Understanding Marxist Dialectics: A Fundamental Guide

dialectics if you've read any Marxist theory you've probably heard this term before it comes up frequently and

appears to be central to Marx's method because Marx never laid out a comprehensive text on dialectics there

are many different approaches and interpretations of the Marxist dialectic this installment in the fundamentals of

Marx series will provide a basic outline of the Marxist dialectic it is entirely likely that more videos will follow in

the future on this topic since there is a lot to talk about and it is an important part of Marx's theory but

before all that we should develop a proper foundation for understanding how dialectics work in contrast to past

philosophies dialectics sees nature as a connected whole instead of treating phenomena as isolated parts dialectics

sees their interconnectedness it then follows that to understand even one part you must understand the whole and the

way in which the various parts connect with each other the dialectical perspective also rejects viewing nature

as static it instead contends that all things are in a constant state of motion in a constant state of change in other

words things are constantly changing and developing dialectics demand a study of how and why things change and how that

affects their nature and the nature of related objects another fundamental concept in dialectics recognizes how

qualitative changes result in qualitative changes instead of believing in a linear and progressive change in

quantity of things dialectics holds that change occurs quantitatively to a certain point after which a qualitative

change can occur a common real-world example is the life cycle of a plant during the stages where the plant is a

seed there is quantitative growth the organism grows by the reproduction of cells which is fairly constant after a

certain threshold is crossed the organism is no longer just a seed but a modest sprout the change from seed to

sprout is qualitative it's not just about the number of cells in the organism but about the very nature and

function of the organism as a whole the whole process of development in plants goes through such stages in which

incremental changes in quantity in this case cells and chemicals leads to inevitable changes in quality it's

fairly indisputable that seeds Appling and full-fledged trees represent three very qualitatively different

entities and concepts another easy example is the change in states of matter of water we can pour water into a

pot and turn up the heat at first the temperature rises incrementally and the water remains as it first was liquid

however after we cross the boiling point the water changes from its liquid state to a gaseous state this abrupt

qualitative change evaporation made possible by the quantitative changes increase in temperature is a central

point in dialectics an absolutely essential aspect of dialectics is contradiction contradictions are

ubiquitous parts of all phenomena in the world all things have within them internal characteristics that are

mutually exclusive mal finds in math the example of differentials and integrals in mechanic's the example of action and

reaction in chemistry the example of combination and dissociation of atoms and of course in social sciences the

example of class struggle the contradictions consist of mutually contradictory qualities in other words

one cannot exist without the other furthermore contradiction exists from beginning to end it is not specific to a

certain stage of development these findings are what now called the universality of contradiction or the

observation that contradictions are present in all things despite this universality there is also

a particularity of contradiction in essence every contradiction has its own particularity we should compare and

contrast these particularity x' to develop a better understanding of specific contradictions and thus the

particular essence of a thing interestingly enough from these assertions mal produced a guideline for

creating new knowledge the accumulation of knowledge of particular things leads to a knowledge of things in general

which we can then use to study new things by applying broad concepts to particular cases in popular terms mal

seems to be speaking of an inductive process that is followed by a deductive process which can then allow for a new

inductive process Mao says we need to carefully study the nature and position of the two contradictory elements to

better understand the totality of contra the totality of contradictions being the web of objects and their internal

contradictions that is interconnected on a macroscopic level we should also avoid one-sidedness or focusing on one of the

two elements in a dialectical relationship thus barring us from understanding the thing as a whole mount

also talks about stages of development in contradictions and the importance of understanding these stages stages are

characterized by changes in intensity of contradictions which are embedded in a larger contradiction they can also be

characterized by the formation of new contradictions an important aspect of contradictions is their

interconnectedness and the complex whole that they make up within this totality there is a general principle of

contradiction or the contradiction that defines all other contradictions in some way in the case of capitalism it is the

contradiction between the proletariat and the bourgeoisie all the other contradictions are determined and

influenced by the principal contradiction these core contradictions are not immutable and often change based

on shifting circumstances the aspects within a contradiction do not exist on equal footing rather there is normally

one aspect that is dominant and another that is not more importantly the gravity of each aspect and their relation to

each other is in constant flux the principal aspect in a contradiction is the one that informs the contradiction

on how it behaves for the most part when aspects change when the principal aspect changes the nature of a thing changes as

well aspects within a contradiction can switch roles so to speak an example of

this is socialist revolution in which the proletariat go from being ruled to becoming rulers while the bourgeoisie

