Compulsory 4 · Philosophy Key Memorization · Answer Points (2026 Prediction Edition)

Compiled: May 31, 2026 ⭐ = High probability for 2026 (not tested in recent years as essay questions) ---

Guangdong Paper Philosophy Essay Question Trends (Last Four Years, Verified)

Year	Essay Question Focus	Section
2022	Unity of opposites (multiple-choice cartoon); specific essay focus unconfirmed	Materialist Dialectics
2023	Universality and particularity of contradictions	Materialist Dialectics
2024	Social history / historical materialism	Historical Materialism
2025	Value judgments and value choices	Historical Materialism

Prediction: 2026 is highly likely to shift to materialism or epistemology (no essay question in these areas for four consecutive years) ---

⭐ 1. Materialism (Highest Probability)

Principle 1: Dialectical Relationship Between Matter and Consciousness

• Matter determines consciousness; consciousness is a reflection of matter
• Consciousness has an active role on matter: correct consciousness promotes development, erroneous consciousness hinders development
• Methodology: Proceed from reality in everything; seek truth from facts; cultivate correct consciousness ### Principle 2: The Active Role of Consciousness
• Understanding the world: Conscious activity has purposefulness, conscious selectivity, and active creativity
• Transforming the world: Consciousness guides the transformation of the objective world (correct → promotes; erroneous → hinders)
• Methodology: Value the role of consciousness, cultivate correct thinking, and overcome erroneous thinking ### Principle 3: Objectivity of Laws and Subjective Initiative
• Laws are objective, independent of human will; they cannot be created or destroyed
• Humans can understand and utilize laws, transforming the world according to the conditions and forms under which laws operate
• Methodology: Combine respect for objective laws with the exertion of subjective initiative ### Principle 4: Proceeding from Reality in Everything; Seeking Truth from Facts
• Respect the objective laws of material motion
• Fully exert subjective initiative
• Combine the exertion of subjective initiative with respect for objective laws ### Principle 4: Dialectical Relationship Between the Whole and the Parts
• The whole occupies a dominant position, commands the parts, and possesses functions that the parts do not have
• Parts affect the whole; critical parts can even play a decisive role in the whole
• Methodology: ① Establish an overall perspective, base on the whole ② Value the parts, use the local to drive the whole ### Principle 5: System Optimization Method
• System characteristics: wholeness, orderliness, tendency toward internal structural optimization
• Methodology: Focus on the whole, follow order, emphasize optimization; understand things with a comprehensive way of thinking --- ## 4. View of Development ### Principle 1: Universality of Development
• The world is in eternal development; the essence of development is progress and ascent, the emergence of new things and the demise of old things
• Methodology: View problems from a developmental perspective ### Principle 2: Unity of Progressiveness and Tortuousness
• The future of development is bright (new things inevitably triumph over old things)
• The path of development is tortuous (it requires a process)
• Methodology: Be full of confidence while bravely facing setbacks and trials ### Principle 3: Dialectical Relationship Between Quantitative and Qualitative Change
• Quantitative change is the necessary preparation for qualitative change
• Qualitative change is the inevitable result of quantitative change
• Qualitative change opens up a new path for further quantitative change
• Methodology: ① Accumulate quantities ② Seize opportunities to promote qualitative change ③ Adhere to the principle of moderation --- ## 5. View of Contradictions (Tested consecutively in 2022-2023; multiple-choice questions may still appear) ### Principle 1: Identity and Struggle of Contradictions
• The two sides of a contradiction are both opposed and unified, thereby driving the movement, change, and development of things
• Methodology: View problems with a one-divides-into-two perspective ### Principle 2: Universality of Contradictions
• There are contradictions in everything and at all times
• Methodology: Dare to acknowledge contradictions, face them bravely, and analyze them skillfully ### Principle 3: Particularity of Contradictions
• Different things have different contradictions; the same thing has different contradictions at different stages; the two sides of the same contradiction also have particularities
• Methodology: Analyze specific problems in specific ways ### Principle 4: Dialectical Relationship Between Universality and Particularity of Contradictions
• Universality resides in particularity; particularity contains universality
• The two can transform into each other under certain conditions
• Methodology: Adhere to the concrete and historical unity of the common and the individual (from the particular to the universal, then from the universal back to the particular) ### Principle 5: Primary and Secondary Contradictions
• The primary contradiction occupies a dominant position and plays a decisive role in the development of things
• Secondary contradictions occupy a subordinate position
• Methodology: Grasp the key points, concentrate efforts on resolving the primary contradiction; coordinate overall considerations, appropriately handle secondary contradictions ### Principle 6: Primary and Secondary Aspects of a Contradiction
• The primary aspect determines the nature of the thing
• The secondary aspect also influences the nature of the thing
• Methodology: Distinguish the mainstream from the tributary, focus on grasping the primary aspect of the contradiction --- ## 6. Historical Materialism (Tested consecutively in 2024-2025; multiple-choice questions may still appear) ### Principle 1: Dialectical Relationship Between Social Existence and Social Consciousness
• Social existence determines social consciousness
• Social consciousness has relative independence and reacts on social existence (advanced → promotes; backward → hinders)
• Methodology: Proceed from social existence; cultivate advanced social consciousness ### Principle 2: The People Are the Creators of History
• The people are the creators of society's material wealth
• The people are the creators of society's spiritual wealth
• The people are the decisive force in social change
• Methodology: Adhere to the mass viewpoint and the mass line ### Principle 3: The Guiding Role of Values
• Values have an important guiding role in people's activities of understanding and transforming the world
• Values are an important guide in life
• Methodology: Establish correct values, make correct value judgments and value choices ### Principle 4: Value Judgments and Value Choices
• Value judgments and value choices have social and historical character (they change with the times)
• Value judgments and value choices have subjectivity (they vary from person to person)
• Correct standard: consciously follow the objective laws of social development + consciously stand on the side of the broadest masses of the people
• Methodology: Take the interests of the people as the highest value standard --- ## Answer Mnemonics
  1. Materialism: Who decides between matter and consciousness → What role does consciousness play → Can laws be changed → How to seek truth from facts
  2. Epistemology: Four aspects of practice → Three properties of truth → Three properties of cognition
  3. View of Connection: Universal → Objective → Diverse → Whole and parts → System
  4. View of Development: Eternal development → Bright and tortuous → Quantitative and qualitative change
  5. View of Contradictions: Identity and struggle → Universal and particular → Primary and secondary contradictions → Primary and secondary aspects
  6. Historical Materialism: Social existence determines → People create → Values guide → Standard for value judgments 💡 For each principle, answer with: Principle content (worldview) + Methodology + Analysis with the material — all three are indispensable

