夏甄陶是中国当代著名的马克思主义哲学家。他出身贫寒，却潜心向学，凭借远大的志向、不懈的努力和对哲学的爱好，在中国哲学特别是中国认识论思想史、马克思主义认识论、马克思主义哲学的实质和教科书改革以及人学等方面取得卓越的理论成就，为我国马克思主义哲学的发展作出了杰出的贡献。

夏甄陶以现实的人的存在和发展为基本前提和出发点，从人与世界的关系和实践的基本的观点出发解释哲学的对象、特点和功能。他以这种哲学观为基础，对马克思主义哲学作了实践的唯物主义的规定和阐释，并在此基础上展开了认识论、马克思主义哲学的实质和教科书改革以及人学等具体哲学领域的研究。

认识论是夏甄陶哲学研究中最重要的组成部分。20世纪70年代末，中国学术界关于真理标准的大讨论使认识论成为哲学研究的热点。凭借扎实的哲学功底和勤奋严谨的治学精神，夏甄陶成为认识论研究领域的先导者和佼佼者。按照夏甄陶认识论研究的内在发展逻辑，本书分三个发展时期梳理夏甄陶认识论思想：（1）20世纪70年代末至80年代初，夏甄陶开启认识论研究的理论准备时期；（2）20世纪80年代初至80年代中后期，夏甄陶认识论思想的体系化理念的形成时期；（3）20世纪80年代中后期至90年代中后期，夏甄陶认识论思想的大发展时期。

第一个发展时期，夏甄陶批判了“四人帮”的唯意志论思想，重新审视了实践概念。清算唯意志论、克服主观主义不仅是我国整个思想解放的前提，也是新时期我国马克思主义认识论研究的前提。夏甄陶以马克思主义哲学基本原理为武器，批判了“四人帮”的唯心主义思想基础、社会历史领域的“权力意志论”以及认识上的权力实用主义。为了进一步考察实践为什么能够以及如何检验真理，夏甄陶对实践的涵义、要素和结构进行重新审视。他将实践理解为主体和客体两种物质力量之间的相互作用的过程，指出实践由目的、手段、结果等要素构成。目的是人在实践活动中立足客观现实，依据对客观规律的认识和自己的需要而提出和设定的，是对实践结果的预先设定。在实践活动中，目的通过手段，扬弃自己的主观观念的形态，以客观物质形态体现在实践的结果中。这样，夏甄陶就把实践描述为目的通过手段转化为结果的动态的过程。从实践目的范畴出发，夏甄陶又阐释了实践观念的概念，指出实践观念是外部对象的客观尺度和人的内在尺度的观念的统一，是理性知识回到实践的中间环节。夏甄陶将目的纳入实践的要素，克服了简单地从客体性来理解实践的涵义的错误认识，恢复了实践的主体性原则，直接推动了我国认识论研究的发展。

第二个发展时期，夏甄陶以科学的实践观为理论基石和出发点，对认识论的一些基本问题进行思考，形成了他的认识论研究的体系化理念。循着马克思哲学变革的思路，夏甄陶将科学的实践观引入认识论，使实践成为认识的一个内在环节而不是外在环节。他以实践的一般结构为基础，确立了认识的主—客体的分析框架，把认识看作一个由主体、客体和中介等多种要素构成的可以解剖的系统结构。认识的“解剖结构”是按照主体性原则建构起来的，认识是主体以观念的形式能动地掌握客体。夏甄陶坚持唯物辩证法，确立了认识系统的动态发展和认识发生论的研究方向。认识不是一个静态的系统结构，认识的各要素之间是相互作用、不断发展的。认识论研究不仅要关注和研究现成的、成熟形态的作为结果的认识，还应当考察作为认识结果的现成的认识结构的建构和形成过程。此外，夏甄陶还阐释了真理与价值、认识论思想史等方面的问题。