undergo the opposite transformation these switches are conditional and do not necessarily occur all the time what

is unconditional is the fact that there is a constant struggle between the two aspects within a contradiction that

struggle need not always be antagonistic and each struggle often has its own specific qualities that need to be

studied and connected to the broader picture Lenin makes the statement that there is absolute in the relative this

is rather confusing at first what he means by this is that the totality is

within the specific and the specific is within the totality to unpack this we can understand it as a statement that

recognizes that the whole is made up of many specifics likewise each specific thing is a part of the whole if we apply

this to scientific theory we should say that a general trend that is scientifically observable is made up of

many individual instances together the instances help us see the totality in other words the whole theory or law by

the same logic each instance each example carries within it the general principle over the whole in dialectics

the absolute that we see in the relative is the notion that all dialectical relationships have within them an

internal contradiction contradiction is an absolute condition it also follows that specific instances of dialectical

relationships can help us produce a general contradiction or see a broad dialectical relationship in this sense

the relative is in the absolute if we go a layer deeper the relationship Lenin identifies between the relative and the

absolute follows the very tendency he is laying out both the relative and the absolute represent mutually exclusive

and contradictory elements Lenin talks of a unity of contradictions which we see in the fact that the relative is

present in the absolute and the absolute is present in the relative moreover neither we exist without the presence of

the other without the concept of the absolute the relative has no meaning and vice-versa a final point on

contradiction is that given the right conditions a dialectical relationship can transform into something

qualitatively new this happens when the internal contradiction reaches a boiling point this does not mean that the object

in question comes to some final stage of existence on the contrary this eruption produces a new dialectical relationship

with new aspects and hence a new contradiction as we talked about before dialectics presupposes a constant state

of motion with periods of rapid qualitative change before we continued the discussion I want to take a quick

break from the video and convey my gratitude to the patreon supporters who helped make this project happen the

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if you feel like chipping in a few dollars anyways let's get back to the video when talking about dialectics many

people like to reference Hegel as intellectual inspiration for Marx Marx did indeed take Hegel's dialectic and

make it his own getting into the Hegelian dialectic is a bit too tedious and we still have much to talk about in

this video much of what we talked about in the Marxist dialectic does have a role in

Hegel's dialectics there are internal contradictions in the struggle between the two aspects which give birth to a

new empty the reason why Marx could not accept Hegel's dialectic was because it did not deal with the material the

subject of Hegel's dialectic was the idea the dialectic was abstract thought moving through a particular process

where the resolution of contradictions produced new contradictions this went on until human thought reached absolute

knowledge as a materialist Marx was concerned primarily with concrete conditions that existed outside the

human mind this is why the Marxist dialectic takes for its subject the material and not an abstract notion of

thought for some Marx's extraction of the dialectical process from Hegel's work and its reinsertion into

materialism is the essence of the change between Marx and Hegel this change is sometimes referred to as Marx's

inversion of Hegel however not all Marxists are content to leave the discussion between Hegel and Marx their

authors argued that Marxist dialectic was different from Hegel's at its very core

not just in content Hegel's dialectic takes on a simple form a single distilled contradiction that is self

transformative Marxist dialectic includes overdetermination the recognition of the existence of

multiple semi autonomous contradictions that displace each other and condense at various times producing change through

interaction alpha sir introduced overdetermination the Marxism to demonstrate that phenomena are

determined by multiple overlapping contradictions or causes as opposed to one simple dialectical mechanism

contradictions displace each other's positions within the complex whole but they can also fuse together which is

what compensation is to create a revolutionary mutation the complexity officer describes in his

concept of overdetermination suggests that there is indeed a clean break from Hegel in Marx's vision of the dialectic

in Hegelian dialectics change is an internalized and self-generated process in other words Hegel's dialectic

transforms itself we sometimes refer to this process as the negation of the negation where the contradiction is

negated or undone through the fusion of the two contradictory parts for Hegel this mechanism is an inherent part of

the dialectic officers interpretation of Marxist dialectics rejects that kind of simplicity while there are still

contradictions they exist on many levels and only produce change when they overlap in the right place and time and

only when the antagonism between the contradictions is so great that it results in an explosion this video has

gone on long enough no doubt there will be more videos on dialectics in the future the purpose of

this video is to lay out the groundwork and introduce the major concepts so that we can go forward with a deeper

understanding of the materialist dialectic don't forget to share your thoughts questions or responses in the

comment section below thanks for watching and until next time remember the Philosopher's have only interpreted

the world in various ways the point is to change it [Music]