Dialectics are based on debate, refutation and argumentation.
The art of debating, refuting and arguing is called dialectic . The concept, which comes from the Latin dialectĭcus although its etymological origin is in the Greek language, also refers to reasoning that is developed from principles .
It is possible to find the idea of dialectic in different philosophical currents and traditions. For the German Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770-1831), dialectic involves a process where opposites ( thesis and antithesis ) confront each other and resolve their dichotomy in a higher form ( synthesis ).
The Hegelian dialectic
Hegelian dialectic consists of the development and foundation of the thesis , which generates the emergence of contrary or opposite aspects: the antithesis . To reconcile these issues that appear contradictory, we move towards a new conception, which is synthesis .
In this framework, the thesis is usually a philosophical, social or historical idea, which once developed in depth gives rise to the appearance of these aspects that do not directly correspond. It is important to note that Hegel never used the technical words thesis , antithesis and synthesis , but rather these were coined by HM Chalybäus and popularized by the many scholars who specialized in his work.
If we focus on Hegelian dialectics, we must accept that various currents or reflective ideas go through a stage of apparent contradiction, and this feature is vital for the work that Hegel did. From a metaphorical point of view, we could affirm that identity is nothing more than the determination of the simple, static and immediate; Likewise, contradiction is the starting point of vitality and movement. In other words, only something that contains a contradiction can move.
Through ordinary imagination it is possible to detect the identity, the different features and the contradiction, although not the transition process that occurs between each point, and this transformation is the most important part.
Karl Marx made important theoretical contributions to materialist dialectics, also called dialectical materialism.
The contributions of Engels, Marx and Lenin
Materialist dialectics , also known as dialectical materialism , is the current that emerged with the proposals of Friedrich Engels (1820-1895), Karl Marx (1818-1883) and Vladimir Lenin (1870-1924) that considers that the substrate of thoughts and of all reality is matter . In this way, matter is independent of consciousness. These theorists considered that the application of Hegelian dialectics was necessary for the interpretation of the world. Marx , in this framework, understood that history was given by the struggle of social classes with opposing material interests, from whose confrontation historical changes emanated.
Unlike mechanistic materialism , which maintains that the world is composed of things and, ultimately, of material particles that inertly combine with each other, materialist dialectics is based on the idea that all material phenomena are a process. The adherents of this current believe that Hegel was wrong in maintaining that the changes that occur in natural processes are manifestations of the spirit, although he was correct in defining them as dialectical and global.
Keys to materialist dialectics
It is necessary to take Hegel 's idea and invert it, and then put the matter on the basis as it develops dialectically. In nature , we can appreciate the following three fundamental laws:
* the move to quality from quantity;
* opposites or contraries penetrate each other;
* denial is denied.
According to Engels , if we deny natural contradictions we maintain a metaphysical position, since the movement itself is based on them, both objective and subjective contradictions.
Plato (427-347 BC), finally, was another thinker who focused on dialectics. In his doctrine , dialectic is the procedure that makes it possible to access transcendental realities through the meaning of words.