Boris Hessen’s ‘The Social and Economic Roots of Newton’s Principia’ (see https://doi.org./10.1163/1569206X-00002041) is considered a pioneering work in the historiography of the natural sciences. For some, it marks the founding moment of the ‘externalist’ approach to this field of study. Previously, Hessen published another paper on Newton entitled ‘Preface to Articles by A. Einstein and J.J. Thomson’, which, some maintain, bears a stronger resemblance to works in the ‘internalist’ camp of the historiography of the natural sciences. For decades, scholars have (...) puzzled over why Hessen chose to argue for, seemingly, diametrically opposed positions. In this paper, however, I argue that Hessen does not advance two different historiographical methods, but a single, dialectical-materialist approach that accounts for the ‘unity in opposition’ of the external and internal dimensions of natural-scientific theory. I draw from Hessen’s two papers on Newton, his previously untranslated writings, as well as selections from the secondary literature. (shrink)

This article examines the relationship between materialism, dialectics, and theology in Alain Badiou's work. The first three sections of the article focus on Badiou's reading of Hegelian dialectics in his 1982 work, Theory of the Subject. The first section accounts for Badiou's splitting of Hegel into an idealist and materialist dialectic, and presents an exposition of the latter. The second section outlines Badiou's critical analysis of the theological model implicit in Hegel's dialectics. The third section investigates the core of (...) this criticism through a discussion of Badiou's reading of the “negation of the negation.” The remaining four sections examine the anti-dialectical interpretation of the Christ-event that Badiou presents in his book Saint Paul. Here the article illustrates how Badiou's insistence on separating the death of Christ from the resurrection is linked to his rejection of the doctrines of Trinity and Incarnation, and how this drives Badiou towards idealism. (shrink)

The report of B. M. Hessen at the I All-Union Congress of physicists. The Congress was held in Odessa from 19 to 24 August 1930. At the plenary meeting B. M. Hessen, made a report on methodological issues of quantum physics, the relationship of physics and philosophy. Mechanistic materialism in his time came to replace the scholastic physics. But he could not solve the problems of development and specificity of forms of movement. B. M. Hessen believed that the development of (...) the basic concepts of natural science (matter, space and time, motion, wave and particle, pattern and randomness) coincides with the approach of dialectical materialism. (shrink)

After the First Conference, the situation with regard to the relation between natural scientists and philosophers improved considerably in the sense that, as we can see, philosophers, by their work on questions of methodology, are helping natural scientists more and more, while natural scientists are giving increasing attention to the results of the work of philosophers, and are becoming interested in the philosophical conclusions following from their research and in general problems of philosophical significance.

Our great teacher and leader Chairman Mao always stressed the study and propagation of materialist dialectics and dedicated himself to the application of materialist dialectics in analyzing problems, directing revolution and, through practical struggle, advancing the dialectics of revolution ceaselessly. In that immortal collection of Marxist-Leninist essays, Selected Works of Mao Tsetung, Volume Five, Chairman Mao provided us with a new chapter of materialist dialectics. Essays of particular interest included in Volume Five are: "On the Policies for Our Work in (...) Tibet — Directive of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China," "In Refutation of ‘Uniformity of Public Opinion,’" "On the Ten Major Relationships," "Speech at the Second Plenary Session of the Eighth Central Committee of the Communist Party of China," "Talks at a Conference of Secretaries of Provincial, Municipal and Autonomous Region Party Committees," "On the Correct Handling of Contradictions Among the People," "Speech at the Chinese Communist Party's National Conference on Propoganda Work," and "A Dialectical Approach to Inner-Party Unity." These essays provide us with important educational materials for learning Chairman Mao's new thought and new conclusions concerning dialectics, and comprise a supremely powerful weapon of thought for carrying through the wise political policies of Chairman Hua and deeply criticizing the "gang of four.". (shrink)

This book articulates Soviet philosopher Boris Hessen's groundbreaking analysis of socioeconomic development, technological progress, and natural scientific theory; reassesses Hessen's legacy to the history and philosophy of science; and reflects on Hessen's enduring significance in today's world of social inequality and technological progress.

An introduction to the basic ideas of philosophy as a science, materialism, the categories and laws of motion of nature, society and human thought, dialectics, the theory of knowledge.

O objetivo do presente ensaio é analisar alguns aspectos da obra de Paulo Freire para trazer à luz a base metodológica sobre a qual Freire erguia seu pensamento, e sobre a qual nos é possível apontar para um fazer pesquisa enquanto prática libertadora e emancipatória. Buscamos expor, assim, os traços característicos do Materialismo Dialético presentes na obra do autor, para então analisar a categoria Diálogo, apresentada em Pedagogia do Oprimido, como princípio orientador de todo o pesquisador que se quer libertador, (...) verdadeiramente emancipatório, compromissado com a mudança, com o vir-a-ser humano. (shrink)

This edition contains a new introduction by Stefan Kipfer, explaining the book’s contemporary ramifications in the ever-expanding reach of the urban in the ...

"Texts selected for this collection are not the only texts dedicated to Hegel and dialectics but they are representative of Ilyenkov's main themes and interests."--Back cover.

Following an initial section, in which the relation of materialism to positivism and agnosticism is discussed, and the latter views criticized, a formal definition of dialectical materialism is given. Materialism is contrasted to idealism and dualism. Dialectics is contrasted to metaphysics. Some additional assumptions, usually included in dialectics, such as the interpenetrating character of the levels of science, and rationalism, are listed. In a section devoted to the relation between matter and spirit, the foundations of materialist ethics are laid by (...) stating the humanist axiom of purpose. In the last section, historical materialism is defined, and some reasons for the occasional entanglement of scientific, philosophical, and political controversies are discussed. (shrink)

There is a sense in which a philosophic theory can be confirmed. We may ask what its effects were on the development of scientific theory,—did it clarify ideas and help open up new areas of research, or did it constrain the work of science? In this essay, we shall try to judge the significance of dialectical materialism from this standpoint. We shall be concerned with the bearing of this philosophy on scientific work, especially in the Soviet Union.Now dialectical materialism is (...) not a “philosophy” in the same sense which the word has when applied to, let us say, logical empiricism. The difference is evident when a writer like Haldane asks, for instance, how far scientific discoveries have verified the principles of dialectical materialism.' We could not ask in a similar way whether scientific discoveries have confirmed the principles of logical empiricism. For the latter affirms no factual propositions concerning the world; it enunciates solely the principle of verifiability, and there is clearly no scientific discovery which could possibly refute the requirement of verification. If it makes sense to ask how far scientific discoveries verify dialectical materialism, then the latter must obviously contain factual propositions concerning nature which should be stated in a way to permit of confirmation of rejection. (shrink)