An Analysis of Marxist Research Methods in the Prefaces and Postscripts of Volume I of Das Kapital

Marx and Engels' scientific thinking on the methods of reading, writing and research could be seen from the seven prefaces and postscripts of volume I of Das Kapital. They provide an important guide to understand Marxist research methods. Reading is the foundation of scholarly research. We should combine the text conclusion with the argumentation process, the text thought with the practical needs, the understanding of the work logic with the reductionprocess, and highlight the reflection of the work on the reality and history as well as the thinking methods used to understand the work. Writing is the presentation of academic achievements. It should present independent thinking with clear concepts, lead the ideological revolution with terminology revolution, adhere to the narrative method of gasping the essence, present the generality, maintain the objectivity, make rigorous and solid citations, and constantly make revisions after the preliminary completion of the work with the goal of improving the clarity, preciseness, and persuasiveness of materials. Research is the key to scholarly research and the intermediary link from reading to writing. We should try to complete the possession of materials through multiple comparisons to improve the work, take the most typical things as reference, start from the most basic things, combine concrete and abstract, and adopt a theoretical construction method that can reflect the real relationship of things.