Article
The Objective Validity of Engels’ Dialectic Theory as a Method of Reasoning
Engin Delice
Pages 13-51| Published online:31 Aug 2022
Delice, Engin. 2022. “The Objective Validity of Engels’ Dialectic Theory as a Method of Rea- soning.” Marxism & Sciences 1(2): 13–51. https://doi.org/10.56063/MS.2208.01206.
ABSTRACT
What gives validity to Engels’ dialectical theory? Is it the process of nature’s own functioning that provides validity to the dialectic, or is it the logical order of the concepts? The orthodox Marxists, who take Engels’ dialectic as the “dialectic of nature,” are in favour of the former. The proponents of the latter seem to reject the dialectic of nature by associating the dialectic with Hegel’s logical operations. The former reduces thinking to the object, while the latter reduces the object to thinking. For these two grounds of validity, Engels provides sufficient explanation in Anti-Dühring and the Dialectics of Nature. Along with these, in this article it is assumed that what ensures the validity of Engels’s dialectical theory is the potentiality that the logical order of thought in the reasoning process can accompany the internal relations of the object. Based on this assumption, the article argues that dialectics is a method of thinking. Based on this assumption, the article assumes that different names, such as the dialectic of nature, society, and consciousness originate from the object of the dialectic, and therefore rejects the plurality of names of dialectics.
KEYWORDS: Engels, Marx, philosophy, dialectics, dialectic of nature, dialectic of thought, natural sciences, materialism, ontology.
REFERENCES
Ahlberg, Renee. 1962. “The Forgotten Philosopher: Abraham Deborin.” In Revisionism: Essays in the History of Marxist Ideas, edited by Leopold Labedz. New York: Praeger.
Althusser, Louis. 2001. Lenin and Philosophy and other Essays. Translated By Ben Brewster. New York: Monthly Review Press.
Anderson, Perry. 1976. Considerations on Western Marxism. London: NLB.
Aristotle. 1991a. “Metaphysic.” In Complete Works (Aristotle) Vol II, translated by W. D. Ross, edited by Jonathan Barnes. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
———. 1991b. “Categories.” In Complete Works (Aristotle), Vol. I, translated by J. L. Ackrill, edited by Jonathan Barnes. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
———. 1991c. “Topics.” In Complete Works (Aristotle), Vol. I, translated by J. L. Ackrill, edited by Jonathan Barnes. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
———. 1991d. “Posterior Analytics.” In Complete Works (Aristotle), Vol. I, translated by J. L. Ackrill, edited by Jonathan Barnes. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
———. 1991e. “Rhetoric.” In Complete Works (Aristotle) Vol II, translated by W. D. Ross, edited by Jonathan Barnes. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
———. 1991f. “Prior Analytics.” In Complete Works (Aristotle) Vol II, translated by A. J. Jenkinson, edited by Jonathan Barnes. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Azeri, Siyaveş. 2022. “Engels’ Dialectics of Human Activity in—Nature.” Marxism & Sciences 1(1): 69–97.
Blackledge, Paul. 2019. Frederick Engels and Modern Social and Political Theory. Albany: Suny Press.
Bukharin, Nikolay. 1921. “Historical Materialism: A System of Sociology (Chapter 3: “Dialectical Materialism).” Marxist Internet Archive. www.marxists.org/archive/bukharin
Carver, Terrell. 1990. Friedrich Engels His Life and Thought. New York: Palgrave Macmillan
Delice, Engin. 2022. “Engels’in Diyalektik Teorisi: ‘Doğanın Diyalektiği’ mi, Düşüncenin Diyalektiği mi?” Praksis 54: 253–298.
Einstein, Albert. 2015. “Opinion on Engels’ “Dialectics of Nature.” In The Collected Papers of Albert Einstein, vol 14. Princeton University Press. https://einsteinpapers.press.princeton.edu/vol14 trans/295
Engels, Frederick. 2010a. “Anti-Dühring: Herr Eugen Dühring’s Revolution in Science.” In Marx & Engels Collected Works vol 25, translated by E. Burns. London: Lawrence & Wishart.
———. 2010b. “Dialectics of Nature.” In Marx & Engels Collected Works, vol 25. translated by Clemens Dutt. London: Lawrence & Wishart.
———. 2010c. “Ludwig Feuerbach and the End of Classical German Philosophy.” In Marx & Engels Collected Works, vol 26. London: Lawrence & Wishart.
