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Definition:
The Marxist doctrine of dialectical materialism asserts that matter is the fundamental
substance of reality and, as such, the laws which regulate the motion and existence of
matter also regulate all of reality. This is not so much a reductionist theory
asserting everything is matter, but is instead an argument against philosophies of
idealism. Whereas Idealists argue that matter is a product of mind, Marxists argue
that the mind is a product of matter.
Where dialectical materialists differ from materialists is in the fact that they argue that the laws which govern matter are dialectical in nature. Thus, reality develops by way of dialectical contradiction in the way that Hegel said that all ideas and thought develop. It also means that social change is itself governed by underlying, material (read: economic) laws of nature. According to Lenin, dialectial materialism is:
...nothing more nor less than the scientific method in sociology, which consists in regarding society as a living organism in a constant state of development, the study of which requires an objective analysis of the relations of production which constitute the given social formation and an investigation of its laws of functioning and development.
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Related Resources:
What are Political and Legal Philosophy
The Philosophy of Politics and the Philosophy of Law are often studied separately, but they are presented here jointly because they both come back to the same thing: the study of force. Politics is the study of political force in the general community, while jurisprudence is the study of how laws can and should be used to achieve political and social goals.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?
