Jiang Xuebin: The Artistic Critical Construction of Marx's Thought on Scientific Atheism
The Western world’s long-standing religious tradition and the religious background of his early upbringing provided Marx with a particular cognition and understanding of religion, God, or the divine. As his life experience accumulated, his philosophical theory matured, and his practical struggle deepened, Marx gradually grew into a steadfast atheist. Marx's atheistic thought is directly manifested in the philosophical sphere as a critique of religion and theology, while in the artistic sphere, it constructs an aesthetic path for the critique of divinity. From the creation of literary works to the gradual perfection of his system of artistic thought, Marx constructed an artistic-critical ideology of scientific atheism along the main threads of his own literary output, his revelation of the essence of art, and his thoughts on artistic production. This further enriched the developmental pedigree and modes of deployment of Marxist scientific atheism.
I. The Critique of Divinity in Marx’s Literary Creation
As a specific form of artistic language, literary works are important vehicles for expressing thought and emotion. In his youth, Marx was deeply passionate about literary creation and composed several collections of poetry during his student years. Furthermore, Marx authored literary works such as plays and novels. The artistic intellectual content of Marx’s literary creations is profound and far-reaching, and the seeds of atheistic thought were already evident in his early works. Marx’s literary works unreservedly negate the existence and authority of God, utilizing literary creation to initiate a critique of divinity.
(1) Revealing the Illusory Nature of Deities through Artistic Critique
Images of gods are common subjects in various literary works. The mysterious, transcendent, and unknowable characteristics of the divine can describe the unknown, the ethereal "other world," or obscure the limits of human reality and emotional distress. These traits are conducive to the hazy expression of a poet’s or artist’s psychological intentions and romantic sentiments, thereby creating a complex and shifting subjective spiritual world. Marx's literary works also utilize God (the Lord) or things possessing divinity and god-like qualities (such as angels and sprites) as subjects or materials; for instance, "Siren Song," "Song of the Little Sprites," and "Song of the Gnomes" [1] are poems created with such deities as their subjects. However, in Marx’s writing, these are not gods in the religious sense or entities possessing supernatural powers and mysterious essences; rather, they are merely external forms used as metaphors for objective existence or as vents for emotion. "In Marx’s understanding and narrative, although the referents of 'sprites' are quite manifold, arbitrary, misty, chaotic, and even contradictory, this ultimately leads Marx logically to the conclusion: God does not exist; the residence of the divine is in the human world." [2]
In Marx’s view, deities are nothing more than the virtualization of objective existence rather than real entities; the images of gods can find their prototypes in real existence. The reason humans generate the concept of God or the conceit of divinity regarding real existence is primarily due to the limitations of their own cognition and an infinite longing for the unknown. In the poem "Song to the Stars" from the second volume of his poetry collection The Book of Love, Marx wrote:
"People lift their eyes to gaze at you, Thinking you possess a mysterious power, Seeking to draw hope from you, And to draw thoughts that never run dry." [3]
People often pin their hopes on the myriad stars to realize their wishes, but the starry sky cannot satisfy the practical needs of mortals—such as achieving professional success or pursuing happiness—nor can it fulfill unrealistic desires for supernatural abilities, for the gods are merely fantasies and not real existences. Natural objects like the stars are not gods, nor do they have souls; they are merely real, objective existences that do not change based on an individual's will or misfortune:
"Even if we are smashed to pieces, Even if we meet with total disaster, Not a single tree will break because of it, Not a single star will fall down." [4]
The prayers people offer to the gods cannot change the fact that divinity is merely something constructed by human consciousness out of objective existence. In the poem "To Jenny" from the collection The Book of Songs, Marx directly expresses his contempt for "God" and strips away its illusory essence. The "gods" are nothing more than illusory reflections of objective things, phenomena, and laws of nature, such as the "firmament," "stars," and the "rolling mist and waves of the sea." Consequently, the "gods" cannot satisfy real human practical demands; they only "bestow" a nominal self-consolation. Thus, Marx mocks the gods:
"With irony in my voice, I fling Their gifts back in their faces, I do not wish to accept their useless junk, While the most precious things they cannot give." [5]
Proceeding from objective reality, Marx’s poetry negates both the existence of God and the expectations people place upon the divine. Through an artistic mode of divine critique, he reveals the essence of deities as virtualized images of objective existence, presenting a cognition of internal human emotions and consciousness, as well as a quest for the universe and all objective reality.
