May 02, 2006: On Contradiction #2: More Definitions
Here are two quick definitions of contradiction and the related concept of dialectics based upon relevant sections of the Dictionary of Marxist Thought (Tom Bottomore, Ed., Blackwell 1991):
Dialectics: For marxists, dialectics can be one or more of the following: (a) analysis of a complex phenomenon by the method of abstractions, or (b) a set of principles governing some sector or the whole of reality (the most important of which is contradiction), or (c) the movement of history. (n.b. In this set of blogs, I'm focussing on the second of these definitions)
Dialectical Contradictions: In relation to the above definition (b) of dialectics, a contradiction is a situation where a social force (or perhaps a course of action pursued), generates a countervailing social force (or action) in a situation of mutual dependence or conditioning.
Comments
Very much a first impression, but what intrigues me about these definitions is their looseness. In fact their mutual incompatibility.
There's a lot of sloppiness among those who believe themselves to be working in the "Marxist" tradition. There's a sense in which one part of Althusser's project was to try to encourage people to tighten up -- the battle cry of "rigor", I guess. Posts like this are a great help because they point out the areas where improvement seems to be in order!
Posted by: Mark Phillips | May 2, 2006 06:39 PM
Its true! According to the article in the Dictionary of Marxist Thought (by Roy Bhaskar) the concept of dialectic has a long and winding history of meanings, all the way from the ancient Greeks to Luckas and Adorno. By the way, some of the sloppiness may be due to my rendering of what was said in the dictionary!
Posted by: Emmett | May 3, 2006 11:38 AM
I don't think the sloppiness is yours. Rather that of the "Marxist" tradition. Althusser and his colleagues did a lot of work to disentangle Marx's own use of dialectical logic from the myths of later "Marxists". FWIW, that seems to me to be the strongest starting point for new work.
Posted by: Mark Phillips | May 3, 2006 12:01 PM