29 An outline Theory of Dialectics. Historical forms of Dialectics. Dialectics and Metaphysics.

Dialectics comes from the fact that to understand the world at first, things should be consider in conjunction with each other, do not take in isolation and, secondly, things must be considered in their change and development. In accordance with the methodology of dialectics essence of a thing can be fully understood only when history of the development of this thing is known, reflected the development of this thing. Metaphysics is closer to non-philosophical consciousness. To think metaphysically is simpler. Dialectical method requires deep philosophical, theoretical, cultural, historical and philosophical comprehension of experience. In the history of philosophy are the following forms of historical dialectics: 1. Spontaneous, naive dialectic of antiquity (the most prominent representative -Heraclitus). 2. Idealist dialectics of classical German philosophy XVIII - first half of XIX century.(Immanuel Kant, Fichte, Schelling, F., G. Hegel). 3. The dialectics of the revolutionary democrats of the XIX century. (Alexander Herzen,Vissarion Belinsky, Chernyshevsky, Dobrolyubov, etc.). 4. Materialist dialectics (Marx, Engels and Lenin).

30. The basic categories of Dialectics.

Dialectics is based around three (or four) basic metaphysical concepts:

Everything is transient and finite, existing in the medium of time (this idea is not accepted by some dialecticians).

Everything is made out of opposing forces/opposing sides (contradictions).

Gradual changes lead to turning points, where one force overcomes the other (quantitative change leads to qualitative change).

Change moves in spirals (or helixes), not circles. (Sometimes referred to as "negation of the negation")

Within this broad qualification, dialectics has a rich and varied history. It has been stated that the history of dialectic is identical to the extensive history of philosophy.[1]. The basic idea is perhaps already present in Heraclitus of Ephesus, who held that all is in constant change, as a result of inner strife and opposition. Only fragments of his works and commentary remain, however.

The aim of the dialectical method is resolution of the disagreement through rational discussion,[5][6] and ultimately the search for truth. One way to proceed — the Socratic method — is to show that a given hypothesis (with other admissions) leads to a contradiction; thus, forcing the withdrawal of the hypothesis as a candidate for truth (see also reductio ad absurdum). Another way of trying to resolve a disagreement is by denying some presupposition of both the contending thesis and antithesis; thereby moving to a third (syn)thesis or "sublation". However, the rejection of the participant's presuppositions can be resisted, which might generate a second-order controversy.

33. The methodological significance of the Law of Negation. The progressive nature of development.

The development of matter does not follow a single path but a countless multitude of directions. It is an error to present it either as a straight line or as a circle: it is a spiral with an infinite number of turns. In this form, for­ward movement is strangely combined with circular movement. De­velopment leads to a return, as it were, to previous stages, when some features of already outlived forms replaced by others are re­peated in the new forms. This, however, is not a simple return to the original form but a qualitatively new level of development. History is a series of turns of an expanding spiral moving outwards and up­wards. No subsequent cycle of development repeats the previous one —it is a new and higher level. Such is the objective orientation in the infinite succession of phenomena and processes, in the incessant struggle between the new and the old, the nascent and the withering away, such is the dialectical path of the forward movement of being. Are there any objective criteria of development, and if there are, what are they? In the first place, a general criterion of progress is perfection, differentiation and integration of the elements of a sys­tem: elementary particles, atoms, molecules, and macromolecules. Other objective criteria are a growing complexity of connections within a system and of relations between systems; a growing infor­mation content of the system in question; and an expanding range of the real possibilities of further development. All this leads to the systems' growing stability and vital capacity. These criteria are com­mon to any level of the organization of matter, and they are concret­ized at these levels in accordance with their specificity. Thus the criterion of progress of biological forms is the level of development of organization, above all the nervous system, its adaptation abilities expressed in the wealth of interrelationships between the organism and the environment, as well as the level of development of the psyche, reflection and behavioral acts. For society, this criterion is the level of development of productive forces and labour productiv­ity, as well as the character of social relations, all of which is con­centrated in a single criterion: the level of society's development is determined by the extent to which man is raised to a higher level in this society.

Yet another universal criterion of progressive development is its accelerated rate. Referring to social life, Engels compared the pro­gressive development with "a free hand-drawn spiral, the turns of which are not too precisely executed. History begins its course slow­ly from an invisible point, languidly making its turns around it, but its circles become ever larger, the flight becomes ever swifter and more lively, until at last history shoots like a flaming comet from star to star, often skimming its old paths, often intersecting them, and with every turn it approaches closer to infinity."¹ With transition from the lower forms of organization of matter to the higher ones, the rate of development grows.

The methodological significance of the law of negation consists in the fact that it offers an understanding of the direction of the de­velopment of systems and objects both of the social and the natural world, permitting a correct evaluation of the scope, possibilities and rate of that development.