong's great mind and leadership style are always worthy of serious study by leading cadres at all levels of our Party.
Third, reflect on criticism.
1. The only criterion for testing truth is practice. For an idea, a science, as long as it has vitality, it must continue to develop and advance. In order to develop and make progress, new academic achievements must be constantly produced. After the new academic achievements come out, they will be judged by the public wearing various glasses and tested by practice.
So, what is the standard to test the scientificity and authenticity of academic achievements? Which standard is the number of people in favor or the number of people against? Or should the voices on both sides be the loudest and loudest? Neither! The only criterion to test the correctness of thought and science is practice, and truth is often only in the hands of a few people, sometimes even only in the hands of one person. In A.D. 132, Zhang Heng invented the seismograph, and on February 3 of the same year, the seismograph accurately predicted the Longxi earthquake in Gansu. However, Han Shundi, who was only eighteen years old, listened to the rumors of officials who didn't understand science and thought that the Longxi earthquake was caused by the "demon device" of the seismograph, so he smashed it in a confused way, and scientist Zhang Heng was demoted and severely punished. Seismograph science? Undoubtedly, Zhang Heng was the only person who really understood the value and significance of seismograph at that time. However, in the young Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty and some ministers, their own vision, experience and subjective judgment have become the criteria for testing truth. As an expert who invented the seismograph, Zhang Heng suffered a great blow from his personality, academic achievements and political career.
Bruno, an Italian astronomer, thinker and philosopher, inherited, defended, developed and publicized Heliocentrism of Copernicus, criticized geocentric theory and scholasticism, and was regarded as a classic. 1592 was trapped and imprisoned by the Vatican for a long time. Later, he was sentenced as a "heresy" by the Roman Inquisition. 1600 On February 7th, Bruno, who insisted on the truth, was burned alive in Rome Flower Square. Later, the famous astronomer Galileo was arrested, imprisoned and tortured to death by the Vatican for defending Heliocentrism. 1992, Pope Paul II had to rehabilitate and rehabilitate two astronomers on behalf of the Holy See.
How to treat new ideas and new academic achievements, aren't these historical facts worth pondering?
It takes time to test the authenticity of knowledge. Marxist view of truth holds that any truth is relative and there is no absolute truth. For an idea and a science, it must stand the test of practice and time. What does the relativity of truth prove? Relying on time, only time can prove the authenticity and scientificity of an idea and a science, which has been proved by the history of ideological development and scientific development. The development history of any thought and science takes time to write. If we rely on our traditional knowledge, traditional experience and traditional thinking to understand new ideas and judge new scientific theories, it is very easy to make mistakes of subjectivism and empiricism, and it is also easy to make wrong judgments too hastily.
In 1950s, Morgan's genetic science theory spread to the Soviet Union, and almost the entire Soviet scientific community held a negative attitude towards it, even angrily denounced it. The scientist who opposed the gene theory most fiercely also served as the leader of the Soviet Academy of Sciences. The Soviet Union's contempt and neglect of genetic science made the whole Soviet Union seriously backward in genetic science. After the reaction, I have paid a heavy price for it. At that time, the scientific community in China also agreed with Big Brother. In the 1970s, China published a popular science book "100,000 Why", which took an extremely contemptuous attitude towards the Big Bang theory and the redshift phenomenon, and cited a lot of evidence to deny the Big Bang theory and the redshift phenomenon. Now it seems that this is a huge mistake!
We should emancipate our minds, leave enough space for new ideas and scientific theories, and at the same time leave enough time for new things to develop, so that new things can stand the test of practice and time. In this way, I left enough time for myself to think and observe, and avoided rashly continuing to make the mistakes of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty. In short, don't jump to conclusions when facing new things.
3. Correctly understand the objective law of the development of ideological science. In the history of human thought, there are rules for future generations to inherit and develop their predecessors' thoughts. After Confucius founded Confucianism, in order to spread his thoughts, he set up a forum in Xinglin to give lectures to his disciples. In its heyday, "three thousand disciples and seventy-two saints". After the death of Confucius, his disciples began to give lectures one after another, and almost all of them claimed to have received the true biography of Confucius. However, in this chaotic situation, Confucianism soon split into eight sects. Only Ceng Zi, a disciple of Confucius, really inherited and developed Confucius' thoughts. At that time, several other schools seemed great, but they soon became a thing of the past. Zisi inherited Ceng Zi's Confucianism and trained Mencius after giving lectures. Mencius further inherited, developed and enriched Confucianism. The Confucianism we see today is inherited and developed along the historical context of "Confucius-Ceng Zi-Zisi-Mencius". Confucius and Mencius thought system, which dominated the feudal society in China, was formed, which lasted for more than 2,000 years and widely influenced East Asian countries.
When Marxism spread to Russia, only Lenin really held high the banner of Marxism, inherited, defended and developed Marxism, and combined Marxism with the concrete reality of the Russian revolution, leading the Russian revolution to victory, establishing the first socialist country in the world-the Soviet Union, and forming the guiding ideology for the victory of the Russian revolution-Leninism. Leninism is the inheritance and development of Marxism in Russia. After Marxism was introduced into China, there were many early theorists. However, the history of the China Revolution proved that only Comrade Mao Zedong truly fully understood and profoundly grasped the essence of Marxism, and successfully applied it to the China Revolution, establishing a new China and forming the guiding ideology for the victory of the China Revolution-Mao Zedong Thought. Mao Zedong Thought is the inheritance and development of Marxism in China.
For modern science, its birth history is not long, but the struggle between science and non-science, true science and false science, development and stagnation has never stopped.
In the 1930s, newspapers and magazines in many countries in Europe and America were discussing whether human beings could realize their dream of flying. In this regard, many authoritative people have expressed their very "authoritative" views. Bishop Wright of the American Christian Church was not idle, and he made a confident and authoritative conclusion. He said: Only angels can fly. However, what he didn't expect was that today, 70 years later, 1903, 12, 17, the world's first manned plane flew into the blue sky in North Carolina, USA, and it was precisely the two grandsons of Bishop Wright who designed, manufactured and successfully tested the world's first plane.
Mr. Lu Xun once said: "Even the first cry of a genius at birth, like an ordinary baby, will never be a good poem." (6) That is to say, there are only great people and no great babies. Although newborn babies are basically useless, great people grow up from babies. And people never know which baby will be a great man in the future. It is a historical fact recognized by the scientific community that there is no modern astronomy without astrology and no modern chemistry without alchemy. But the biggest feature of modern science is forgetfulness. Astrology and alchemy are undoubtedly unscientific by today's standards, but they gave birth to the seeds of science. Just as the stone knives and axes of the Neolithic Age gave birth to the seeds of modern science and technology. The scientific achievements made by mankind today, such as high-speed railway, modern navigation technology and moon landing technology, all began with the polishing of various stone tools in the Neolithic Age.
Finally, it is emphasized here that history has always mocked those who are too arbitrary.