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Definition:
In the Socratic context, dialectic simply means "discourse" and was Socrates' primary
method of arriving at knowledge and truth. Through extended conversations of questions
and answers, Socrates explored a variety of issues and problems in an effort to arrive
at a better understanding of them.
In the Hegelian sense, dialectic is the logical process which all thought must follow. According to Hegel, every idea (thesis) becomes contrasted with some opposition (antithesis) and together they come to some resolution (synthesis). That resolution becomes the thesis of a new set of thought. Thus, through contradiction, understanding and knowledge develop. For Hegel, thought is reality - thus, the laws of thought also constitute the laws of reality, so he concluded that the universe itself operates through the thesis-antithesis-synthesis progression. Marx did not agree that thought was the same as reality, so in his borrowing of this pattern, he applied it only to the development in history - dialectical materialism.
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Related Resources:
What is Philosophy?
What is philosophy? Is there any point in studying philosophy, or is it a useless subject? What are the different branches of philosophy - what's the difference between aestheitcs and ethics? What's the difference between metaphysics and epistemology?