(2) Negating Artistic Inspiration of Divine Consciousness via the Realistic Basis of Literary Creation
Marx’s literary reflections and creative practice demonstrate that the real world is the fundamental source of literary and artistic creation. The objective world, as the realistic basis of creative inspiration, directly negates the divine consciousness that claims to create through "divine calling." The majority of poems in Marx’s collections take the expression of emotion and love as their theme, making extensive use of personification and revealing genuine feelings of longing for love. This Romantic mode of expression and heavy lyrical prose stem from Marx’s perceptions and insights into real life. Marx’s literary practice reflects on the source of creative inspiration: it lies in real life and objective existence, rather than being attributed—as traditional philosophers did—to a divine grace bestowed upon a select few.
The creation of lyrical poetry was Marx’s way of venting his solitude and his craving for the care found in love. The object of Marx's lyricism and adoration was his beloved Jenny, whom he missed day and night. In the two collections The Book of Love and The Book of Songs, dozens of poems are directly titled "To Jenny" or carry "To Jenny" as a subtitle. These poems narrate Marx's loyal love and constant yearning for Jenny; his love and longing for her were the ultimate source of his poetic inspiration. In the poem "Yearning: To Jenny" from the first volume of The Book of Love, Marx bluntly points out that Jenny herself is the object of his poetic creation, and the longing for her is the driving force in his heart:
"You yourself are the incarnation of this yearning, The word 'yearning' can hardly express the feelings of my heart, This burning passion cannot be told in words, This fire will burn ever brighter in my soul." [6]
Having left his hometown, Marx used literary creation to express his longing for Jenny, his cognition and perception of love, and his subjective metaphors and intellectual creations regarding objective nature based on this human emotion.
In Marx's literary world, the myriad things of nature and the life of human society are the sources of beauty and the starting point of artistic creation, while also serving as a "place of Enlightenment" [7] in the pursuit of aesthetics. The pursuit of beautiful things is an innate human instinct, but the process of pursuit does not depend on praying to the gods; on the contrary, blindly praying for the divine to bestow beauty while abandoning the self is tantamount to self-destruction. In the poem "The Waves," Marx wrote:
"Man always pursues beautiful things, Thinking the gods will surely grant his request, So he willingly leaps into the abyss, But he only destroys that delicate vision!" [8]
The fundamental impulse for artistic creation arises from nature and the real world of human existence, not from gods or mysterious powers. All objective existence—including spiritual consciousness such as human emotion—is both the object of artistic creation and the source of creative inspiration. By correctly grasping the natural world, the social environment, and the internal spiritual world of man, Marx used literary works to express emotional fluctuations, the contradictions of human nature, the power of nature, and the complexity of society. He pointed out that the things of the world are not the creations of God, but natural objective existences and the creations of human practice. This is the inspirational revelation of Marx's literary creation, as well as the spirit of scientific atheism inherent in his poetry.
(3) Resisting Divine Dominion over Human Destiny through the Internal Spirit of Literary Creation
Marx took the reflection of human "essential powers" as the internal spirit of his literary creation. In his literary works, God is not a transcendent entity possessing "divinity," nor is He an omnipotent Absolute who can resolve human suffering, steer human destiny, or control the birth and death of things; rather, God is a simple allegory. All things in the world have their own objective laws of generation and evolution, and the internal essential power of man is the fundamental basis for recognizing and utilizing these laws to realize a beautiful vision. In "The Stars: Three Sonnets," Marx uses the stars to demonstrate his cognitive reflection on the material existence, unconsciousness, and laws of motion of nature:
"O Stars, if you were subject to the power of God, The vast sky would seem a desolate waste; You go your way in eternal orbits, Unconcerned that a tender, noble soul should perish!" [9]
In Marx’s view, the stars are neither confined by "the power of God" nor limited by human emotion or life; they are merely natural celestial bodies moving according to their own orbits, indifferent to human feelings. The basis of the connection between man and the so-called "divine" lies in human imagination, yet "imagination" is powerless to determine the results of human activity.
