Dialectical Materialism: A Quick and Dirty Guide
Why a Philosophy?
Philosophy is abstract thought, the drawing out of general laws based on observations that can be used to explain particular phenomena and predict future events.
From earliest times humans have sought to explain the world around them, to make sense of the overwhelming and seemingly arbitrary power of nature. From observations they would have drawn conclusions, although of necessity primitive, of what powered the natural events that governed their lives.
With the rise of higher stages of human civilisations for the leading thinkers of the day, "Curiosity demands that we ask questions, that we try to put things together and try to understand this multitude of aspects as perhaps resulting from the action of a relatively small number of elemental things and forces acting in an infinite variety of combinations."[2]
For others philosophy is a tool for change, "philosophers have only interpreted the world in various ways, the point is to change it [3] One of the most debated philosophies, probably because of its avowedly revolutionary intent, is Dialectical Materialism.
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| Socialism: Utopian and Scientific |
What is Dialectical Materialism?
Dialectical Materialism is a philosophical framework developed by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. It combined Hegelian dialectics, stripped of its idealism, with Ludwig Feuerbach’s Materialist philosophy. But this wasn’t just a simple joining of two strands of thought, the two combined for a revolutionary new philosophy.Dialectics
"In nature nothing remains constant. Everything is in a perpetual state of transformation, motion and change."[4]. Changes of state are driven by conflict and internal contradictions.
Hegel, the philosopher, worked out the modern laws of Dialectics, although people had known them in a cruder form from at least ancient Greek times. Marx and Engels argued that Hegel compromised his dialectics by advocating the primacy of human thinking, 'the Idea,' in determining the nature of the real world.
They called this approach ‘Idealism’. Marx and Engels stripped out this Idealism and replaced it with Materialism.
Materialism
"The universe is the vast unity of everything that is, everywhere it shows us only matter in movement"[5]
Materialism holds that the world exists independently of human consciousness. Everything starts from matter. Thought does not proceed matter, matter proceeds thought.
Thoughts are more or less abstract images of actual things and processes. Materialism says there is no supra-natural being, a God, a 'Force' that governs the universe. This is whether in the form of an intelligent being that created the universe and left it to its own devices or an omni-present being that oversees everything we do.
To paraphrase[6] thoughts, ideas, morals, are themselves are products of the brain and do not exist independently of it, and are no more than a reflection of the material world.
Three main tenets of dialectics:
1) Transformation of Quantity to Quality
Firstly, it's important to understand the concept of transformation of quantity to quality. This is where quantitative changes accumulate until a critical point is reached, resulting in a qualitative change.
This may sound quite cerebral but nearly everyone has an awareness and used the principle of quantity to quality. For instance, common sayings like "the straw that broke the camel's back" and "the tipping point" illustrate the principle of quantity to quality. We instinctively use the transformation of quantity to quality in our everyday lives. Many of us use salt to enhance the flavours of our food. But too much salt and quantity changes to quality, the food become unpalatable.
An example in the natural world is the process of water changing from a solid (ice) to a liquid (water) to a gas (steam) as it is heated. As the temperature of water increases, its molecules move faster and become more disordered, leading to a change in its state from solid to liquid to gas.
The straw that broke the camel’s back
An example of the transformation of quantity to quality at work in society is the Arab Spring 2010. A street vendor, Mohamed Bouazizi, set fire to himself at a market in protest at police harassment. It was to become a catalyst for social upheaval across the Middle East and North Africa. The Arab Spring came as a complete surprise to policy makers.
But close analysis would have shown the law of quantity to quality at work. For years much of the population had endured grinding poverty, unemployment and lack of opportunity. The 2007/2008 financial crash exacerbated these problems. This caused an accumulation of discontent and resentment especially amongst the youth. Mohamed Bouazizi’s act of self-immolation at a market stall in Tunisia was the ‘straw that broke the camel’s back’.
2) The Negation of the Negation
The passing of one state of being and its transformation into another state. This in turn is further negated and transformed again. It is where one state contains the embryo of its transformation.
We can see this in nature with the process of metamorphosis in insects.
During metamorphosis, insects undergo a series of transformations. This begins with the larval stage. This stage is negated by the pupal stage, where the insect experiences a period of dormancy and restructuring. Finally, the pupal stage is negated by the adult stage, where the insect emerges as a fully-formed adult. The synthesis of the adult stage represents a higher level of organization.
Human societies have experienced the process of the Negation of the Negation. For example, the transformation of Feudalism to Capitalism.
Feudalism was based on the ownership of the land and the relationship between the land owner (Lord) and those who worked the land, Serfs. The serfs were allowed to live and work the land in exchange for a proportion of their produce. Capitalism existed on a small scale with the trade of merchants.