———. 2010d. “From Engels’ Preparatory Writings for Anti-Dühring.” In Marx & Engels Collected Works, vol 25, translated by Emile Burns. London: Lawrence & Wishart.,
———. 2010e. “Schelling and Revelation.” In Marx & Engels Collected Works, vol 2, translated by B. Ruhemann. London: Lawrence & Wishart.
———. 2010f. “Engels to Marx. 30 May 1873.” In Marx & Engels Collected Works, vol 44, translated by R. Livingstone. London: Lawrence & Wishart.
———. 2010g. “Karl Marx, A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy.” In Marx & Engels, Collected Works, vol 16, translated by S. Ryazanskaya. London: Lawrence & Wishart.
———. 2010h. “Engels to Marx. Manchester, 16 June 1867.” In Marx & Engels Collected Works, vol 42, translated by Christopher Upward. London: Lawrence & Wishart.
———. 2010i. “Engels to Conrad Schmidt. London. 1 November.” In Marx & Engels, Collected Works, vol 49, translated by Peter and Betty Ross. London: Lawrence & Wishart.
———. 2010k. “Engels to Kautsky. London, 20 September 1884.” In Marx & Engels, Collected Works, vol 47, translated by Peter and Betty Ross. London: Lawrence & Wishart.
Gedik, Ali C. 2015. “Engel(s)siz Marksizm veya Marksizmde “İki Kültür” Problemine Dair Bir Müzik Bilimcinin Düşünceleri [Marxism without Engels and a Musicologist’s Reflections on the Problem of ‘Two Cultures’ in Marxism].” Bilim Üzerine Marksist Tartışmalar Marksizm ve İki Kültür, 95–138, edited by A.C. Gedik. İstanbul: Bilim ve Gelecek.
———. 2022. “Back to Engels: A Long Century of the First Fiddle without the Second.” Marxism & Science 1(1): xiii–xxxix.
Hegel G.F.W. 1991. The Encyclopaedia Logic. Translated by T.F. Geraets, W.A. Suchting, H.S. Harris. Cambridge: Hackett Publishing Company.
———. 1998. Hegel's Science of Logic. Translated by A.V. Miller. New York: Humanity Books.
———. 2004. Philosophy of Nature. Translated by A.V. Miller. Oxford: Oxford University Press
———. 2010. Hegel’s Philosophy of Mind. Translated by A.V. Miller. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Kangal, Kaan. 2019. “Engels’ Intentions in Dialectics of Nature.” Science & Society 83(2): 215–243.
Kant, Immanuel. 1998. Critique of Pure Reason. Translated by Paul Guyer. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Kautsky, Karl. 1899. Frederick Engels His Life, His Work and His Writings. Translated by M. V. Simons. Chicago: Charles H. Kerr & Company.
Lenin, Vladimir Ilyich. (1909) 1977a. “Materialism and Empirio-criticism.” In Collected Works, vol 14, translated by A. Fineberg. Moscow: Progress Publishers.
———. (1913) 1977b. “The Three Sources and Three Component Parts of Marxism.” In Collected Works, vol 19. Moscow: Progress Publishers.
Lukács, Georg. 1971. History and Class Consciousness Studies in Marxist Dialectics. Translated by R. Livinstone. Cambridge: The Mit Press.
Marcuse, Herbert. 1969. Soviet Marxism a Critical Analysis. New York: Columbia Unıversity Press.
Marx, Karl. 2010a. “Capital I.” In Marx & Engels Collected Works, vol 35, translated by S. Moore & E. Aveling. London: Lawrence & Wishart.
———. 2010b. “Contribution to the Critique of Hegel’s Philosophy of Law.” In Marx & Engels Collected Works, vol 3, translated by M. Miligan, B. Ruhemann. London: Lawrence & Wishart.
Plekhanov, G.V. 1974. “For the Sixtieth Anniversary of Hegel’s Death.” In Selected Philosophical Works, vol 1, translated by V. Yeryomin. Moscow: Progress Publishers.
Schmidt, Alfred. (1962)1971. The Concept of Nature in Marx. Translated by Ben Fowkes. London: NLB.
Woods, Alan & Ted Grant. 2003. Reason in Revolt Dialectical Philosophy and Modern Science, vol I. New York: Algora Publishing.