Towards “the Sum Total of Human Knowledge”: Universal Implications of China’s Independent Knowledge System and the “Subjective Revolution” in Knowledge Production
Zhang Yan1,2, Zhang Rui1
1.School of Marxism, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China 2.Center for Marxist Theory Innovation and Communication Research / Institute of Social Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China
Abstract：The world vision of “the sum total of human knowledge” is not only integral to the universal development of China’s independent knowledge system but also bears upon a nation’s and a people’s spirit of knowledge innovation and their grand intellectual vision. Lenin’s proposition of “the sum total of human knowledge” profoundly reveals that the generation, accumulation, and dissemination of a knowledge system must necessarily draw extensively on different specific forms of knowledge belonging to the general category of “humanity”, identify the commensurable universal content therein, and then continuously expand the boundaries of human knowledge through concrete knowledge innovation. In the context of human history, “the sum total of human knowledge” involves the interactions, connections, and syntheses formed by various local knowledge systems around the common concerns of human civilization. This is especially true as human history enters the process of modernization, when local knowledge systems, in the epistemic turn of world history, continuously obtain basic cognition and knowledge production capacity for universality within “the sum total of human knowledge”. Given that local knowledge systems vary in their ability to abstract and extend knowledge from specific contexts, they thereby develop different autonomous capacities to address universal knowledge issues.China’s unique civilizational history and cultural accumulation have created an independent local knowledge system belonging to the Chinese nation. However, in the historical transformation of world modernization, this independent knowledge system, which had not yet reached the universal horizon of human knowledge, could only become a knowledge resource under the Western “other-narration” perspective in the world geopolitical landscape. Through the “two combinations”, the Communist Party of China has shaped a cultural subjectivity rooted in local civilizational history, and has given rise to the fundamental possibility for China’s independent knowledge system to generate a “self-narration” perspective under the spatiotemporal conditions of Chinese modernization. The key is to understand the knowledge value orientation behind the shift of the independent knowledge system from other-narration to self-narration. First, grounding itself in the entire historical narrative of Chinese culture constitutes the value foundation of China’s self-narration knowledge system, determining the cultural basis to which it belongs. Second, serving the concrete practice of Chinese modernization constitutes the value premise of China’s self-narration knowledge system, determining its developmental direction. Third, achieving intellectual independence constitutes the value attribution of China’s self-narration knowledge system, determining the level of accessibility it possesses.If China’s independent knowledge system intends to sublimate Chinese experience into a world-class knowledge theory in knowledge production, it must undergo a process of expanding from “local self-narration” to “global co-narration”, that is, a process of plural-person perspective expansion. This fundamental path lies in opening up universalizable knowledge pathways for China’s independent knowledge system, developed through Chinese modernization, within the sum total of human knowledge. First, by addressing universal issues based on practical life, it forms an academic vision of “China observing the world”, discovering the universal prototype of problems by “returning to the facts themselves”. Second, by providing original concepts through objective explanations of emblematic concepts, it forms a theoretical map of “China explaining the world”. Third, through the narrative coherence of history and culture, it engages in dialogue with common human knowledge issues, forming an intellectual resonance of “China connecting the world”. Fourth, by relying on organized scientific research to seek knowledge solutions for the common destiny of humanity, it forms an innovative consciousness of “China leading the world”. Constructing China’s independent knowledge system is a “subject revolution” process that develops a self-narration perspective to sublate knowledge production under the other-narration perspective, and carries out co-narration by transforming local particular knowledge into universal human knowledge. This is a historic effort made by the Chinese intellectual community, as members of human knowledge production, toward knowledge itself.
张彦, 张锐. 通达“人类知识的总和”：中国自主知识体系的普遍性意蕴与“主语革命”[J]. 浙江大学学报(人文社会科学版), 2026, 56(5): 5-16.
Zhang Yan, Zhang Rui. Towards “the Sum Total of Human Knowledge”: Universal Implications of China’s Independent Knowledge System and the “Subjective Revolution” in Knowledge Production. JOURNAL OF ZHEJIANG UNIVERSITY, 2026, 56(5): 5-16.
2026, Vol. 56 
