How to Know Things

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Further Reading/Resources:

Socialism 101 Dialectical Materialism 3-part series:

Further recommended Videos/Podcasts:

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Timestamps:
0:00 Introduction
4:15 Where Correct Ideas Come From
5:24 The Process of Developing Knowledge
7:28 Testing Out Conceptual Knowledge
9:40 Experience: Direct & Indirect
11:09 Marxist Epistemology Vs Dogmatism
14:56 Conclusion+
17:48 Credits

[Marxism_Today]

Sorry to be blunt - today was tax day and my bank balance is now down to the double digits which has to last me to the end of the month

[DeadHeadAnimation]

Whatever a socialist revolution will look like today will be wildly different than anything we've seen in the past. We all have to learn from the mistakes of our historical counterparts and do better.

Great video Paul!

[markuspfeifer]

HUGE Kudos for the self-crit!

Dogmaticism is THE major ill of most Marxist groups. I‘d hope we could remedy this by reaching out to people actually working with hard sciences, interviewing them, learning from them, maybe picking up some actual knowledge about modern science that goes beyond pop science. The way most Marxists talk and think doesn’t jive at all with the way actual scientists talk and think, it’s often just well-intentioned cringe that Marx himself probably wouldn’t approve of.

Such an approach of talking with actual scientists could have the added benefit to spread Marxist ideas in the science community - beyond the humanities. I myself am a mathematician and I‘ve successfully used dialectical thinking to make sense of certain things and cut through some crap. It’s not a silver bullet, but it does sometimes prove useful even in advanced math.

[ThePeaceReport]

I love how Marxism has infiltrated every aspect of life. Just knowing that I know that makes me know even more 😁

[MirrorSurfer]

It's becoming harder and harder to conceptualize through words how much the quality of your videos have improved and how much you've progressed in the last year. You're exactly where you need to be comrade.

Edit: a word.

[the_local_bigamist]

Mao's contribution is often overlooked I feel. The significance of a revolutionary from outside of Europe and the developed, capitalist nations in the West, making such a powerful and incredibly broad contribution to scientific socialism is historically intriguing, and it also shows how flexible and dynamic Marxism is. Not only does Mao end up offering great explanatory works on knowledge in this case, and naturally its relationship to practice, but his revolutionary action spoke for him. This is an example of how applicable and universal Marxist theory is. Also of significance is the fact that Althusser was directly inspired by Mao and had his students reading Mao, given that he not only offered a brilliant contribution to Marxism through his own work (Ideological State Apparatus), but was also such an important figure in the development of the "continental" school of philosophy, for better or for worse. The point is that Marxism is a universal, working theory, which aided the revolutionaries all the way over in China - a revolution happened, whilst in the west, the capitalist system was doing everything it could to entrench itself and destroy revolutionary movements, in the core countries of imperialism and also abroad. As well as this, Mao left a huge body of work, perhaps the most significant since Lenin's, and he made contributions towards all kinds of different issues pertinent to Marxism that are accessible as well as brilliant.

Great video, comrade.

[empatheticrambo]

This is so different from what I learned about epistemology in philosophy class - what I like about it is that it focuses on the real world and regular people in practice, not just theory

[tankie]

The footage of people dropping phones in various ways is extremely entertaining and enjoyable! 😂 Great video comrade! ♥

[ericklopes]

The conciseness and humility in your videos are both elucidative and heartwarming. Thank you for the amazing work you do.

[atiithe]

The various footage of people dropping their phones was pretty funny

[serversurfer]

_"And it's crucial to understand Marxism as this evolving, updating, and self-correcting scientific method, and not merely as just the thoughts and writings of Marx and Engels themselves."_

Yes, I often need to remind people that I'm a Marxist, so I don't believe everything that Marx believed. ✊😜

[noobunion]

"Free shipping for all *North American* orders..."
Australians, like myself:
Also, the Irish:
But awesome sponsor, think I might take a look at the continuity and rupture one
Can't wait for the Marxist Paul 21st Century Reading List

[slgnssp]

"How to Know Things - or, How to Deal with the Trauma of Having your Phone Fall"

[zbyte]

been wanting a good jumping board into Mao, and then this appeared on my feed. the algorithm knows...

[peakrules]

This may be one of the most important videos I have ever watched. Thank you.

[itsjustcris]

Just wanted to say thank you for your video on Marxism and Gender! Helped verbalize the critiques of people like Paul Cockshott and vulgar materialism, and was really helpful for my friend who’s also trans lol. One of the best voices out there on dialectical and historical materialism, so cheers from a New Afrikan and ty for your work! 🏳️‍⚧️

[jonesaffrou]

Lots of phones were harmed in the making of this video

[laurenmacdo]

excellent video comrade! always found epistemology mind numbingly boring in uni, and this was far more interesting and useful then any lecture i attended in my philosophy degree

[caramelldansen]

You just _know_ it's a good day when top lad comrade Paul uploads!

[jackm]

Wow what a coincidence. I just bought the 3rd volume of Dialectical Materialism (an introduction) by Maurice Cornforth and its titled "Theory of Knowledge". You familiar Paul? Love your vids man!