The school of philosophy founded by Marx and Engels and developed by many subsequent thinker.<\/p>\n
Ontologically, its materialism means that matter, nature, the observable world is taken “without reservations,” as real in its own right, neither deriving its reality from any supernatural or transcendental source, nor dependent for its existence on the mind of man. It is considered scientifically evident that matter is prior to mind both temporally and logically in the sense that mind never appears except as an outgrowth of matter, and must be explained accordingly. Space and time are as forms of the existence of matter.<\/p>\n
The term dialectical expresses the dynamic interconnectedness of things, the universality of change and its radical character everything possessing any sort of reality is in process of self-transformation, owing to the fact that its content is made up of opposing factors or forces the internal movement of which interconnects everything, changes each thing into something else. Mechanism in the sense of non-dialectical materialism as well as metaphysics in the sense of idealistic ontology are thus rejected.<\/p>\n
The position taken is that investigation reveals basic, recurrent patterns of change, expressible as laws of materialist dialectics, which are seen as relevant to every level of existence, and, because validated by past evidence, as indispensable hypotheses in guiding further investigation. These are<\/p>\n
Law of interpenetration, unity and strife of opposites. (All existences, being complexes of opposing elements and forces, have the character of a changing unity. The unity is considered temporary, relative, while the process of change, expressed by interpenetration and strife, is continuous, absolute.)<\/p>\n
Law of transformation of quantity into quality and vice versa. (The changes which take place in nature are not merely quantitative; their accumulation eventually precipitates new qualities in a transition which appears as a sudden leap in comparison to the gradualness of the quantitative changes up to that point. The new quality is considered as real as the original quality. It is not mechanically reducible to it it is not merely a larger amount of the former quality, but something into which that has developed.)<\/p>\n
Law of negation of negation. (The series of quantitative changes and emerging qualities is unending. Each state or phase of development is considered a synthesis which resolves the contradictions contained in the preceding synthesis and which generates its own contradictions on a different qualitative level.)<\/p>\n
These laws, connecting ontology with logic, are contrasted to the formalistic laws of identity, difference and excluded middle of which they are considered qualitatively enriched reconstructions. Against the ontology of the separateness and self-identity of each thing, the dialectical laws emphasize the interconnectedness of all things and self-development of each thing. An A all parts of which are always becoming non-A may thus be called non-A as well as A. The formula, A is A and cannot be non-A, becomes, A is A and also non-A, that is, at or during the same instantthere is no instant, it is held, during which nothing happens. The view taken is that these considerations apply as much to thought and concepts, as to things, that thought is a process, that ideas gain their logical content through interconnectedness with other ideas, out of and into which they develop.<\/p>\n
Consequently, the dialectical method means basically that all things must be investigated in terms of their histories; the important consideration is not the state in which the object appears at the moment, but the rate, direction and probable outcome of the changes which are taking place as a result of the conflict of forces, internal and external. The necessity of observation and prediction in every field is thus ontologically grounded, according to dialectical materialism, which not only rejects a priorism, holding that “nature is the test of dialectics” (EngelsAnti-Dhring), but claims to express with much more fidelity than formal logic, with its emphasis on unmoving form rather than changing content, the basis of the method modern science actually uses. There is an equal rejection of theory without practice and practice without theory.<\/p>\n
One may assert that the human brain, capable of forming ideas, does so not prior to or independently of the rest of the natural world, but in relation to it, moved and stimulated by its manifold content. Ideas reflect things, but the reflection, like everything else, is dialectical, not inert, but active. Ideas grow out of and lead back to things, sometimes very circuitously; things may be reflected fancifully, by abstraction or in new combinations as well as directly. While there is a perfectly objective reality to reflect, the reflection is never perfecttruth is absolute, but knowledge relative.<\/p>\n
The social theory, termed historical materialism, represents the application of the general principles of materialist dialectics to human society, by which they were first suggested. The fundamental changes and stages which society has passed through in the course of its complex evolution are traced primarily to the influence of changes taking place in its economic base. This base has two aspectsmaterial forces of production (technics, instrumentalities) and economic relations (prevailing system of ownership, exchange, distribution). Growing out of this base is a social superstructure of laws, governments, arts, sciences, religions, philosophies and the like. The view taken is that society evolved as it did primarily because fundamental changes in the economic base resulting from conflicts of of interest in respect to productive forces, and involving radical changes in economic relations, have compelled accommodating changes in the social superstructure. Causal action is traced both ways between base and superstructure, but when any “higher” institution threatens the position of those who hold controlling economic power at the base, the test of their power is victory in the ensuing contest. The role of the individual in history is acknowledged, but is seen in relation to the movement of underlying forces. Cf. Plekhanov, Role of the Individual m History.<\/p>\n