In the novel Scorpion and Felix, Marx steadfastly asserts that human activity is not governed by the divine. God does not "manifest" when humans make choices or perform other activities, nor is human destiny determined by God. Human imagination created God, and then drew a distance and erected a barrier between God and man—so much so that mortals do not even know "whether God has a nose on His face." [10] Although the contingency of the world's operation and human activity may lead to "miracles" where "divine governance" and "human obedience" appear to overlap, ultimately, humans are the masters of their own destiny; the true choice lies in human freedom and consciousness. Therefore, all human activities and their results lie with man himself, not with the illusion of "miracles." Marx’s narrator says: "Whoever bathes in a river must place himself in the midst of the surging wind and waves of nature, must conquer the stormy billows, and struggle with strong arms; but the one who sits in a bathtub stays indoors, staring at the corner of the bathroom wall." [11]
In literary works permeated by divinity, although creative imagination can grant the protagonist a life of miraculous color, the end of that destiny lies in the choice of the gods. In contrast, Marx’s literary creation emphasizes that humans can make choices and act upon them because of their own attributes and essential powers as human beings, not because of divine arrangement. Bravely creating and practicing in the face of objective reality is the foundation for the well-rounded development of man and the key to making man the decider of his own fate. "God" is endowed with attributes such as controlling all things, transcending time, and presiding over the beginning and the end. Fundamentally, these divine qualities arise from the contradiction between man's infinite desires and his limited capabilities. When the goals of human activity cannot be realized because of a lack of ability, man creates in his conscious world a god capable of realizing those idealized goals. The transcendence and omnipotence of God symbolize man's self-transcendence—the extension of his own limited abilities toward infinite "super-abilities." However, with the perfection of the human knowledge structure, the elevation of cognitive capacity, and the progress of science and technology, man's ability to know and transform the world has developed daily. Traditional defenses for the existence of God have lost their intellectual foundation. Divinity is no longer mysterious or unreachable; the development of science continuously breaks through the "monopoly" of God and explains the illusory essence of so-called "divinity."
The critique of divinity in Marx’s literary creation affirms the external basis of human existence and the internal spirit and thought of man, thereby highlighting the objectivity of the natural world, the authenticity of human emotions, and the reality of human activity. Marx's critique of divinity in his literary works deepens the theoretical significance of modern research into artistic issues, provides practical value for guiding literary creation, and offers a literary perspective and an artistic path for contemporary research into scientific atheism.
II. The "De-divinization" of Marx’s Treatment of the Essence of Art
Marx defined the essence of art through multi-dimensional attributes including the philosophical, the practical, and the social, laying an atheistic foundation for it through scientific theoretical exposition. By reflecting on artistic issues based on materialist philosophy and the theory of practice, Marx brought the emergence and development of art back from the world of divine Ideas to the world of human life. As a conscious practical activity of man, art sheds its divine cloak and participates directly or indirectly in the movement of social development and historical evolution, playing an important role therein.
(1) Revealing the Objective Reality of the Essence of Art through Materialism
The essence of materialism determines the prerequisite of scientific atheism across Marx’s entire system of thought; "materialist philosophy is the theoretical foundation of atheism, while atheistic thought is the logical conclusion of materialist philosophy." [21] The dialectical materialism and historical materialism founded by Marx and Engels found a final destination for philosophical problems since the early modern period and shifted philosophy’s focus toward humanity itself. This is the materialist philosophical foundation of Marx’s aesthetic thought and the basic prerequisite for reflecting on scientific atheism from an artistic perspective. Dialectical materialism and the materialist conception of history thoroughly critiqued all forms of idealism, transcended the limitations of the "old materialism" [12] of the past, established the "primacy of matter" regarding the origin of the world, and proceeded from practice to reveal the intrinsic connection between humanity and objective existence or social history.
