邓小平社会主义本质观是邓小平于20世纪70年代中后期，在领导中国共产党和中国人民开创中国特色社会主义的实践历程中，基于对社会主义本质问题的长期思索而形成的一系列成熟的理论认识。尽管邓小平在“南方谈话”中对社会主义本质作了完整论述，但该论述只是邓小平社会主义本质观的理论精华，并非其全部内容。笔者认为，只有深入研究邓小平社会主义本质观形成的历史条件与思想历程，才能梳理邓小平社会主义本质观的主要内容，也才能把握邓小平社会主义本质观的方法论特征。 首先，“文革”结束后宽松的政治环境与“解放思想、实事求是”的思想环境是其形成的历史环境；改革开放的历史进程是其形成的实践基础。我国社会主义建设以及国际共产主义运动的经验教训为其形成提供了经验借鉴。马克思主义经典作家对社会主义的预想、毛泽东对社会主义的认识以及邓小平本人在社会主义建设时期对社会主义的思考是其形成的思想渊源。其次，邓小平自20世纪70年代中后期开始思索社会主义本质问题，直到20世纪90年代初才对该问题有了完整而深刻的认识。在此期间，邓小平主要是在“什么是社会主义、怎样建设社会主义”的思想视域下，基于社会主义的特征、社会主义的优越性、社会主义的原则思索社会主义本质。再次，邓小平对社会主义本质的理解主要包括：“解放生产力、发展生产力”是社会主义本质，社会主义只有坚持改革开放，才能解放和发展生产力。“消灭剥削、消除两极分化”是社会主义本质，剥削现象与两极分化现象的根除一定要有充分的物质基础，同时还要有可靠的制度保障与思想保证。“最终达到共同富裕”是社会主义本质，实现共同富裕不是平均主义，也不是同步富裕，需要经历长期的历史过程。最后，从邓小平社会主义本质观的方法论特征来看，它遵循了实事求是的方法论、矛盾分析的方法论以及辩证否定的方法论。

Deng Xiaoping's view on the essence of socialism was a series of mature theoretical understandings formed by his practice of leading the Chinese Communist Party and the Chinese people to create socialism with Chinese characteristics in the mid-to-late 1970s. Although Deng Xiaoping made a complete exposition of the essence of socialism in the South Talks, this exposition is only the theoretical essence of the view, not all of its contents. The author believes that only by thoroughly studying its historical conditions and ideological process of the formation of Deng Xiaoping's view on the essence of socialism can we sort out the main content of the view and grasp the methodology of the view. Firstly, the relaxed political environment after "the Cultural Revolution" and the ideological environment of "liberating thoughts and seeking truth from facts" are the historical environment for its formation; the history of Reform and Opening up is the practical basis for its formation. The experience of China's socialist construction and the international communist movement have provided lessons for its formation. The expectations of Marxist classic writers on socialism, Mao Zedong's understanding of socialism, and Deng Xiaoping's thoughts on socialism during the period of socialist construction are the ideological sources of its formation. Secondly, Deng Xiaoping began to thought about the essence of socialism since the mid-to-late 1970s, and did not have a complete and profound understanding of the question until the early 1990s. During this period, Deng Xiaoping mainly considered the essence of socialism based on the characteristics of socialism, the superiority of socialism, and the principle of socialism under the Ideological horizon of "what is socialism and how to build socialism." Thirdly, Deng Xiaoping's understanding of the essence of socialism mainly includes: "Liberating productive forces and developing productive forces" is the essence of socialism. Only by adhere to Reform and Opening up can socialism emancipate and develop productive forces. "Eliminating exploitation and eliminating polarization" is the essence of socialism. The eradication of exploitation and the eradication of polarization must have a sufficient material basis, as well as reliable institutional guarantees and ideological guarantees. "Finally achieving common prosperity" is the essence of socialism. Achieving common prosperity is not egalitarianism, nor is it a synchronous affluence, and it needs to go through a long history. Finally, judging from the methodology of Deng Xiaoping's view of the essence of socialism, it follows the methodology of seeking truth from facts, the methodology of contradiction analysis, and the methodology of dialectical negation.