Fundamentals of Marx: Dialectics

What are dialectics and how does the dialectical process work? This episode in the Fundamentals of Marx series begins to cover some of the main points in dialectics. Given how complicated and broad this topic is, there will be more videos in the future that elaborate on the ideas talked about here.

[willm]

Good video but I feel more examples would’ve been helpful, otherwise it becomes too abstract

[orangus]

I was confused for a while about "dialectical contradiction" - it just means "opposition", not logical contradiction

[JLPicard]

A dozen T-34 tanks is not a practicable fighting force. But ten thousand T-34's is a war-winning force. Another instance of qualitative change arising from quantitative change. Or as Papa Steel himself put it, "Quantity has a quality all its own"

[Bingusginghs]

This is probably the best explanation of dialectics you can find outside of reading the classics

[vrnzour]

This is one of THE BEST explanations on dialectics there is.

[jaredloveless]

For me, substituting the word opposition for contradiction makes these ideas a bit easier to understand

[thatauscomrade]

This is a fantastic video, comrade. Dialectics is often a difficult subject for many to grapple and apply, especially coming from a background that is drenched in liberal ideology. I used to struggle to apprehend the basics of it. It makes me wish that this video was available back then, as I am yet to find a modern text that explains it better than this video. Keep up the good work, comrade.

[andrewday]

Thanks for doing another video. They’re good because they’re not too fancy rather than in spite of this. Cheers

[TheBoglodite]

I'm really happy that you didn't include the very non-dialectical idea of the "thesis, antithesis, synthesis" that some other Marxist content creators include in their videos. Very good stuff. Would love to see you write about Systems Theory and how it connects to Dialectical Materialism. They seem incredibly tightly linked, if not the very same thing in some cases.

[jordanyanowitz]

As a avid reader of Bookchin, this video really opens my eyes to the dialectical advancements made by the man. He didn’t agree with Marx on everything, but he definitely thought through dialectical ecology, or dialectical naturalism as he called it, in a dialectically Marxian manner.

[internetperson]

Thank you so much. Even as a Marxist who has read a lot and been a Marxist for a long time, dialectics is the one thing I've always had trouble on. It was the main thing that I could never really figure out, but I really appreciate this video.

[Metalvolt]

Just came across this video and your channel, great content! I really struggled to grasp dialectics for some time, but found On Contradiction to be an extremely educational text.

[xBLACKOUT]

This is probably the best video I've watched on dialectics. Thank you!

[hat_maker]

thank you for making this video & dissecting such a complex subject so succintly!! (& thank you for making all the videos you make, really!) i don't think i would have ever grasped these concepts w/o your videos, or at the very least it would have taken me a long time to. your channel has helped open up new avenues of learning for me! :)

[kira__RD]

Damn, your visual representations are worth of braingasm, you are one bright minded individual, I really thank you for this content

[safi.uh_]

i almost skipped on this video because i knew i already understood dialectics but im glad i didn’t because it became an opportunity for me to remember that there is always subtle aspects of any field of knowledge that can be forgotten and must be relearned so excellent video!!

[wiiuwiiu]

Brilliantly explained, look forward to the next entries in this series

[ddigwell]

I love this video. It is by far the best remedy I’ve come across for curing my insomnia.

[timbey]

I just found this channel and think it's best interpretation of Marx on social media I've seen so far.

That said, I have philosophical differences that would lead to a different framing of philosophical materialism and historic materialism.

It doesn't come-across that Marx's version of philosophical materialism is consistent in general contexts, but philosophical materialism has evolved a lot since Marx.

Marx's sociological models are consistent with other sociological models, but that connection isn't stressed in this presentation.

The fact that Marx's models are consistent with those of systems-thinking, information theory, category theory, general argumentation, and others, is not articulated in this presentation, which leads to an insulated narrative.

One could make a video that presents the connections between philosophical materialism and presently used sociological models.

Category theory and systems-thinking are theories of relationships, and Marx's models can be translated to those systems as well.

If you don't tie Marx to concepts that have been invented in the last 70 years, the interpretation will be insulated and dated...or so I fear.

Another materialist model is from Lawrence Kohlberg. If you know Marx but not Kohlberg, you are missing 50 years of social science.

[minhng]

Excellent explanation. I learned this topic as a first year student and failed the oral exam. Now I appreciate why we were required to learn it 😊