Dialectical Materialism: Its Laws, Categories, and Practice

Description

Ira Gollobin's pathbreaking treatise, the product of over thirty years of research, provides an extraordinarily comprehensive and lucid exposition of dialectical materialism. An extensive discussion of the laws of dialectics is coupled with an elaboration of the dialectical categories, a vital yet seldom discussed sphere of dialectics. The author also looks deeply into another frequently ignored aspect of dialectical materialism - the laws and categories of the theory of knowledge (epistemology) - with a special focus on the vital contributions of Jean Piaget. Each of the laws and categories are presented historically: first the prescientific level of their cognition, followed by their scientific formulation, and concluding with their antiscientific variants. Throughout, illustrations are drawn from the natural sciences and from the culture of different societies, ancient and modern. His book is also unusual in being concerned not only with the meaning of dialectics but with how it can and should be used in practice. Ira Gollobin has been a civil rights attorney since 1936, defending the foreign born, especially refugees, and the targets of witchhunts. From 1949 to 1966 he represented many organizations and individuals attacked by the House Un-American Activities Committee. He has also had a long-time interest and involvement in Far Eastern issues, and, as evidenced by this work, in dialectics. Cover Contents Acknowledgments Author's Note On the Scope and Mode of Exposition Some Limitations Preface Popular Views of Philosophers and Philosophy, Past and Present Scientific Philosophy Part I: Introduction Chapter 1 - Workers and Scientific Philosophy Why Workers Should Learn Scientific Philosophy Workers Can Learn Scientific Philosophy A History of Philosophy in the United States: An Overview of Bourgeois Predominance For a Marxist-Leninist History of Philosophy in the United States Chapter 2 - The Main Stages of Philosophical Development Prescientific Philosophy Scientific Philosophy The Birth of Scientific Philosophy Scientific Philosophy and Scientific Method Antiscientific Philosophy Existentialism's Social Diagnosis Existentialism's Social Program Philosophic Aspects of Existentialism Analytical Philosophy Partisanship in Philosophy Part II: Materialism Chapter 3 - Materialism: Laws and Categories A Preliminary Clarification: Materialism and Idealism Prescientific Views Child Development Preclass Society Class Society Scientific Views The Nature of Truth The Test of Truth Antiscientific Views A Preliminary Note Antiscientific Views on the Nature of Truth Antiscientific Views on the Test of Truth A Brief Summary Part III: Dialectics Section 1 - Dialectics of the Object: Very General Aspects of All Things (Including Consciousness) A. Laws of Dialectics of the Object Chapter 4 - Introduction to Laws of Dialectics of the Object Chapter 5 - From the Outer Nature (Appearance) of Things to the First Law of Dialectics Why a Transition Chapter to the First Law of Dialectics? Sameness and Difference Connection and Change Connection Change Internal Change and External Change Internal Change and Nonchange of Things (Self-Movement and Identity): Contradiction Contradiction and Consistency Chapter 6 - The First Law of Dialectics: The Unity and Conflict of Opposites - Contradiction Polarity Prescientific Views Scientific Views Examples of Polarity Antiscientific Views The Principal Aspect of a Contradiction A Thing as a Sum of Contradictions The Principal Contradiction Within a Sum of Contradictions Quality and the Principal Aspect of the Principal Contradiction The Interpenetration of Opposites The Absoluteness of the Conflict of Opposites and the Relativity of Their Unity Antagonistic and Nonantagonistic Contradictions: A Special Sphere of the First Law of Dialectics Scientific Views Antiscientific Views Chapter 7 - The Second Law of Dialectics: The Transition of Quality into Quantity and of Quantity into Quality The Inseparability of Quality and Quantity Prescientific Views Scientific Views Examples of the Quantitative limits of Quality Antiscientific Views Balance-Imbalance and a Thing's Transition to a Limit Gradualness, Subordinate Leaps, and Nodal Line of Measurements Nodal Point, Leap, and New Quality Chapter 8 - The Third Law of Dialectics: