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Based on studying Bataille’s consumption thought, we make clear a theoretical clue of looking upon from thing to human existence within a new perspective. This dissertation starts with the concept of consumption, and goes deep step by step with discussing economic philosophy, social philosophy and ontology thoughts involved. It is indicated that the consumption of thing means the elimination of the order of things embedded into human being, and this will open up new possibilities for human existence.The introduction states the significance of this study, which is to newly question the meaning of thing and human existence. Based on summarizing external and internal studies, both the framework and methods of research are fixed. It intends to discuss consumption within the system of Bataille’s conceptions, and deeply explore the theoretical space it opens up, with basis of textual analysis, and focus on overall thought and its communication with others.The first chapter clarifies the history of the conception of consumption. It surveys Bataille’s life and main works, traces the academic resources of consumption, which mainly are French sociological and anthropological tradition, transformed Hegelian and Nietzschean philosophy, Marxist influence, and Indian culture, and also traces the developed and deepened process of the conception of consumption.The second chapter demonstrates the self-expression of the conception of consumption. It is to investigate how Bataille developed the concept of consumption in his own works. It is defined in this chapter the choice of words and their meanings. Then the phenomena of consumption are summarized, according to common life, historical societies and human spirit. After that, the principles of consumption are abstracted, and the ideological appeals of consumption are revealed.The third chapter investigates the economic philosophy implied in the conception of consumption. It focuses on the general economics which is directly linked to consumption. General economics provides macroscopic view, points out the facts of surplus, describes the limits of growth and the types of luxuries. It is just like the heliocentric theory, accomplishing a Copernican transformation with regard to traditional western economics. Proceeding from general economics, Bataille criticized the notions of traditional western economics and the abuse of capitalism economy, reviewed a series of social types such as consumption society, enterprise society and industrial society, and discussed Soviet industrialization and American Marshall Plan and their influences. These discussions give us inspiration to reflect on contemporary social life.The fourth chapter investigates the social philosophy implied in the conception of consumption, focusing on the heterology thought. Heterology is a new paradigm by which Bataille negated the world reigned by thing. It criticizes the homogeneity, concerns the heterogeneity, and reveals the function of heterogeneous elements in constructing homogeneous system. Starting with heterology, Bataille described a triple world comprises animality, humanity and sacredness. The human world is a profane one dominated by human beings as rational subjects and producers. It comes from negating animal world, and leads to sacred world when it itself is negated. The heterogeneous elements are animal and sacred things; while in profane world, human society suppresses heterogeneity to form homogeneity, and then fills it with utility, expands it by production. However, this homogenous system has potential abruption crises. With this kind of social philosophy, Bataille made concrete analyses of society and put forward many fresh insights.The fifth chapter investigates the ontological thought implied in the conception of consumption. Consumption is meant to remold the existence of human being. It demands firstly shifting the way of questioning the being:focus not on the reason of being, but the being itself; resort not to knowledge and language, but the inner experience. Bataille’s ontology is to dissolve the self. The limitation of the existence facing death leads to the formation of the self as an independent consciousness. Unlike Hegel for whom the self is affirmed by another consciousness, for Bataille, it is affirmed by what is heterogeneous to consciousness, and the self consciousness would dissolve in the continuity. The pivot is to re-comprehend the time. For Heidegger, time is the mode of existence of being-there, so it is necessary to begin with time if we want to comprehend the being from being-there. Unlike Heidegger, though Bataille took into account that human has temporality, he hold a critical attitude at the first beginning towards the temporality structure of human. Bataille’s ontology goes into impossible. To explore the new mode of existence means to go further than the limit of human, to go into the impossible; this is carried out in torment. In order to describe the existential state of human, Bataille presented concepts chance and communication. The former stresses on contingency of karma, while the later lays emphasis on the dissolving of individual self and its link to universe. Finally, the process of return to or communicating with continuity meets not achievement but glissement. The mechanism of human existence, which is a mutual movements based on ceaselessly negating given states, hides behind the glissement.The sixth chapter investigates the theoretical aim of the conception of consumption, which is the sovereignty of human being. The resources of the concept of sovereignty are Hegel, Sade and Nietzsche, from whom Bataille absorbed the spirits of mastery, negation and freedom. Historically, Bataille thought that the sovereignty had been realized to a certain degree in feudal society, based on inequality; with opposing the feudal hierarchical differences, the communism pursuit in fact was egalitarian consumption. Bataille’s most crucial conclusion about sovereignty is: sovereignty is NOTHING. The conception of sovereignty is based on the state of human existence, and is of the human being who ceaselessly negates and precedes the mutual movements of prohibition and transgression. The field of sovereignty is subjectivity. Sovereignty is neither an object outside subject, nor that inside subject but remaining to be grasped. It means that the traditional subject and object dissolve into continuity. This continuity, which goes as the ground of subjectivity, means a state without thing and thinking, without self and saying.The last chapter appraises Bataille’s conception of consumption as a whole. The conception of consumption occupies an important place in Bataille’s thought, but it itself has some defects and features. The conception of consumption has contributions to the history of philosophy both on ideological content and thinking method. It opened up a new path different from Heidegger’s to question the thing, and deeply influenced Baudrillard; its new paradigm of heterology gave profound impact on postmodernism and post-Marxism. The conception of consumption leaves us some questions and reflections. Facing with the nihilistic circumstances for western spirit, Bataille put forward an evading strategy of eliminating the self to annul the nothingness, and theoretically speaking, this is a more thorough nihilism. However, we should be alert to the correspondences revealed by him between spirit and collective, material and individual, and pay attention to the lonely foreordination and nihilistic situation in the material age, so that we can get prepared to rebuild our spiritual homeland.