第三个发展时期，夏甄陶以其认识论的体系化理念为基础，深入研究其中的一些具体问题，构建了全面、系统、深刻的认识论思想体系。在认识发生论方面，夏甄陶把自然史因素和社会史因素结合起来，从认识的系统发生角度去研究认识的起源和发生。以对现成的、成熟形态的认识系统结构的认识为基础，追溯该认识结构形态的各种因素的最初形成趋势、最初表现形式，以及这些要素在最初的认识结构中的地位和相互关系，从而揭示出最初的认识结构形态的形成过程和表现形式。在认识系统方面，夏甄陶以主—客体为分析框架，分析了主体、客体、中介三个子系统各自的涵义、内容和重要性，从辩证法的角度剖析了三个子系统之间的相关联性和内在联系。他把认识描述为一个动态的不断发展的过程，并指出了认识的主—客体相关律。在中国传统认识论思想史方面，夏甄陶从人与世界的关系出发，以马克主义认识论思想为参照，对从孔子到孙中山五十多位思想家的认识论思想进行了总结和梳理，挖掘了传统思想中的天人关系、主客关系、形神关系、名实关系、言意关系、知行关系等内容所蕴含的认识论思想。夏甄陶还揭示了认识过程中真、善、美统一的具体形式和内部机制，分析了认识内容中真、善、美与主体认知定势中知、意、情之间的内在联系。

夏甄陶认识论思想的总体特征是：以马克思主义人学为理论前提，从人的生存和发展的角度去理解认识；以实践的唯物主义为理论基石，将科学的实践观引入认识论研究；坚持唯物辩证法，将认识作为一个开放过程、当作一个关系系统来研究，从马克思主义哲学的整体观研究认识论。总之，夏甄陶认识论思想坚持了马克思、恩格斯确立的关于认识论的基本原则，立足当代人类实践活动和科学发展，对马克思主义认识论予以深层解读和再创造。夏甄陶的认识论研究不仅填补和丰富了马克思主义认识论的内容，而且还提出了很多具有创造性的见解。

新时期我国认识论研究取得了巨大的成就，为我国社会主义的改革和发展作出了十分重要的贡献。在新时期我国认识论研究几十年的发展历史中评价夏甄陶认识论思想的成就，可以说无论在成果的数量、质量上，还是在成果的系统性、开创性和影响力上，其都是最为突出的。夏甄陶认识论思想的一个显著特点是史与论结合，既有对于认识论原理的研究，又有对于认识论史的研究，涵盖了新时期我国认识论研究讨论的几乎所有重要的问题。不仅如此，夏甄陶在实践的涵义和要素、认识系统、中国传统认识论思想史等问题上都获得了开创性的理论成果，还培养了一批在认识论研究方面取得突出成就的学术人才。夏甄陶是我国新时期马克思主义认识论研究的奠基者、开拓者和引领者。

夏甄陶认识论思想以丰硕的理论成果，在很大程度上改变了中国马克思主义哲学在认识论领域的贫瘠状态，不仅在我国认识论发展史上具有重要的学术地位，而且在我国整个马克思主义哲学发展史上都具有重要的理论价值。夏甄陶认识论思想不仅具有重要的理论价值，还有十分重要的实践意义。它为使科学理性融入人们的意识提供理论资源，为科学研究提供哲学上的方法论指导，为科学决策提供哲学理论依据。认识论是马克思主义哲学不可缺少的分析维度，在新时期中国社会发展中，马克思主义认识论不应当被淡忘。夏甄陶认识论思想对于当前我国认识论的发展具有十分重要的启示：我们应当坚持继承和发展相统一，综合利用各种理论资源，立足当今时代的科技发展和当代中国发展实践推动认识论研究不断创新。

关键词：夏甄陶；认识论；实践；人与世界的关系；主体性原则

Abstract

Xia Zhentao is one of the contemporary Chinese famous Marxist philosophers.He came from a poor family, and he devotes himself to the study.With lofty aspirations,tireless efforts and love for philosophy, Xia Zhentao has made tremendous achievements in Chinese philosophy especially epistemology of Chinese traditional thought, Marxist epistemology, the essence of Marxist philosophy, the reform of Marxist philosophy textbooks and anthroponomy, and so on.He has made an outstanding contribution to the development of Marxist philosophy in China.

