Abstract:

Karl Marx pioneered one of classical traditions in historical sociology. In order to explore the uniqueness of Karl Marx's historical sociology, it is essential to delve into its methodological foundations. This study traces the formation and evolution of the methodological basis of Marx's historical sociology through his four distinct understandings of "history". In his critique of German historicism, particularly Hegel's philosophy of history, Marx developed the first relatively complete methodological framework for historical sociology: the historical deduction of production. This approach employs historical deduction, taking production as its logical starting point of historical analysis to deduce the formation of human society, thereby achieving a conclusion of social history over extended periods. In The Communist Manifesto, Marx refined this methodology through his historical analysis of "class". By critiquing Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, Marx began to consider how to apply dialectics to political economy. Thus, Marx developed a more refined methodological framework for his historical sociology—"Dialectics of Phenomena in History"—whereby any existence is historically generated, and entities in the process of generation can only approximate the factuality of existence through continuous "sublation"("Aufhebung") within the historical process. When confronting different analytical objectives, one must first establish distinct historical phenomena according to dialectical logic. When confronting historical phenomena serving different cognitive purposes, one must select distinct causal analysis strategies. In response to the critique of Capital, Marx made further, albeit unfinished, reflections on the conditionality and non-necessity of generative history. Rethinking the methodological foundations of Karl Marx's historical sociology also provides insights for historical sociology research oriented towards social theory.

Key words: Karl Marx, historical sociology, historical deduction from production, dialectics of phenomena in history