• Oppose voluntarism that exaggerates the active role of consciousness, and also oppose fatalism that one-sidedly emphasizes objective conditions --- ## ⭐ 2. Epistemology (High Probability) ### Principle 1: Dialectical Relationship Between Practice and Cognition
• Practice is the foundation of cognition:
  • Practice is the source of cognition
  • Practice is the driving force for the development of cognition
  • Practice is the only standard for testing the truth of cognition
  • Practice is the purpose of cognition
• Cognition reacts on practice: correct cognition promotes the development of practice, erroneous cognition hinders it
• Methodology: Adhere to the primacy of practice, value the guiding role of scientific theory ### Principle 2: Objectivity, Conditionality, and Concreteness of Truth
• Truth is objective (independent of human will)
• Truth is conditional (every truth has its applicable conditions and scope)
• Truth is concrete (every truth is relative to a specific process)
• Methodology: Adhere to the concrete and historical unity of the subjective and the objective, and of theory and practice ### Principle 3: Repetitiveness, Infinity, and Ascending Nature of Cognition
• Repetitiveness: Due to limitations of subjective and objective conditions, correct cognition often requires repeated cycles
• Infinity: The object of cognition changes infinitely, and cognition develops infinitely
• Ascending nature: Cognition advances in a wave-like manner and rises in a spiral
• Methodology: Keep pace with the times, innovate, discover and verify truth in practice, and develop truth in practice --- ## 3. View of Connection ### Principle 1: Universality of Connections
• Things are interconnected with each other and among their internal elements
• Methodology: View problems from the perspective of connection; oppose the isolated viewpoint ### Principle 2: Objectivity of Connections
• Connections are inherent in things, independent of human will
• Methodology: Grasp things from their inherent connections, avoid subjective arbitrariness; humans can establish new concrete connections based on inherent ones ### Principle 3: Diversity of Connections
• Connections are diverse (direct/indirect, internal/external, essential/non-essential, necessary/contingent)
• Methodology: Everything depends on time, place, and conditions