Based on the basic point of practice and the relationship between human being and the world, with the existence and development of practical human as the basic prerequisite and starting point,Xia Zhentao interpreted the object,features and functions of philosophy.According to this philosophy, he interpreted Marxist philosophy as practical materialism,and based on this he has researched the specific philosophy fields such as epistemology, Marxist philosophy textbook reform, anthroponomy,and so on.

Marxist epistemology is the most important component in the philosophy research of Xia Zhentao.In the late 1970s,a great discussion on the criterion of truth in Chinese academic field makes epistemology hot in philosophical study.With a solid philosophical grounding and the spirit of rigorous scholarship and hard work,Xia Zhentao became a leader and outstanding person in the epistemology field.According to its internal logic of the development,Xia Zhentao's epistemological theory is divided into three development periods:（1）from the late 1970s to the early 1980s is the theoretical preparation period of Xia Zhentao's epistemological theory;（2）from the early1980s to the late 1980s is the forming period of the systemic ideas of Xia Zhentao's epistemological theory;（3）from the late 1980s to the late 1990s is the great development period of Xia Zhentao's epistemological theory.

In the first period of development, Xia Zhentao criticized voluntarism of the“Gang of Four”and re-examined the concept of practice.To eliminate voluntarism and to overcome the subjective is not only the premise of the whole ideological emancipation but also is the premise of the research of Marxist epistemology in new period in China.According to the basic principles of Marxist philosophy, Xia Zhentao criticized the idealistic basis of“Gang of Four”,“the theory of the will to power”in the field of social history and the power pragmatism in epistemology.In order to further study why and how practice can test the truth,Xia Zhentao re-examined the meaning,elements and structure of practice.According to his understanding,practice,which is composed of the purpose, means, results and other elements, is an interactional process between subject and object.Human being puts forward purposes, the presupposition of the practice results,in practical activities based on objective reality and understanding of the objective law and his own needs.In practice, the purpose embodied as the form of an objective material, abandoning their own subjective by means.In this way, Xia Zhentao described practice as the process in which purpose is transformed into the results by means.Started from the category of practice purpose, Xia Zhentao interpreted the concept of practice notion.He pointed out that practice notion is the unity of the objective measures of external objects and the internal measures of human, which is the intermediate links from the rational knowledge back to practice.Xia Zhentao drew purpose into practice as an element,which overcomes the mistake which simply understands the practice only from the objectifiability and the principle of subjectivity returns.This directly promotes the development of epistemology study in China.

In the second period of development, based on scientific point of practice as theoretical foundation and starting point, Xia Zhentao studied the basic issues of epistemology, and formed his systematic ideas of epistemology.Following the revolution train of thought of Marx ´ philosophy,Xia Zhentao introduced the concept of scientific practice into epistemology which makes practice as an intrinsic part of epistemology rather than external links.Based on the general structure of practice,Xia Zhentao established the analytical framework of the subject-object of knowledge.He thought that knowledge is a system structure consisting of subject, object and intermediaries and other elements which can be anatomized.The“anatomical structure”is constructed according to the subjectivity principle, and knowledge is the process that subject grasps actively objects in the form of conception.Adhere to the materialist dialectics, Xia Zhentao established the research orientation of the dynamic development and theory of epigenesis of knowledge system.Knowledge is not a static system structure.The interaction between its various elements happens frequently.Epistemology is not only ready to pay attention to and study mature and existing knowledge, but also should investigate the formation process of the knowledge structure.In addition,Xia Zhentao has interpreted the theory of the truth and value,epistemological history,and so on.

