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| (iii) Metaphysics and Mechanics in Earlier Materialism |  2003-10-29 | (v) The Laws of Dialectical Development |
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It is one thing for natural scientists to increasingly use concepts of change and development in their scientific work, quite another for these ideas to be worked out systematically as a general world-outlook so that they can be consciously used to help us understand all areas of reality, including of course developments in society. This is why Marx and Engels turned to the work of a great idealist philosopher, Hegel, who had developed the theory of dialectics as an overall philosophy.
This theory of dialectics can best be understood in opposition to
what we have called “metaphysics” and the main features
of the theory can be formulated as follows:
whereas metaphysics sees the world as a complex of
things, dialectics examines these elements as a part of an
interconnected whole in which everything is related to and
determined by everything else.
Thus for example: a dialectical approach does not simply observe that Africans in South Africa are oppressed by the pass laws, work for starvation wages, farm the worst land, live in terrible housing conditions, etc. Each of these elements is related to the other and can only be properly understood as part and parcel of the whole system of apartheid which links them together.
Whereas metaphysics sees the world statically, looking simply at things as they are, dialectics is concerned with things in motion, as a process, ceaselessly coming into being and passing away.
Thus for example: it is not enough just to see how apartheid “works” today We must understand how it developed, how the people lived before apartheid, the great struggles they fought against those who came to steal their land and destroy their institutions, how apartheid was developed as a response to an awakening African national consciousness, etc. Understanding how apartheid arose is essential to an understanding of how we can get rid of it, for the world is continually changing, and a dialectical approach highlights the fluidity of every situation.
Whereas metaphysics regards change as an accidental occurrence, brought on by some chance event from outside, dialectic sees change as a natural and necessary force which comes from within.
Thus for example: the mounting tide of anger and protest against oppression in South Africa which has so dramatically hit the headlines over recent months is not, as the Justice Minister seems to think, stirred up by outside agitators who have managed to accidentally escape the security police and their numerous spies. It is an inevitable development that springs from within, as a necessary part of that struggle which has taken many different forms and reached many different peaks, ever since the racist oppression began. Like all change, it can only be properly understood as the necessary outcome of a developing situation: it is not merely some dramatic explosion which accidentally “happened." It is true that outside conditions may “spark” off events so that they take place at one particular time rather than another but these external circumstances “condition” the event, whereas the real cause of its development comes from within.
These features of the theory of dialectics form the basis for a number of general laws of dialectical development which Hegel was able to work out. Marxists consider these general laws to be of great importance for they elaborate upon and help to clarify the features of dialectical theory as noted above.
We turn therefore to briefly examine [...click "Next"]