From the perspective of dialectical materialism, art is not the creation of an omnipotent deity; artistic creation cannot be divorced from reality’s objective existence. In fact, theoretical reflections on art and the creation of works have often been inextricably linked with religion and the divine. This is especially true in the Western world where, from Ancient Greek philosophy to German Classical Idealism, the theoretical construction of artistic questions "bundled" art together with religion and divinity. Seeking the cause, the occupancy of idealist philosophy as the bedrock of art studies is the primary crux leading to this phenomenon. The philosophy of art of the German classical philosopher Schelling is distinctly representative in this regard. Schelling’s philosophy of art redefined a more sacred art as "an instrument of the gods." [22] He believed that only this "divine art" was true art and could serve as an object of philosophy. In Schelling’s view, art in the real world is a reproduction of "divine art"—that is, the Idea of art in the world of the Will—and is "merely a necessary phenomenon flowing directly from the Absolute," [23] lacking reality and "original form." This idealist essence determines the fundamental divergence between the idealist aesthetic thought represented by Schelling’s philosophy of art and Marx’s materialist aesthetic thought. Marx held that physical materials are the foundation of art; when humans bestow aesthetic concepts upon objective matter, the material object is transformed into an aesthetic object, possessing the attribute of beauty. For example, the aesthetic attributes of precious metals like gold and silver "make them the natural material for luxury, ornament, splendor, and festive requirements." [24] In this sense, objective matter like precious metals is the realistic prerequisite of art—art is the human transformation and processing of objective matter. Furthermore, the appreciation of beauty requires an objectively existing subject. "For the non-musical ear, the most beautiful music has no sense," while the "musical ear" and "the eye capable of sensing the beauty of form" [25] are the unfolding of the social and subjective essential powers of man.
Regarding historical materialism, art is the product of human social and historical development rather than the absolute will of a deity. For idealist philosophers, consciousness is the fundamental cause of the generation of all matter, and God is the highest absolute will; art is thus implanted with the divine will and becomes an appendage of divinity. As Schelling argued: "God is the immediate cause of all art." [26] From the perspective of the materialist conception of history, art arises from human practical activity, and the social division of labor facilitated the "independence" and development of art. Furthermore, the fundamental prerequisite for the emergence and development of art is the economic base of various eras; only when the needs of human survival—food, clothing, shelter, and transport—are met to a certain degree can activities of the superstructure, such as art and religion, be carried out. However, the foundation of economic development is not static; changes in the economic base of different eras determine the inevitable transformation of the superstructure. Marx pointed out, "With the change of the economic foundation the entire immense superstructure is more or less rapidly transformed." [27] Transformations of the superstructure include both changes in the "economic conditions of production" and changes in ideologies, including art. Marx revealed the historical materialist foundation of art through the dialectical relationship between the economic base and the superstructure, as well as the movement of social history. Thus, the scientific nature of dialectical materialism provides the philosophical prerequisite for atheistic art.
(2) Revealing that Art is In Essence a Human Practical Activity
In medieval Europe, the view of art as divine creation persisted for a long time. From Schelling’s positioning and interpretation of art, true art is necessarily a "masterpiece" of God; although God is also endowed with the meaning of the "origin" (Ur-grund) in the field of philosophy, the two are essentially identical. This is the "common destination" [13] of idealist philosophy: the highest origin of philosophy and all things is ultimately reduced to God or divinity. Schelling believed that although works of art are created by humans, they are created under the dominion of God: "the immediate producer of the work of art or of the individual real things—which make the Absolute a real-objective thing in the world of ideas—is the eternal concept or idea of 'man within God,' which is one with the soul itself and closely united with it." [28] Clearly, in Schelling’s system of artistic philosophy, the true creator of the work of art is God himself. God establishes a connection with humans through Ideas; as "man within God," he reproduces the eternal concepts of all artistic works from the world of Ideas into an objective thing—that is, the real work of art is created. Moreover, Schelling believed that the reason humans can create works of art is due to their nature as a "genius," but this "genius" nature is not something inherent to man, but a divinity "intuited" from the absoluteness of God: "Genius is a fragment of the absoluteness of God." [29] In other words, works of art are not created by humans themselves; they are merely mimesis of the eternal concepts of art in the world of Ideas. In this way, reflection on artistic questions and artistic creative activities are confined within a category of divinity divorced from human activity and the real world.