The third period of development, Xia Zhentao based on his epistemological system ideas, studied deeply some of specific issues and built up a comprehensive, systematic and profound epistemological system.On the theory of epigenesis of knowledge,based on combining the natural history factors with social history factors, Xia Zhentao researched the origin and occurrence of knowledge from the perspective of knowledge systems.Based on the existing and mature form of knowledge, Xia Zhentao traced the various factors of knowledge structure back to their shaping trends and the initial formation of the initial forms, and traced back to the status and the relationship of these elements in the original knowledge structure.And thus he revealed formation processes and state of the original knowledge structure.Xia Zhentao used the subject-object analytical framework to analyze the respective meaning, content and importance of the subject, object, and intermediary of knowledge system.And from the perspective of dialectical, he analyzed the associated internal relations of the three subsystems.He described the knowledge as a dynamic and constantly developing process, and pointed out the subject-object correlation law of the knowledge.On the history of Chinese traditional epistemology, from the relationship between human and the world, referring to Marxist epistemology, Xia Zhentao summarized and combed the epistemology of more than fifty thinkers from Confucius to Sun Yat-sen, and excavated the epistemological factor implied in traditional ideas of heaven-man, subject-object, form and spirit, knowing and doing, and so on.Xia Zhentao also revealed the unified mechanism and concrete forms of truth, goodness and beauty within the knowing process, and analyzed the intrinsic link between the truth, goodness and beauty in the knowledge content and knowledge, affection and will in knowledge einstellung.

The general characteristics Xia Zhentao's epistemological theory embodied are following:with the Marxist anthroponomy as the premise,it understood knowledge from the perspective of human existence and development;with practical materialism as the theoretical foundation, it introduced the concept of scientific practice into epistemology; adhering to materialist dialectics,it described knowledge as an open process and a relational system,and researched epistemology from the overall concept of Marxist philosophy.In short,adhere to the basic principles of the theory of knowledge which Marx and Engels established, based on the development of contemporary practice and science, Xia Zhentao's epistemological theory interpreted deeply and re-created the Marxist epistemology.It not only filled and enriched the content of Marxist epistemology,but also put forward a lot of creative ideas.

Epistemology has made great achievements in new period in China, and made a very important contribution for the development of China ´s socialist reform.Evaluating Xia Zhentao's epistemological theory in the epistemology development history in several decades in new period in China, we can say: in terms of quantity, quality of the results, or the systematic, innovative and influential of the results, Xia Zhentao's achievements on epistemology are most outstanding.One of the significant characteristics of Xia Zhentao's epistemological theory is that it combined the theory with history of knowledge.It not only researched a lot of questions on the epistemology theory,but also researched into the history of epistemology.It covered almost all important issues which scholars researched and discussed in new period in China.And besides that, Xia Zhentao also made ground-breaking theoretical achievements on elements and meaning of practice, the knowledge system, the history of Chinese traditional thought on epistemology, and so on, and trained a group of academic talent who made outstanding achievements on the study of epistemology.So it can be said that Xia Zhentao is a founder, a pioneer and leader of Marxist epistemology in new period in China.

With great achievements on epistemology, Xia Zhentao's epistemological theory has changed the poor state in the field of epistemology of Marxist Philosophy in China.It not only has an important academic position in the epistemology development history,but also has important theoretical value in the entire development history of Marxist philosophy.Xia Zhentao's epistemological theory not only has important theoretical value, but also has very important practical significance.It provides the theoretical resources for putting science and rationality into people ´s awareness, provides the philosophical methodology guidance for scientific research, provides the philosophy basis for the scientific decisionmaking.Epistemology is the essential analytical dimension of Marxist philosophy, so Marxist epistemology should not be forgot in Chinese society development.Xia Zhentao's epistemological theory provides very important enlightenment for the current development of epistemology as following: unite inheritance and development, use various theories resources comprehensively, promote theoretical innovation based on the development of science and technology in today's era and the contemporary development practice in China.

