Althusserian Structuralism in Chinese Marxist Philosophical Discourse

The article examines the reception and interpretation of Louis Althusser's philosophy by Chinese scholars. At first, the article presents the distinctive features of the historical and philosophical context of introduction to Althusser's ideas in China (late 1970s–2000s) and the formation of respective Althusserian researches. The paper in detail analyzes the studies of the Chinese Marxist philosophers, which provided introductions and commentaries on the key tenets of Althusser's theory. Besides, it defines the relation between Althusserian theory and structuralism, philosophy and science; study of Althusser's standpoint on history, dialectics and humanism. The article emphasizes that the introduction of Althusserian concepts such as "epistemological break", "symptomatic reading", "overdetermination", "aleatory materialism", "theoretical anti-humanism", "anti-economism", anti-historicism, the relationship between theory and practice into the Chinese scientific discourse was carried out in the works of Li Qingyi, Xu Chongwen, Xu Ben, Wang Jie, Zhang Yibing, Hu Daping, Pan Xiaoming, Jin Yaomei, Zhang Yujia, Li Shili, Pan Zhixin, Zheng Yishi, Wang Yuchen, Liu Yulan. It was studied the ambiguous attitude towards the methodology of Althusser's structuralist Marxism on the part of Du Renzhi, Wang Fengcai, Zhou Yi, Zhang Jinpeng, Zhang Wenxi, and Li Shule. Considerable attention is paid to the criticism of Althusser's ideology theory, which has aroused substantial interest among Chinese scholars (Yu Wujin, Meng Dengying, Zhu Xiaohui, Wang Xingfu, Ying Wenzuo, Liu Yulan, Lin Qing, and Wang Chunming). Then, the critical perception of the main theoretical propositions of Althusser's philosophy in the works of Huang Jifeng, Zhang Yibing, Xu Chunwen, Wu Meng, Wang Shizhong and Liu Baomin was analyzed using the examples of the "symptomatic reading" method and the concept of "epistemological gap". Various approaches to Althusser's controversial understanding of "multiplicity" are presented in the works of Zheng Yishi, Duan Zhongqiao, Yang Haifeng and Liu Huaiyu. The study of Althusser's late philosophical thought, which primarily concerns the concept of "aleatory materialism", is presented on the examples of the works of Ling Xin, Li Jinhui and Guo Hua. The conclusions highlight that Chinese Marxist philosophers are more focused on the study of Althusser's philosophical ideas than on his political and economic concepts. It is also noted that some Chinese Marxist philosophers creatively accept Althusser's Marxist structuralism, while others adopt a critical stance and prefer classical Marxism.