Marx’s redefinition of the human being clearly established the scientific atheistic essence of his theoretical system. The view of divine art emphasizes that the reason humans create works of art can only be attributed to the guidance of God—although the capacity for artistic creation resides within the person, it is a divine thing bestowed by God. Obviously, this mode of understanding misplaces the relationship between man and art; it denies the practicality of man as a subject and instead reduces man to a "vehicle" for divine art. In Marx’s view, man is not "abstract man," but real, sensuous man. Marx’s stipulation regarding the essence of practice causes art to return from the divinity of the world of Ideas to the humanity of the real world.
In a broader sense, artistic views, artistic creation, and works of art all belong to the category of artistic practice. Among these, artistic views belong to the level of man's spiritual practice, artistic creation is a specific practical activity of man, and the work of art is the product of man's practical activity. At its root, practice is the internal essence of all social life. Marx’s establishment of the practical nature of human activity demonstrates that art has integrated into social life and become an important component of a social life whose essence is practice; an internal linkage exists between art and human practical activity. Under divine intervention, all human activities lose their free and conscious practicality; God dictates the purposiveness and results of human activity, and thus man is reduced to a "tool" for God's self-verification, while art is created by this "tool" to manifest the existence of the deity. Marx’s explanation of the essence of art based on the practicality of human activity makes art a conscious, aesthetic human creation. Humans perform creation or production upon objective matter in accordance with aesthetic standards, ultimately forming works of art, and this practical activity of creation or production must be infused with human consciousness. Beauty is the fundamental attribute of art, and all of man's practical activities regarding art must unfold according to his specific internal aesthetics. Marx believed that, compared to animalistic activity, human practical activity consciously follows the laws of beauty: "man also forms things in accordance with the laws of beauty." [30] Creative activities that consciously follow aesthetic consciousness and the laws of beauty directly reveal the practicality of art, providing an atheistic practical foundation for art—that is, art is a conscious practical activity of man.
(3) Revealing that Art is In Essence Intended to Satisfy the Needs of Human Social Existence
The birth of art is a product of human aesthetic needs and the practical result continually formed by the pursuit of beautiful things during the process of human historical development. Art is a practical activity carried out to satisfy the needs of human social existence. Human artistic practice and its results are generated based on the emergence of social history, unfold with its development, and reflect actual social conditions. Clearly, the essence of art lies in reflecting human social existence rather than the illusory world of God. Human artistic practice has gradually matured alongside the development of human social history, and the accumulation of artistic achievements through practice has grown richer, exhibiting distinct characteristics of each era.
In his Conspectus of Lewis Morgan's "Ancient Society," Marx pointed out that the epic Iliad depicted the basic status of social life at that time, mentioning that "coinage was then unknown, and commerce was therefore still barter," and noted "gold blocks used by weight and calculated in talents," as well as "objects made of gold, silver, copper, and iron, various textiles made of linen and wool, houses, palaces, etc." [31] Strictly speaking, Homer’s Iliad is not a historical documentary in the true sense, but rather a monumental epic with legendary colors and artistic features. However, its historical and archaeological value cannot be ignored. Real-life contents such as equal exchange without money, methods of weighing gold, daily necessities, and residential architecture were recorded and passed down, presenting social scenes under the historical conditions of that time through the artistic medium of the epic. In this sense, art assumes a clear social function from its existential attributes. Marx also pointed out when referring to clans and tribes that "ballads handed down from ancient times are their only historical records and chronicles," [32] and these ballads more or less bear mystical colors, such as praising divine protection for survival.
Beyond the state of material existence, art is also able to reflect actual social systems, social movements, and social formations, participating in the process of socio-historical development as a specific ideology. When revealing the political situation in Germany, Marx used tragedy to symbolize the stubbornness of the old system in historical development. He pointed out: "When the old regime, as the existing world order, was still engaged in a struggle with a world that was only just coming into being, and when it believed and had to believe in its own justification, its history was tragic." [33] The struggle of the old system to maintain its original dominant position against a newly born world is, fundamentally, the contradiction between the backwardness of the old system and the progressiveness of socio-historical development, which determines the tragedy of the old system's demise. Meanwhile, Marx affirmed the reflection of real social movements in tragic works. In his correspondence with Ferdinand Lassalle, he pointed out that the tragic conflict in the work Franz von Sickingen was "the tragic conflict that led to the inevitable destruction of the revolutionary party of 1848–1849," and that Sickingen's downfall represented "opposition to the new forms of the existing system." [34] Furthermore, Marx also analyzed the basic characteristics of social formations through art. Due to the emergence of the division of labor, humans were confined to specific spheres of activity and could only engage in one "exclusive" task, such as hunting, fishing, or herding. In this regard, Marx noted that in communist society, people can transcend the limitations of specific spheres of activity and freely choose any productive activity, engaging in hunting, fishing, herding, or criticism according to interest [35], without being fixed as a hunter, fisherman, shepherd, or critic.