Keywords:Xia Zhentao; epistemology; practice; the relationship between human being and the world; subjectivity principle

Xia Zhentao is a famous contemporary Chinese Marxist philosopher. With his lofty aspirations, unremitting efforts and love for philosophy, he made outstanding theoretical achievements in Chinese philosophy, especially in the history of Chinese epistemological thought, Marxist epistemology, the essence of Marxist philosophy, textbook reform, and anthropology, and made outstanding contributions to the development of Marxist philosophy in China. Xia Zhentao takes the existence and development of real people as the basic premise and starting point, and explains the objects, characteristics and functions of philosophy from the basic viewpoint of the relationship between people and the world and practice. On the basis of this philosophical view, he formulated and explained the practical materialism of Marxist philosophy, and on this basis, he carried out research on epistemology, the essence of Marxist philosophy, textbook reform, and anthropology. Epistemology is the most important component of Xia Zhentao's philosophical research. At the end of the 70s of the 20th century, the great discussion on the criterion of truth in Chinese academia made epistemology a hot spot in philosophical research. With a solid philosophical foundation and diligent and rigorous academic spirit, Xia Zhentao has become a pioneer and leader in the field of epistemological research. According to the internal development logic of Xia Zhentao's epistemological research, this book is divided into three development periods to sort out Xia Zhentao's epistemological thought: (1) from the late 70s to the early 80s of the 20th century, Xia Zhentao opened the theoretical preparation period for epistemological research; (2) from the early 80s to the mid-to-late 80s of the 20th century, the formation period of the systematic concept of Xia Zhentao's epistemological thought; (3) From the mid-to-late 80s to the mid-to-late 90s of the 20th century, Xia Zhentao's epistemological thought was a period of great development. In the first period of development, Xia Zhentao criticized the voluntarist thinking of the "Gang of Four" and re-examined the concept of practice. Liquidating voluntarism and overcoming subjectivism is not only the premise of China's entire ideological emancipation, but also the premise of China's Marxist epistemological research in the new period. Xia Zhentao used the basic principles of Marxist philosophy as a weapon to criticize the idealistic ideological foundation of the "Gang of Four", the "will to power" theory in the field of social history, and the epistemic power pragmatism. In order to further examine why and how practice can test truth, Xia Zhentao re-examines the meaning, elements and structure of practice. He understood practice as the process of interaction between two material forces, subject and object, and pointed out that practice is composed of ends, means, results, and other elements. The purpose is that people base themselves on objective reality in practical activities, and put forward and set them according to their understanding of objective laws and their own needs, which is a pre-setting of practical results. In practical activities, the end discards the form of one's subjective ideas through means, and is embodied in the results of practice in an objective material form. In this way, Xia Zhentao describes practice as a dynamic process in which ends are transformed into results through means. Starting from the category of practical purpose, Xia Zhentao also explained the concept of practical concept, pointing out that practical concept is the unity of the objective scale of external objects and the concept of internal scale of people, and is the intermediate link of rational knowledge returning to practice. Xia Zhentao incorporated the purpose into the elements of practice, overcame the erroneous understanding of simply understanding the meaning of practice from the objectivity, restored the principle of subjectivity of practice, and directly promoted the development of epistemological research in China. In the second period of development, Xia Zhentao took the scientific view of practice as the theoretical cornerstone and starting point, thought about some basic issues of epistemology, and formed a systematic concept of his epistemological research. Following the idea of Marx's philosophical reform, Xia Zhentao introduced the scientific concept of practice into epistemology, making practice an internal link rather than an external link in understanding. Based on the general structure of practice, he established the subject-object analytical framework of cognition, viewing cognition as an anatomical system structure composed of various elements such as subject, object, and intermediary. The "anatomical structure" of cognition is constructed according to the principle of subjectivity, and cognition is the subject's active grasp of the object in the form of ideas. Xia Zhentao adhered to materialist dialectics and established the research direction of the dynamic development of cognitive systems and epistemogenesis. Cognition is not a static system structure, and the elements of cognition interact and evolve. Epistemological research should not only focus on and study ready-made, mature forms of cognition as a result, but also examine the process of constructing and forming ready-made epistemic structures as a result of