Dialectical materialism
Dialectical materialism is a materialist theory based upon the writings of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels that has found widespread applications in a variety of philosophical disciplines ranging from philosophy of history to philosophy of science. As a materialist philosophy, Marxist dialectics emphasizes the importance of real-world conditions and the presence of contradictions within and among social relations, such as social class, labour economics, and socioeconomic interactions. Within Marxism, a contradiction is a relationship in which two forces oppose each other, leading to mutual development.
The first law of dialectics is about “the unity and conflict of opposites”. It explains that all things are made up of opposing forces, not purely “good” nor purely “bad”, but that everything contains internal contradictions at varying levels of aspects we might call “good” or “bad”, depending on the conditions and perspective. An example of this unity and conflict is the negative and positive particles that make up atoms.
The second law of dialectics is ‘quantity into quality’ that small quantitative changes, such as increasing the heat of water by one degree at a time, at a certain point result in a qualitative change when the water turns into steam.
The third law is the ‘negation of the negation’. In the history of life on Earth, photosynthetic organisms evolved, and their byproduct—molecular oxygen—was toxic to life. At this point oxygen negated life. But when life evolved bacteria that utilized oxygen for its own metabolism, oxygen stopped being a toxin for a whole branch of organisms. This was the ‘negation of the negation’, and an example of something turning into its opposite.
In contrast with the idealist perspective of Hegelian dialectics, the materialist perspective of Marxist dialectics emphasizes that contradictions in material phenomena could be resolved with dialectical analysis, from which is synthesized the solution that resolves the contradiction, whilst retaining the essence of the phenomena. Marx proposed that the most effective solution to the problems caused by contradiction was to address the contradiction and then rearrange the systems of social organization that are the root of the problem.
Dialectical materialism recognises the evolution of the natural world, and thus the emergence of new qualities of being human and of human existence. Engels used the metaphysical insight that the higher level of human existence emerges from and is rooted in the lower level of human existence. He believed that the higher level of being is a new order with irreducible laws, and that evolution is governed by laws of development, which reflect the basic properties of matter in motion.
In the 20th century, the revolutionary Marxist Vladimir Lenin proposed his own interpretation of Marxist dialectics, which took an essential place among the views and doctrines of Leninism and was later propagated by his followers such as Leon Trotsky. Since the 1930s, a Marxist-Leninist reading of dialectical materialism introduced by such leaders of communist states as Joseph Stalin (Soviet Union) and Mao Zedong (Maoist China) set forth the official formulations on dialectical materialism and historical materialism, which were taught in state systems of education. In the West, different approaches towards Marxist dialectics were proposed by such authors of Western Marxism as György Lukács and Slavoj Žižek.
Hegel’s relationship with historical materialism is one of influence and opposition: Karl Marx adopted Hegel’s dialectical method but flipped it, grounding historical change in material and economic conditions rather than Hegel’s idealist belief in a developing “Spirit” or consciousness. Marx described this as “turning Hegel on his head” by prioritizing the material base (economy, modes of production) over the idealist superstructure (ideas, culture, politics).
Hegel’s idealism
- Primary driver: Hegel believed that history is driven by the development of ideas and consciousness, which he termed the “World Spirit” or Geist.
- Dialectical process: History progresses through a dialectical process of thesis, antithesis, and synthesis, where new ideas emerge from the conflict between existing ones, and reality follows suit.
- Example: For Hegel, ideas were the fundamental force shaping human societies and actions.
Marx’s historical materialism
- Primary driver: Marx argued that material conditions, specifically the economic structure and class struggle, are the fundamental drivers of history.
- Dialectical materialism: Marx took the dialectical method but applied it to material reality, creating dialectical materialism. He believed that changes in the economic base (the “material reality”) lead to changes in the superstructure (ideas and culture).
- “Standing Hegel on his head”: Marx famously said he found Hegel’s dialectic “standing on its head” and “turned it right side up again” to emphasize that material reality shapes consciousness, not the other way around.
- Example: Marx’s analysis of history focused on economic systems like feudalism and capitalism and the resulting class struggles between owners and laborers.
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[3] https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistory/comments/1jjxbgc/can_someone_explain_marxist_historical/
[4] https://www.reddit.com/r/samharris/comments/cr0cnf/marx_hegel_and_historical_materialism/