公共意識由公共存在決定,又能動反作用于公共存在。這種機制,首先在于使主體認識和把握社會公共存在的本性,進而引領主體通過建構更優化的公共存在的實踐,體現其能動和創造的特質。公共存在的層級和樣態不同,相應的公共意識的作用方式也不同。在個體群體層面,公共意識使主體確立公共的價值追求和評價體系;在社會國家層面,公共意識引領主體建構秩序規范和維護公共利益;在人類整體層面,公共意識通過凝聚歷史合力促進人類命運共同體發展。人類社會作為公共存在的歷史進步,需要公共意識發揮對其維護和建構的功能。

Public consciousness is determined by public existence,but can also react to public existence. This mechanism of action consists,first of all,in enabling the subject to understand and grasp the nature of social public existence,and then leads the subject to embody its active and creative characteristics through the construction of a more optimal practice of public existence. There are different levels and patterns of public existence,and the corresponding operations of public consciousness are different. On the level of individualgroup relations,public consciousness makes the subject establish the public pursuit of value and the system for evaluating said value. On the level of society and state,public consciousness leads the subject to construct order and to standardize and safeguard public interests. On the broader level of human beings,public consciousness promotes the development of the community of human destinies by cohesive historical forces. As the historical progress of public existence,human society needs public consciousness to maintain and construct it.