cognition. In addition, Xia Zhentao also explained the issues of truth and value, epistemological intellectual history, and other issues. In the third period of development, Xia Zhentao based on his epistemological systematization concept, in-depth study of some specific issues, and built a comprehensive, systematic and profound epistemological ideological system. In terms of epistemogenesis, Xia Zhentao combines natural history factors and social history factors to study the origin and occurrence of cognition from the perspective of epistemic phylogeny. Based on the understanding of the ready-made and mature cognitive system structure, the initial formation trend and initial manifestation of various factors of the cognitive structure form are traced, as well as the status and interrelationship of these elements in the initial cognitive structure, so as to reveal the formation process and manifestation of the initial cognitive structure. In terms of understanding systems, Xia Zhentao takes subject-object as the analysis framework, analyzes the meaning, content and importance of the three subsystems of subject, object and intermediary, and analyzes the correlation and internal relationship between the three subsystems from the perspective of dialectics. He describes knowledge as a dynamic and evolving process and points out the subject-object correlation law of knowledge. In terms of the history of traditional Chinese epistemological thought, Xia Zhentao started from the relationship between man and the world, took Marxist epistemological thought as a reference, summarized and sorted out the epistemological thoughts of more than 50 thinkers from Confucius to Sun Yat-sen, and excavated the epistemological ideas contained in the relationship between heaven and man, subject-object relationship, form and god, relationship between name and reality, relationship between speech and meaning, and relationship between knowledge and action in traditional thought. Xia Zhentao also reveals the specific form and internal mechanism of the unity of truth, goodness and beauty in the process of cognition, and analyzes the intrinsic relationship between truth, goodness and beauty in the cognitive content and the knowledge, intention and emotion in the subject's cognitive stereotype. The overall characteristics of Xia Zhentao's epistemological thought are: taking Marxist anthropology as the theoretical premise, understanding understanding from the perspective of human survival and development; Taking practical materialism as the theoretical cornerstone, the scientific view of practice is introduced into epistemological research; Adhere to materialist dialectics, study cognition as an open process and as a relational system, and study epistemology from the holistic view of Marxist philosophy. In short, Xia Zhentao's epistemological thought adheres to the basic principles of epistemology established by Marx and Engels, and deeply interprets and recreates Marxist epistemology based on contemporary human practical activities and scientific development. Xia Zhentao's epistemological research not only fills and enriches the content of Marxist epistemology, but also puts forward many creative insights. In the new period, China's epistemological research has made tremendous achievements and made very important contributions to the reform and development of socialism in China. In the development history of China's epistemological research in the new period, evaluating the achievements of Xia Zhentao's epistemological thought, it can be said that it is the most outstanding in terms of the quantity and quality of the results, as well as in the systematic, pioneering and influential results. A remarkable feature of Xia Zhentao's epistemological thought is the combination of history and theory, which includes both the study of epistemological principles and the study of epistemological history, covering almost all important issues discussed in China's epistemological research in the new era. Not only that, Xia Zhentao has obtained pioneering theoretical achievements on the meaning and elements of practice, the epistemological system, and the history of traditional Chinese epistemological thought, and has also cultivated a group of academic talents who have made outstanding achievements in epistemological research. Xia Zhentao is the founder, pioneer and leader of Marxist epistemological research in the new period in China. Xia Zhentao's epistemological thought has changed to a large extent the barren state of Chinese Marxist philosophy in the epistemological field with fruitful theoretical achievements, and not only has an important academic position in the history of the development of epistemology in China, but also has important theoretical value in the entire history of the development of Marxist philosophy in China. Xia Zhentao's epistemological thought not only has important theoretical value, but also has very important practical significance. It provides theoretical resources for integrating scientific rationality into people's consciousness, philosophical methodological guidance for scientific research, and philosophical theoretical basis for scientific decision-making. Epistemology is an indispensable analytical dimension of Marxist philosophy, and in the development of Chinese society in the new era, Marxist epistemology should not be forgotten. Xia Zhentao's epistemological thought has very important enlightenment for the current development of epistemology