Abstract: With the expansion of rationality and sensibility principles of modernity， there have emerged some new issues on the mankinds survival such as the compression of living space， the materialization of living modality， the technicalization of living style and the nihilism of living meaning. Faced with it， post-modernism denies modernity completely with an attitude of “external transcendence” while modernism advocates reflecting on and restoring modernity by taking such a position of “non-transcendence”. However， trapped in either relativism or universalism， both of them have just grabbed one side of the truth. On the basis of practical thinking modes， Marx made up their disadvantages by means of historical identification and internal transcendence of the predicaments of human existence in modernity. According to Marxs thoughts， “practical rationality” should be advocated， the capital should be developed and regulated， and the function of associations should be made good use of.

Key words: Karl Marx, modernity, living predicament, modernism, post-modernism