The general direction of social evolution, on this view is from classless, collectivist forms (primitive communism) to class forms (slave-master, serf-lord, worker-capitalist) to classless, socialist, communist forms on the modern level of highly complex technics. Classes are defined as groups having antagonistic economic relationships to the means of production. The resultant conflict of interests is called the class struggle, which, involving the means and way of life, is carried on in all fields, often unconsciously.<\/p>\n
It is held that society has not accomplished many basic transformations peacefully, that fundamental changes in the economic system or the social superstructure, such as that from medieval serf-lord to modern worker-capitalist economy, have usually involved violence wherein the class struggle passes into the acute stage of revolution because the existing law articulates and the state power protects the obsolete forms and minority-interest classes which must be superseded. The evolution of capitalism is considered to have reached the point where the accelerating abundance of which its technics are capable is frustrated by economic relationships such as those involved in individual ownership of productive means, hiring and firing of workers in the light of private profits and socially unplanned production for a money market. It is held that only technics collectively owned and production socially planned can provide employment and abundance of goods for everyone. The view taken is that peaceful attainment of them is possible, but will probably be violently resisted by priveleged minorities, provoking a contest of force in which the working class majority will eventually triumph the world over.<\/p>\n
The working class, in coming to power, is seen to establish its own state form, based upon the dictatorship of the proletariat, which is maintained so long as a state is necessary, and which is considered to extend democracy to the majority by establishing collective ownership of the means of production. This first stage is defined as socialism, the economic principle of which is, “from each according to ability, to each according to work performed”. The second stage is defined as communism, the economic principle of which is, “from each according to ability, to each according to need” (Marx “Gotha Program”). In its fullest sense, on a world wide scale, this stage is considered to include an economy of abundance made possible by social utilization of unrestricted production, a disappearance of the antagonism between town and country and that between mental and physical labor, and, because irreconcilable class conflicts will haceased to exist, a “withering away” (EngelsAnti-Dhring) of the state as an apparatus of force. What will remain will be a state-less ‘”administration of things.”<\/p>\n
The general theory of historical materialism claims to be a methodological basis for all specific social sciences, as well as for aesthetics and ethics. Cf. TrotskyLiterature and Revolution.<\/p>\n
Art, to dialectical materialism, is an activity of human beings which embodies a reflection of the reality surrounding them, a reflection which may be conscious, unconscious, reconstructive or deliberately fantastic, and which possesses positive aesthetic value in terms of rhythm, figure, color, image and the like. Art is good to the extent that it is a faithful and aesthetic reflection of the reality dealt with. Accordingly, proletarian or socialist realism (q.v.) is not photographic, static, but dialectical, conscious that any given period or subject is moving into its future, that class society is becoming classless society. This realism is optimistic, involving a “revolutionary romanticism”. Marx, Engels, Lenin, Soviet philosophy, also, separate entries for detailed definitions of specific terms.<\/p>\n
Bibliography<\/p>\n
Marx-Engels Gesamtausgabe (complete works of Marx and Engels currenth adding to its volumes).<\/p>\n
Marx, Karl<\/p>\n
Capital.<\/p>\n
Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy.<\/p>\n
Value, Price and Profit.<\/p>\n
Class Struggles in France.<\/p>\n
Paris Commune (for extensive bibliography of Marx, see Karl Marx).<\/p>\n
Engels, Friedrich<\/p>\n
Anti-Dhring.<\/p>\n
Dialectics of Nature.<\/p>\n
Ludwig Feuerback and the Outcome of Classical German Philosophy.<\/p>\n
Origin of the Family,<\/p>\n
Private Property and the State.<\/p>\n
Marx and Engels<\/p>\n
German Ideology.<\/p>\n
Communist Manifesto.<\/p>\n
Lenin, V. I.<\/p>\n
Collected Works.<\/p>\n
Selected Works.<\/p>\n
Materialism and Empirio-Criticism.<\/p>\n
State and Revolution.<\/p>\n
Filosofskie Tetrady (Philosophical Notebooks).<\/p>\n
Many of Lenin’s briefer philosophical writings may be found in Selected Works, vol. XI. — J.M.S.<\/p>\n
Dialectical materialism The school of philosophy founded by Marx and Engels and developed by many subsequent thinker. Ontologically, its materialism means that matter, nature, the observable world is taken “without reservations,” as real in its own right, neither deriving its reality from any supernatural or transcendental source, nor dependent for its existence on the mind … Continue reading “Dialectical materialism”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-42677","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-encyclopedic-dictionary"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/dictionaries\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42677","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/dictionaries\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/dictionaries\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/dictionaries\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/dictionaries\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42677"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/dictionaries\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42677\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/dictionaries\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42677"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/dictionaries\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42677"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/dictionaries\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42677"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}