It is thus evident that Marx’s explanation of artistic questions from a social foundation reveals the atheistic prerequisite of the essence of art. It profoundly reflects that the root of human artistic practice and its results lies in objective, real human society. Man's conscious artistic practice originates from social reality and mirrors true social existence and existential needs. Although the subjects of many artistic creations and works are religious or divine, the essence of art has nothing to do with divinity. The creators and appreciators themselves are humans with social attributes, and the works both derive inspiration and materials from the real world and are created according to the material and spiritual needs of human social existence. Therefore, this determines the fundamental prerequisite that human artistic practice is rooted in real society rather than divinity.
III. Scientific Refutation of Divine Art in Marx’s Discourse on "Artistic Production"
Marx used “artistic production” to reveal the alienation of literary and artistic creation and its works within capitalist relations of production, thereby establishing a realistic basis for the construction of an artistic critique rooted in scientific atheism. Marx’s theory of artistic production directly links art with human production, pointing art squarely toward the fundamental problems of capitalist society. By cutting into the essence of human existential activity through the productive activities of modern society, Marx sets aside the creationism of art and returns it to the reality of the human world.
(1) Art is a mode of production in the real world
Marx first affirmed that art is a mode of production existing in the real world, stripping human subjectivity of its supposed divinity. Through the reality of human artistic creation, he negated the divine origin of art and identified the real world as the root of artistic generation. In his Introduction to the Critique of Hegel’s Philosophy of Right, Marx pointed out that the prehistoric periods of various ancient peoples were permeated with imagination and myth [14]. It was precisely out of these fantasies and myths that religion and the gods were born; humanity established illusory objects of worship for itself through artistic creation. Consequently, gods arise from human conscious activity, in which imagination plays a vital role. Through the imaginative processing of consciousness, humans create the deities they worship and construct divine images and descriptions of “divinity” through primitive artistic creation. Ever since, the gods who rule all things have been placed above humanity, and humans—in their longing for the unknown and worship of natural forces—rendered themselves subordinates to the divine. In this way, humanity lost its rightful independence, and all human production and life, including artistic activities, were carried out under the “guidance” of the gods.
Marx discussed the relationship between art and production in many places throughout his writings. In the Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844, he proposed: “Religion, family, state, law, morality, science, art, etc., are only particular modes of production.” [15] At this stage, Marx had not yet used the formal concept of “artistic production,” but he already understood art and religion as human modes of production—modes that operate within the production of mental activity. As a special social ideology, art arises from human mental activity; artistic activity is a form of the “production of ideas, notions, and consciousness.” In The German Ideology, Marx emphasized that human productive activity can be divided into material production and mental production. Humans are not only the productive laborers of their material life but also the “producers of their conceptions, ideas, etc.” [16] That is to say, art should not be subject to God, but is rather the result of human activity in the real world and becomes a special mode of production. Similarly, religion is not something external to humanity; like art, it is a special social ideology that constitutes a particular human mode of production.
Marx’s theory of artistic production treats artistic activity as a form of the “production of ideas, notions, and consciousness,” profoundly revealing the internal connection between art and religion. Artistic production consciously transcends activities or phenomena that belong purely to the category of aesthetics. Starting from the reality of modern human life under the rule of the capitalist mode of production, it reconstructs the political, economic, and social attributes of artistic production. Religion likewise acts upon the realm of consciousness, and its alienation of production also occurs within the human spiritual world. Whether in art or religion, the prerequisite for production lies in the objective existence of human society. The profound connection between art and religion shows that the “divinity” of art can be “traced” to religion; however, since religion is an alienation of the human spiritual world and a distorted existence in the real world, divine art cannot gain a foothold in reality.
