论商品记号的价值取向的转换——关于消费活动精神性转向的哲学思考

We have gone out of the “deficit economy” and entered into a consumptive society surrounded by all kinds of commodities. In terms of the view of scientific development and the corresponding transformation of the ideas on how the development should proceed, we see that consumption cannot be suppressed, but can endure some guided transformations. Firstly, the possibility of the emergence of the consumptive era implies the necessity of the spiritual transformation of consumptive activities. When people’s essential biological needs are satisfied, all new needs will take some spiritual or symbolic form. We must bring the spiritual transformation into a positive and healthy direction. Secondly, the spiritual transformation of consumptive activities is also determined by human nature. Human beings do not live on the earth mainly by their biological functions. They become the master of the universe through externalization of their capacity of creative thinking. Human beings’ spiritual consumption is the kind of consumption that bears the most productive and creative characters. Thirdly, the limited resources also determine the spiritual transformation of consumption. Further more, the spiritual transformation of consumption does not deny material consumption, instead, it is the sublimation of material consumption. Certainly, consumption includes material consumption and is always based on it. However, people can after all turn this kind of consumption into cultural and spiritual enjoyment.