A ‘Face-to-face with Academics’ symposium was held in Tianshan hall at 2:30 p.m. on July 26^th. Professor Ma Tianjun, a senior academic from Sun Yat-sen University, lectured on the topic of ‘the relationship between Marxist philosophy and Western Philosophy’. The purpose of the symposium was to introduce the current trends of academic frontier, so as to cultivate students’ multi-disciplinary thinking and academic ability. The symposium was presided over by Professor Fang Xiliang, and the audiences included postgraduates, undergraduates of the school of philosophy and society and the school of Marxism and some alumni of the school .

     Started from the origin of philosophy, Prof. Ma Tianjun discussed the externality of philosophy and Marxist philosophy. Through the peculiar relationship between Friedrich Engels’ 《Ludwig Feuerbach and the End of Classical German Philosophy》 and Karl Marx’s《Theses on Feuerbach》, he elaborated the scientificity of Marxism and its differences between general philosophy. Furthermore, Prof. Ma Tianjun summarized the research of Soviet Russian Marxist philosophy, as well the Marxism in western countries, Marxism in the Second International, and the relevant debates on Soviet Marxist philosophy and modern western philosophy, which showed the historicity, variability and diversity of Marxism. According to Prof. Ma Tianjun, the difference between Ai Siqi’s and Li Da’s Marxist philosophy was the way of expounding. One of the characteristics of the former is to add many Chinese ideological elements which weakened the pertinence of modern western philosophy of Soviet Philosophy, while the other is to expound the basic content of Marxist Philosophy in the background of Western philosophy history.

     Inspired by the lecture, the alumni who participated in the activity mentioned their own observation and realization in their work and life, in which they discovered the significance of learning philosophy. They also shared their confusion and other mental processes of studying in college years with the students.

     Prof. Fang Xiliang summarized the symposium by affirming the academic level and encouraging the students to expand their horizons with positive thinking, and always aim high. The students appreciated Prof. Ma Tianjun for sharing his valuable experience, which is of great benefit to students’ future academic research and social practice.