From Marx’s definition of art, we see that its nature as a mode of production can only be discovered within human productive activity, and art is simultaneously and inevitably restricted by the laws of production. By categorizing both art and religion as special modes of human production, Marx determined their reality and objectivity, thereby negating divine control over them and allowing art and religion to break away from their divine essence and return to the human real world.
(2) Art is a mode of critique of actual production
Theologians are keen to explain the world, but in the end, they must seek help from “God,” placing their hopes in the existence of a supra-human power. This necessitates proving the existence of God. Art can present the images of so-called “gods” more intuitively; therefore, for theologians, art is the way God manifests Himself in the human world. For instance, Schelling believed that “Art is the objective presentation of the forms of things as they are in themselves, and thus the objective presentation of the forms of the archetypes.” [17] What he referred to as “things in themselves” are those within the Absolute, namely God Himself, and “archetypes” are the states or eternal concepts of things within God and the world of Ideas. Although Schelling emphasized the absolute identity of subject and object when granting God a philosophical primordial significance, he could still not eliminate the idealistic essence wherein God is the origin based on an Absolute Ego, nor could he avoid the divine essence and religious attributes of God within his theoretical construction and the Western cultural tradition. It is for this reason that the interpretations or definitions of art by idealist philosophers, represented by Schelling, aimed to “deify” art, defining its ultimate task as serving God.
In contrast, the fundamental orientation of Marx’s theory of artistic production lies in answering realistic questions regarding human social life and social relations of production. It does not explain the mysterious origins of art or its divine modes of expression, nor does it develop a theoretical construction from a purely aesthetic category. Instead, it starts from the real society controlled by the modern capitalist system, treating art as a special mode for critiquing capitalist production and exposing the exploitative nature of the capitalist system. Marx discussed the relationship between art and production in several places, formally using the concept of “artistic production” in the Introduction to the Critique of Political Economy. Marx pointed out: “When artistic production once emerges as artistic production, they can no longer be created in that epoch-making, classical form that makes world history.” [18] The pure artistic creation of the ancient Greek era cannot be realized in the modern life ruled by capitalism; artistic production has already become “‘artistic production’ as a branch of capitalist mental production.” [19] In Marx’s view, the art of the ancient Greek era was a purer form of art; its production followed the laws of beauty and was created for the purpose of fulfilling human aesthetic needs, generating “significant art forms” within the field of art and transforming artistic production into a mode of human mental production possessed of aesthetic value. However, the capitalist mode of production and its highly developed social division of labor directly link the social function of art with capital. In Marx’s view, the various functions of bourgeois society are mutually prerequisite and serve only the capitalist. Therefore, artistic production, as a capitalist mode of mental production, has the primary function of satisfying the capitalist’s accumulation of capital.
From the perspective of art, Marx profoundly exposed the central position of capital in capitalist society. Whether in the field of material production or mental production, there always exists the exploitative essence where the capitalist dominates labor and squeezes the productive labor of the workers in all social production. Marx pointed out: “A writer is a productive laborer not in so far as he produces ideas, but in so far as he enriches the publisher who publishes his works, or if he is a wage-laborer for a capitalist.” [20] The capitalist production process, including artistic production, “is a process of absorbing unpaid labor,” wherein the capitalist extracts capital interests by dominating the worker’s labor. By combining art with production, Marx exposed the internal contradictions of capitalist society, and art became a realistic mode for critiquing capitalist production. Clearly, the core of artistic production lies in “production.” Although capitalist artistic production is an “alienated” production serving the capitalist, it also demonstrates that art has descended from its long-standing status as a divine mode of expression to a realistic function of human cognition and transformation of the world. Art has drawn a clear line against divinity and no longer serves as the self-expression of the divine in the human world.
