What is Dialectical Materialism?

Summary

Dialectical materialism, though not coined by Marx or Engels, became a key aspect of Marxist philosophy in the 1930s, largely codified by Soviet thinkers like Stalin. Rooted in Engels' later works and Lenin's notes on Hegel, it emphasizes the primacy of matter over consciousness. This worldview explains historical and political events through the conflict of social forces driven by material needs. Governed by three laws—unity and conflict of opposites, transition from quantity to quality, and negation—dialectical materialism outlines a process of societal change from capitalism to socialism and communism.

Takeaways

• 📚 The term 'dialectical materialism' was not used by Marx or Engels but became central to Marxist philosophy in the 1930s, influenced by Soviet texts.
• 🌍 Dialectical materialism asserts the primacy of matter over consciousness and material conditions over intellectual life.
• ⚔️ It emphasizes that political and historical events result from social conflicts driven by material needs.
• 🧠 The philosophy opposes Hegelian idealism, where history is driven by reason or consciousness; Marxism argues that material conditions drive history.
• ⚙️ Change, according to dialectical materialism, results from contradictions at every level, from social revolutions to material composition.
• 🌀 The first law, 'the unity and conflict of opposites,' asserts that all phenomena consist of contradictory elements, and change arises from their conflict.
• 📈 The second law, 'the transition of quantity into quality,' states that quantitative changes eventually lead to qualitative shifts, seen in both physical and social contexts.
• 🔄 The third law, 'the law of negation,' explains how each stage of development negates its predecessor, such as capitalism emerging from feudalism and being negated by socialism.
• 📖 Louis Althusser interprets dialectical materialism as a theory of scientific practices that transform ideological social products into knowledge.
• ⚖️ Critics argue that transforming dialectical materialism into a philosophy of natural sciences risks turning it into positivism or scientism.

Q & A

What is dialectical materialism?

Dialectical materialism is a Marxist philosophy asserting the primacy of matter over consciousness and of the material conditions of existence over intellectual life. It views political and historical events as the result of conflicts between social forces, caused by material needs, and interpretable as a series of contradictions and their solutions.

Did Marx or Engels originally use the term 'dialectical materialism'?

No, the term 'dialectical materialism' was not used by Marx or Engels. It became associated with Marxist philosophy in the 1930s through texts such as Stalin's *Dialectical and Historical Materialism* and the *Textbook of Marxist Philosophy* prepared by the Leningrad Institute of Philosophy.

What are the main sources of dialectical materialism?

The main sources of dialectical materialism are the later works of Engels, especially *Anti-Dühring* and the posthumously published *Dialectics of Nature*, as well as Lenin’s manuscript notes on Hegel’s *Science of Logic*, written in 1914 and published in 1929.

What are the three main laws of dialectical materialism?

The three main laws of dialectical materialism are: (1) The law of the unity and conflict of opposites, (2) The law of the transition of quantity into quality, and (3) The law of negation.

What does the law of the unity and conflict of opposites state?

The law of the unity and conflict of opposites states that all phenomena consist of mutually contradictory elements, and that change results from their internal contradictions.

What is the law of the transition of quantity into quality?

The law of the transition of quantity into quality describes how quantitative changes always lead to qualitative changes. An example is the movement that unites atoms into molecules in the physical sciences or the accumulation of capital that eventually destroys the social structures of feudalism at the socio-historical level.

What is the law of negation in dialectical materialism?

The law of negation, mainly derived from Marx's *Capital*, refers to the idea that every stage of development grows out of its predecessor, negates it, and is in turn negated by the development of its internal contradictions. For instance, capitalism negated feudalism and will be negated by the rise of socialism and communism.

How does dialectical materialism differ from Hegelian philosophy?

In Hegelian philosophy, the movement of history is driven by consciousness or reason. In contrast, Marx argues that it is matter that drives history, leading to the primacy of matter over consciousness. This is the context of Marx’s famous claim that he 'turned Hegel on his head.'

How did Louis Althusser interpret dialectical materialism?

Louis Althusser interpreted dialectical materialism as a theory of scientific practices, which transforms the ideological products of social practices into knowledges or scientific truths.

What criticisms have been made of orthodox Marxism's interpretation of dialectical materialism?

Critics argue that transforming dialectical materialism into a philosophy of nature or of the natural sciences turns it into a form of positivism or scientism, which deviates from its original context as a socio-historical framework.