in China: we should adhere to the unity of inheritance and development, comprehensively use various theoretical resources, and promote continuous innovation in epistemological research based on the development of science and technology in the current era and the development practice of contemporary China. Keywords: Xia Zhentao; Epistemology; Practice; the relationship between man and the world; AbstractXia Zhentao is one of the contemporary Chinese famous Marxist philosophers. He came from a poor family, and he devotes himself to the study. With lofty aspirations,tireless efforts and love for philosophy, Xia Zhentao has made tremendous achievements in Chinese philosophy especially epistemology of Chinese traditional thought, Marxist epistemology, the essence of Marxist philosophy, the reform of Marxist philosophy textbooks and anthroponomy, and so on. He has made an outstanding contribution to the development of Marxist philosophy in China.Based on the basic point of practice and the relationship between human being and the world, with the existence and development of practical human as the basic prerequisite and starting point,Xia Zhentao interpreted the object,features and functions of philosophy. According to this philosophy, he interpreted Marxist philosophy as practical materialism,and based on this he has researched the specific philosophy fields such as epistemology, Marxist philosophy textbook reform, anthroponomy,and so on. Marxist epistemology is the most important component in the philosophy research of Xia Zhentao.In the late 1970s,a great discussion on the criterion of truth in Chinese academic field makes epistemology hot in philosophical study. With a solid philosophical grounding and the spirit of rigorous scholarship and hard work,Xia Zhentao became a leader and outstanding person in the epistemology field. According to its internal logic of the development,Xia Zhentao's epistemological theory is divided into three development periods:（1）from the late 1970s to the early 1980s is the theoretical preparation period of Xia Zhentao's epistemological theory; （2）from the early1980s to the late 1980s is the forming period of the systemic ideas of Xia Zhentao's epistemological theory; （3）from the late 1980s to the late 1990s is the great development period of Xia Zhentao's epistemological theory. In the first period of development, Xia Zhentao criticized voluntarism of the“Gang of Four”and re-examined the concept of practice. To eliminate voluntarism and to overcome the subjective is not only the premise of the whole ideological emancipation but also is the premise of the research of Marxist epistemology in new period in China.According to the basic principles of Marxist philosophy, Xia Zhentao criticized the idealistic basis of“Gang of Four”,“the theory of the will to power”in the field of social history and the power pragmatism in epistemology. In order to further study why and how practice can test the truth,Xia Zhentao re-examined the meaning,elements and structure of practice. According to his understanding,practice,which is composed of the purpose, means, results and other elements, is an interactional process between subject and object. Human being puts forward purposes, the presupposition of the practice results,in practical activities based on objective reality and understanding of the objective law and his own needs. In practice, the purpose embodied as the form of an objective material, abandoning their own subjective by means. In this way, Xia Zhentao described practice as the process in which purpose is transformed into the results by means. Started from the category of practice purpose, Xia Zhentao interpreted the concept of practice notion. He pointed out that practice notion is the unity of the objective measures of external objects and the internal measures of human, which is the intermediate links from the rational knowledge back to practice. Xia Zhentao drew purpose into practice as an element,which overcomes the mistake which simply understands the practice only from the objectifiability and the principle of subjectivity returns. This directly promotes the development of epistemology study in China.In the second period of development, based on scientific point of practice as theoretical foundation and starting point, Xia Zhentao studied the basic issues of epistemology, and formed his systematic ideas of epistemology. Following the revolution train of thought of Marx ´ philosophy,Xia Zhentao introduced the concept of scientific practice into epistemology which makes practice as an intrinsic part of epistemology rather than external links. Based on the general structure of practice,Xia Zhentao established the analytical framework of the subject-object of knowledge. He thought that knowledge is a system structure consisting of subject, object and intermediaries and other elements which can be anatomized. The“anatomical structure”is constructed according to the subjectivity principle, and knowledge is the process that subject grasps actively objects in the form of conception. Adhere to the materialist dialectics, Xia Zhentao established the research orientation of the dynamic development and theory of epigenesis of knowledge system. Knowledge is not a static system structure. The interaction between its various elements happens frequently. Epistemology is not only ready to pay attention to and study mature and existing knowledge, but also should investigate the formation process of the knowledge structure. In