(3) Artistic production is a realistic activity for grasping the world
The way of thinking inherent in divine art overlooks the realistic foundation and practical capabilities of human existence. Marx, however, affirmed human value and elucidated human subjectivity and its basis in social existence, enabling humans and their activities to escape the domination of God. The combination of art and production further demonstrates that Marx’s focus is on the real life of humans, which is where the transcendence and advancement of his artistic thought lie. Fundamentally, production is human production, and the objects and products of production must take the human as the subject. Humans can only obtain what they need for survival through productive labor—something God cannot provide. Artistic production is likewise based on material prerequisites and real people, providing productive labor that satisfies the needs of social life. Therefore, Marx’s theory of artistic production directly links art with human production, pointing art toward the fundamental problems of capitalist society and cutting into the essence of human existential activity through the productive activities of modern society. This allows human artistic production to return to the current state of social life and the reality of human social development, thereby setting aside the theological doctrine of the divine creation of art.
Since the Renaissance, human reason has gradually been liberated from the shackles of religious theology, and art has entered a peak of development. Art began to serve as an important means for people to resist religious oppression and divine obscurantism; in a large number of artistic works used to glorify divine miracles, the brilliance of humanity was revealed everywhere. Art that appeared to submit to God and religion was instead used to express human reason, freedom, and creativity. Through long-term study of artistic works, rich experience in literary creation, and profound literary and artistic criticism, Marx formed an artistic outlook predicated on atheism and unique insights into artistic problems. He applied the understanding and creation of art to real human production, and through the realistic activity of artistic production, he defined the artistic mode by which humans grasp the world. Consequently, the discursive mode of art is no longer the self-manifestation of divinity, but rather the self-expression of human subjectivity and creativity. Artistic production has become a realistic activity for humans to grasp the world.
Production makes the free spiritual activity of humans a mode for grasping reality, and artistic production is one of these modes. Although Marx emphasized that artistic production is an activity of mental production, he also affirmed its material characteristics. Marx’s theory of artistic production is based on economic and political perspectives to analyze artistic problems, combining art with realistic production to reveal the deviation between the capitalist mode of production and the essence of artistic production. In the modern capitalist mode of production, art is not as beautiful as divine conceptions would have it, nor can it reflect the so-called highest reason or the will of God. Marx profoundly explained the “false relations” of capitalist society—materializing all relations into “pure money relations,” whereby even “noble” labor such as artistic labor becomes a pure money relation. The capitalist mode of production causes the essence of art to undergo alienation. Marx used artistic production to critique the exploitive relations and activities of production within the capitalist production system: the products of artistic labor are no longer artworks expressing aesthetic value, but commodities predicated on capital interests. In this production process, in order to complete the activity of artistic production, laborers have adopted the capitalist production on a limited scale. Marx illustrated these exploitative relations with an example: “A writer who compiles an encyclopedia as a collective work for many people exploits many other writers as assistants.” [21] Thus, the bourgeoisie uses money relations to make artistic producers their wage-laborers, while the entire capitalist production system generates a wage relationship that takes the form of a “transition to capitalism” among artistic producers. In this sense, artistic production as a realistic activity has caused art itself to lose its function as a spiritual mode for grasping the world. The problems pointed out in Marx’s theory of artistic production—such as capitalist production and the alienation of artistic production—exist in reality and are rooted in the internal contradictions of capitalism. These realistic problems cannot be solved by God; they can only be realized through human practice and human liberation.
IV. Conclusion
Marx utilized literary creation to express atheist reflections on the relationship between art and divinity, pointing out that art is rooted in objective existence rather than divine revelation. Grounded in a reflection on the philosophical, practical, and social foundations of art, he profoundly revealed the atheist essence of art, demonstrating that art is a practical activity of human social life rather than a "spokesperson" for God in the material world. Through his analysis of artistic production, he pointed out from the standpoint of political economy that although art under the conditions of production in capitalist society cannot maintain its original meaning, it profoundly demonstrates that art is a mode of production in human society, rather than a means for God to control man or a tool to deceive people in God's name. Marx's construction of artistic critique—based on literary creation, the revelation of the essence of art, and the theory of artistic production—reflects the theoretical trajectory of the gradual maturation of Marx's atheist thought. It also clearly outlines the intellectual thread of Marx's atheist thought within the horizon of art: moving from the basic concept of artistic creation to the foundational premise of theoretical reflection, and finally to the practical critique of artistic production.
(About the Author: Jiang Xuebin, Associate Professor, School of Marxism, Heilongjiang University) Internet Editor: Tong Xin Source: Science and Atheism (Kexue yu wushenlun)