Trade and commerce exploded with the acquisition of resourses from overseas conquest. The power and importance of traders and merchants, the nascent capitalists, was elevated as a result. This capitalist seed culminated in the British industrial revolution and the complete overthrow of feudalism.
Capitalism itself carries the seed of its transformation in the form of the organised working class.
We should note that transformation in the economic organization of society doesn't destroy humanity; instead, it puts humanity into a new changed higher state.
3) The Interpenetration or Unity of Opposites
This describes the interconnectedness and interdependence of opposing forces. An example in science is atoms. In atoms, positively charged protons in the nucleus are attracted to negatively charged electrons which produces a force of attraction. But electrons also repel each other due to their negative charges. The opposing forces of attraction and repulsion are interdependent and necessary for the stability and function of the atom as a whole.
Another example is magnets. For the magnet to function, its two opposite and complementary poles interlink and depend on each other. The north and south poles have opposite magnetic charges and repel each other, but at the same time, they are part of the same magnet and cannot exist independently of each other.
In a capitalist society the relationship between the capitalist class and the working class is one where their material interests are mutually exclusive but is also one of interdependance. One can not exist without the other.
The integrity of matter is dependent on mutually exclusive forces for its state, as soon as these forces move beyond a certain equilibrium the body transforms into another state. Quantity becomes quality or vica versa according to the stage of development. This applies to higher stages of matter, from stars, via organisms, through to human societies.
Historical Materialism
Marxist philosophy only recognises the role of the individual in shaping history in a limited form but acknowledges that at certain times an individual can make a decisive difference. An example is Lenin and the 1917 Russian revolution.
Historical Materialism emphasizes the role of economic and social factors in shaping human history and society. It is those competing forces that dictate history, individuals act and react according to events and the material interests of the class interests they represent.
Marx explained this in his work, 'The 18th Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte'.
"Men make their own history, but they do not make it as they please; they do not make it under self-selected circumstances, but under circumstances existing already, given and transmitted from the past.".
Other philosophies
Idealists
"Our minds create our lives. We become what we think." - The Buddha Shakyamuni, from The Dhammapada. Basically, "I think therefore I am".Deductive Reasoning[7] or Common Sense
People can use common sense or formal logic as a perfectly adequate tool for everyday use. However, it is important to note that common sense is a mechanical mode of thought and has the danger of falling into impressionism.
It is ultimately a superficial method of analysis. For instance, if someone thinks that today is the same as yesterday, they might wrongly conclude that tomorrow will be the same as today.
The so-called Arab Spring came as a complete surprise to the elites. Most of all it was a surprise to the collective of Arab dictators and their instruments of repression, the police, army and other state paraphernalia.
For the police in Tunisia who harassed a vegetable seller, Mohamed Bouazizi on 17 December 2010, that day would have been as routine as any other. They were oblivious to the slow accumulated resentments that were building up to a social explosion that was just awaiting a spark.
With formal logic history becomes ossified in the mind, leading to comments such as “nothing will ever change”. 'Common sense' can lead intelligent people to conclude and do stupid things...
Metaphysics
Belief that an external force, a God or Intelligent Design stands above mankind and is responsible for the creation of the Universe and or life itself.
Finally
Finally as an aside, I’m writing this while interrogating an artificial intelligence tool, ChatGPT. At what point does research change to join effort and change in author from myself to the artificial intelligence? At what point does quantity transform to quality?
Gary Hollands and ChatGPT – February 2023. It’s the new way 😊
References
- Heraclitus, Greek Philosopher c. 535 BC – 475 BC. http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Heraclitus
- The Feynman Lectures on Physics Vol. I Ch. 2: Basic Physics. http://www.feynmanlectures.info/docroot/I_02.html
- Theses on Feuerbach. Karl Marx. Progress Publishers, Moscow, USSR, 1969. http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1845/theses/theses.htm
- Causality and Chance in Modern Physics. David Bohm. 1971 | ISBN 978-0-8122-1002-6
- SYSTEM OF NATURE. Baron d'Holbach. Translation by SAMUEL WILKINSON 1820. The quote was originally written as, "The universe, that vast assemblage of everything that exists, presents only matter and motion: the whole offers to our contemplation, nothing but an immense, an uninterrupted succession of causes and effects;". The modern interpretation is the more quoted version. http://www.ftarchives.net/holbach/system/a01.htm
- Socialism: Utopian and Scientific. Frederick Engels. Foreign Language Press, First edition 1975 pp 69
- Deductive reasoning. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deductive_reasoning