Negation of Negation Negation Meanings of Negation: Verbal Denial, Mechanical Negation, and Dialectical Negation The Positive and the Negative Examples of Negation Antiscientific Views Negation of Negation Prescientific and Scientific Views Antiscientific Views Chapter 9 - Laws of Dialectics of the Object as a Whole B. Categories of Dialectics of the Object Chapter 10 - Introduction Chapter 11 - Appearance and Essence Prescientific Views Scientific Views Examples of the Inseparability of Appearance and Essence Antiscientific Views Chapter 12 - Form and Content Prescientific Views Scientific Views Examples of the Inseparability of Form and Content Antiscientific Views Chapter 13 - The Relative and the Absolute Prescientific Views Scientific Views Examples of the Inseparability of the Relative and Absolute Antiscientific Views Chapter 14 - The Finite and the Infinite Prescientific Views Scientific Views Antiscientific Views Chapter 15 - Possibility and Actuality Prescientific Views Scientific Views Antiscientific Views Chapter 16 - Contingency and Necessity Connections of Possibility and Actuality with Contingency and Necessity Contingency and Necessity: An Overview Causality Prescientific Views Scientific Views Antiscientific Views Law Prescientific Views Scientific Views Antiscientific Views Social Laws Scientific Views Antiscientific Views Freedom Scientific Views The Social Context of Freedom Antiscientific Views Conclusion Chapter 17 - The Particular and the General Prescientific Views Scientific Views Antiscientific Views Chapter 18 - Categories of Dialectics of the Object as a Whole Scientific Views Antiscientific Views Section 2 - Dialectics of the Subject: Very General Aspects of Rational Consciousness Per Se (Epistemology) A. Laws of Epistemology Chapter 19 - Introduction Chapter 20 - Laws of Epistemology Prescientific to Scientific Child Mental Development: From Birth to Adolescence Aspects of the History of Cognition (Societal Development): Prescientific to Scientific Antiscientific Views on Cognition Conclusion B. Categories of Epistemology Chapter 21 - Introduction Overall Framework: Inductive and Deductive Inference Scientific Views Antiscientific Views Chapter 22 - The Abstract and the Concrete Prescientific Views Scientific Views Examples of Abstracting and Concretizing Antiscientific Views Special Spheres of the Abstract and Concrete Mathematics Logic History The Arts Values, Ethics Humanism Chapter 23 - Analysis and Synthesis Prescientific Views Scientific Views Antiscientific Views Chapter 24 - Theory and Practice Prescientific Views Scientific Views Antiscientific Views C. Epistemology as a Whole Chapter 25 - Laws and Categories of Epistemology as a Whole Certainty and Completeness in Knowledge: Relative and Absolute Views Antiscientific Views Section 3 - Dialectics as a Whole Chapter 26 - Dialectics of the Object and of the Subject as a Whole Laws of Nature and Laws of Thought Dialectical Logic and Formal Logic Dialectics, Epistemology, and Logic An Overview of the Exposition Sequence of Dialectics Aspects of Dialectics: A Summary and an Application by Lenin Antiscientific Appraisals of Dialectics as a Whole Part IV: Conclusion Chapter 27 - Dialectical Materialism as a Whole Scientific Views Antiscientific Views Conclusion Chapter 28 - Wisdom Prescientific Views Scientific Views Antiscientific Views Conclusion Addendum On Historical Experience with Socialist Revolution and Its Consolidation: A Query and a Hypothesis A Query Socialism in the USSR and the Post-Stalin Period Socialism in the People's Republic of China and the Post-Mao Period A Hypothesis Notes Notes to Author's Note Notes to Preface Notes to Chapter 1 Notes to Chapter 2 Notes to Chapter 3 Notes to Chapter 4 Notes to Chapter 5 Notes to Chapter 6 Notes to Chapter 7 Notes to Chapter 8 Notes to Chapter 9 Notes to Chapter 10 Notes to Chapter 11 Notes to Chapter 12 Notes to Chapter 13 Notes to Chapter 14 Notes to Chapter 15 Notes to Chapter 16 Notes to Chapter 17 Notes to Chapter 18 Notes to Chapter 19 Notes to Chapter 20 Notes to Chapter 21 Notes to Chapter 22 Notes to Chapter 23 Notes to Chapter 24 Notes to Chapter 25 Notes to Chapter 26 Notes to Chapter 27 Notes to Chapter 28 Notes to Addendum Bibliography A B C D E F G H l J K L M N O P Q R S T V W Z Index A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z Back Cover