What is the Dialectic? | Plato, Kant, Hegel, Marx | Keyword

In this episode, I present what the "dialectic" is. I present its variations across the history of philosophy from Plato to Marx to supply you with the most holistic presentation that I am capable of presenting at this moment.

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[pedropedro]

I'll just try and undo this classical misunderstanding of the etymology of the word dialectic (and the same for dialogue): dia- comes from Ancient Greek διά (diá) and it does NOT mean "two"!!!! "Two" in Ancient Greek would be "δύο" (dýo). Diá means "through". "Lectic" comes from λεκτικός (lektikós), which, among lots of other meanings, is "the art of speaking". Dialectic would be litterally "(that which is attained) through the art of speaking". As for dialogue, it comes from Ancient Greek διάλογος, composed by διά (through) and λόγος (lógos, that is, discourse, speech, but also reason). Dialogue is litterally "(that which is attained) through speech/discourse/reason".

Great video, thanks!

[djmarusik]

"and kant is just sitting there watching" now thats a scary thought

[hrvad]

The format here is short, and I respect that. If I were to add something it's this: Hegel was a speculative idealist, which means he believes that ideas transform the physical world. This part of Hegel comes from Hermeticism/alchemy, and it's definitely a form of mysticism.

Marx on the other hand turned Hegel's dialectic on it's head and formulated the dialectical materialism. He believed that the environment would shape the people and their conciseness.

Also of crucial importance to make this relevant to today I would have mentioned the following: Hegel and Marx believed in historicism, that is that history has a goal (telos) and that the dialectic is the engine making history happen.

The reason Hegel was the flashpoint is that he's credited as the first to USE the dialectic. That is, according to his crazy followers he took the reins of the dialectic and now directed history to faster approach the eschaton where object and subject becomes the same.

Let me rephrase the last part: "the end of history" is where man as creator has removed all contradictions, and then God would finally reach full awareness of himself and fully realize himself.

It's actually a religion with a competing metaphysics, morality, ontology etc compared to standard Enlightenment rationality and Christianity (the usual one most of us run on).

Christianity and most metaphysics we use posit that God/physical reality exists as opposed to God continuously Becoming as a result of humans acting with dialectical knowledge (gnosis).

[philosophyofearth]

Just taught my first week of Marx, going to send this to my students. Hope you are well Dave! -Julian

[liambanta]

I do wish this would have extended into a marx-IST understanding of the dialectic, like with Engel's "Ludwig Feuerback, and the end of german classical philosophy" and Mao's "on contradiction" which more clearly break from this teleological, "two combine into one, " or "thesis-antythesis-synthesis" notion of dialectics, which is nonetheless revealed in Marx's use of dialectical categories in "Capital" where in which material phenomena reveal their capacity to be identical to, or to becoming their opposite.

[harleyharris]

@6:32 “Some infinities are bigger than other infinities, ” - Immanuel Kant, The Fault in Our Stars

[DrEhrfurchtgebietend]

Me hearing Kant's thought experiment: "That's the stupidest shit i have ever heard"
Hegel's thought experiment: "Hold my beer"

[timadamson]

I would say that for Plato dialectic is first about people agreeing to seek public truth, not truth "in" each of us. The capacity to know is in us, but the object of dialectical conversation is an objective truth that we might together grasp.

[unitedstatesdale]

This was perfect for me as I am learning the basics.
Thank you

[spcphd]

Correction: "Di" can mean two in Attic greek, as in "dialogue, " or "two people speaking." However, "Dia" also refers to "through" or "across" also, so "dialektos"also implies "talking through" something to resolve it. For Plato, however, dialectic, often enough, did not resolve itself into a logical, finite conclusion, but rather arrived often at an "aporia"--an impasse arriving from an unresolvable antinomy or paradox. This is very different from the Hegelian dialectic.

[MOHAMEDastanak]

a great way to APPLY a dialectic (today) is to think of it as a functional ETHOS or APPARATUS (a toolbox) to engage, and communicate with folks of like mind. Yours is the accurate academic, historian exposition-and that's GOOD for folks to know. But, with fleeting attention spans and native FEAR, its no wonder many people are following pop-stars, influencers and common social media echo chambers.

[sergioespitia]

Wow. Definitely quite specific details of philosophers points of views.

[Mortred]

"And so the dialectic progresses."

[inquistionofknowledge]

I loved your explanation, I am new to learning philosophy and this was a great starting point to developing my concept of dialectic. Thank you so much <3

[EricROuellet]

Great video. You cleared up my questions about what different philosophers meant by dialectics. Thank you for posting this.

[simranamin]

Can you please upload a video on Georg Lukacs's class consciousness and theory of novel ?

[danasheys]

Quite Clear and Distinct I will look for more of your stuff

[qhuvdzi]

On other words…
There are TWO Types of People:

1) Those who Say there are TWO Types of People;

2) Those who say there an an INFINITE number of Types of People;

3) and Those who think for themselves rather than surrender their allegiance to only one of the bubbles of the Venn Diagram of the Multiverse of their Selfness.

[TheUnusualMexican]

Hegel makes much more sense after reading Sartre’s “Being and Nothingness” LOL

[JAYDUBYAH]

How mad Hegel would have been that Marx turned his religious idealism into atheist materialism!