Materialism and Dialectics: Nature, Society, and Thought

Dialectics has emerged as the science of working with relationships, particularly those that are changing and contradictory, as found in the realms of nature, society and thought. As a science, it is an especially conscious and active human enterprise, whose general theory has developed over time from shallower to deeper through the reflective processes involved in sociocultural and economic practice. The object of this study is to attain some insight into the kind of knowledge dialectical philosophy has made possible. It will initially review and summarize some of the major trends in early natural scientific and social theory, and the progressive emergence of dialectics within these newer theoretical developments will be proposed. Current controversies within the Marxist frame, highlighting problems of epistemological reductionism and the theory of reflection, will thereafter be examined in order to make a critical assessment of the nature of dialectical methodology today.