addition,Xia Zhentao has interpreted the theory of the truth and value,epistemological history,and so on. The third period of development, Xia Zhentao based on his epistemological system ideas, studied deeply some of specific issues and built up a comprehensive, systematic and profound epistemological system. On the theory of epigenesis of knowledge,based on combining the natural history factors with social history factors, Xia Zhentao researched the origin and occurrence of knowledge from the perspective of knowledge systems. Based on the existing and mature form of knowledge, Xia Zhentao traced the various factors of knowledge structure back to their shaping trends and the initial formation of the initial forms, and traced back to the status and the relationship of these elements in the original knowledge structure. And thus he revealed formation processes and state of the original knowledge structure. Xia Zhentao used the subject-object analytical framework to analyze the respective meaning, content and importance of the subject, object, and intermediary of knowledge system. And from the perspective of dialectical, he analyzed the associated internal relations of the three subsystems. He described the knowledge as a dynamic and constantly developing process, and pointed out the subject-object correlation law of the knowledge. On the history of Chinese traditional epistemology, from the relationship between human and the world, referring to Marxist epistemology, Xia Zhentao summarized and combed the epistemology of more than fifty thinkers from Confucius to Sun Yat-sen, and excavated the epistemological factor implied in traditional ideas of heaven-man, subject-object, form and spirit, knowing and doing, and so on. Xia Zhentao also revealed the unified mechanism and concrete forms of truth, goodness and beauty within the knowing process, and analyzed the intrinsic link between the truth, goodness and beauty in the knowledge content and knowledge, affection and will in knowledge einstellung. The general characteristics Xia Zhentao's epistemological theory embodied are following:with the Marxist anthroponomy as the premise,it understood knowledge from the perspective of human existence and development; with practical materialism as the theoretical foundation, it introduced the concept of scientific practice into epistemology; adhering to materialist dialectics,it described knowledge as an open process and a relational system,and researched epistemology from the overall concept of Marxist philosophy. In short,adhere to the basic principles of the theory of knowledge which Marx and Engels established, based on the development of contemporary practice and science, Xia Zhentao's epistemological theory interpreted deeply and re-created the Marxist epistemology. It not only filled and enriched the content of Marxist epistemology,but also put forward a lot of creative ideas. Epistemology has made great achievements in new period in China, and made a very important contribution for the development of China ´s socialist reform. Evaluating Xia Zhentao's epistemological theory in the epistemology development history in several decades in new period in China, we can say: in terms of quantity, quality of the results, or the systematic, innovative and influential of the results, Xia Zhentao's achievements on epistemology are most outstanding. One of the significant characteristics of Xia Zhentao's epistemological theory is that it combined the theory with history of knowledge. It not only researched a lot of questions on the epistemology theory,but also researched into the history of epistemology. It covered almost all important issues which scholars researched and discussed in new period in China.And besides that, Xia Zhentao also made ground-breaking theoretical achievements on elements and meaning of practice, the knowledge system, the history of Chinese traditional thought on epistemology, and so on, and trained a group of academic talent who made outstanding achievements on the study of epistemology. So it can be said that Xia Zhentao is a founder, a pioneer and leader of Marxist epistemology in new period in China.With great achievements on epistemology, Xia Zhentao's epistemological theory has changed the poor state in the field of epistemology of Marxist Philosophy in China.It not only has an important academic position in the epistemology development history,but also has important theoretical value in the entire development history of Marxist philosophy. Xia Zhentao's epistemological theory not only has important theoretical value, but also has very important practical significance. It provides the theoretical resources for putting science and rationality into people ´s awareness, provides the philosophical methodology guidance for scientific research, provides the philosophy basis for the scientific decisionmaking. Epistemology is the essential analytical dimension of Marxist philosophy, so Marxist epistemology should not be forgot in Chinese society development. Xia Zhentao's epistemological theory provides very important enlightenment for the current development of epistemology as following: unite inheritance and development, use various theories resources comprehensively, promote theoretical innovation based on the development of science and technology in today's era and the contemporary development practice in China.Keywords:Xia Zhentao; epistemology; practice; the relationship between human being and the world; subjectivity principle（AI翻译）