game : find the synthesis

[scarletghoul]

Ok this is a game of dialectics, where one person names a thesis and antithesis, then the next poster has to say what they think the synthesis is, and then write a new thesis + antithesis. For example-

thesis: being
antithesis: non-being

synthesis: becoming

thesis: love
antithesis: hate
etc. apologies if this is too nerdy but i think it would be cool and could provoke some interesting discussions. Lets start with an easy one-

Thesis: I want to eat some chicken
antithesis: I don't have any chicken to eat

[Luís Henrique]

Thesis: I want to eat some chicken
antithesis: I don't have any chicken to eat

synthesis: buy or steal a chicken.

In what sence, however, are wanting to eat chicken and not having a chicken actual thesis and antithesis?

thesis: John is in love with Mary, so he wants to impress her.
antithesis: Mary isn't attracted to men who try to impress her.

[OhYesIdid]

synthesis: John impresses Mary by not trying to impress her.

I think Luis's options aren't fully anthitetical, either.

thesis: Sending death squads to murder entire villages
antithesis: sending a handful of assasins to kill Trotsky

[Kuppo Shakur]

Thesis: Dialectics is shit.
Antithesis: Dialectics is lame.

[Broletariat]

Thesis: Dialectics is shit.
Antithesis: Dialectics is lame.
Synthesis: Dialectics is lame shit

[Kronsteen]

Thesis: That's not what Hegel meant by dialectics.
Antithesis: Everyone thinks it was.

Thesis: It may as well have been.

[Lyev]

Thesis: Zenga has no clue what dialectics is.
Antithesis: This game is a waste of time.
Synthesis: Trash the thread.

[hatzel]

Thesis: this all makes sense
Antithesis: this makes no sense
Synthesis: see if I fucking care...

Anybody feel like taking the opportunity to give a clear and concise definition of dialectics for everybody? I know I don't, but maybe somebody else does...

[Hit The North]

Thesis: this all makes sense
Antithesis: this makes no sense
Synthesis: see if I fucking care...

Anybody feel like taking the opportunity to give a clear and concise definition of dialectics for everybody? I know I don't, but maybe somebody else does...

From the MIA (http://www.marxists.org/glossary/terms/d/i.htm#dialectics):


Dialectics is the method of reasoning which aims to understand things concretely (http://www.marxists.org/glossary/terms/a/b.htm#abstract) in all their movement, change and interconnection, with their opposite and contradictory sides in unity. From this point of view, Das Kapital is one of the best examples of dialectical reasoning. Which is possibly why you should "fucking care".

[Thirsty Crow]

Well, it'd be interesting to provide a quote to support this babbling, non-sense of a definition when applied to Das Kapital (what the hell does "capital and wage labour are contradictions/opposites in unity" or some other crap like that mean??).

[Lyev]

Well, it'd be interesting to provide a quote to support this babbling, non-sense of a definition when applied to Das Kapital (what the hell does "capital and wage labour are contradictions/opposites in unity" or some other crap like that mean??).It is not so much the content of Capital that is "dialectical", but it is Marx's approach--that of critique--that is dialectical, I would say. This text (like lots of other works of Marx's) is a critique of political economy. Poverty of Philosophy was a critique of Proudhonist (utopian) socialism and A Contribution to the Critique of Hegel's 'Philosophy of Right' was an attack on German idealism. I remember this came up in another thread:
[...] Marx didn't just "disagree" with the thinkers in these schools, he critiqued them. This word itself is in practically every title of all Marx's major works. I would say Marx's notion of critique, which is arguably an application of some kind of dialectical progression, is quite central to how we understand all three volumes of Capital or The Poverty of Philosophy, for example. It is the "tearing away of the veil" to reveal the kernel of truth which exists in every idea. The essence of truth is then subsumed in the following, truer theory that negates the previous one. This is the concept of aufheben, or aufhebung (translated as supersede, nullify, transcend or negate) which Marx got from Hegel. This notion of abolishing something whilst leaving its core intact applies nicely to the capitalist mode of production itself. The abolition of capitalism lies in its own nerve-centre; the proletariat have the historic task of making revolution, and are the remnants of the old bourgeois society that will survive on into the new society. Capital creates its own gravedigger. [...]

[Meridian]

Thesis: Some fact.
Anti-thesis: Some theoretical observation mildly related to said fact.
Synthesis: Whatever I want.

[Dean]

I don't know if this is worth keeping or not. Moving to chitchat.

[Pirate Utopian]

Thesis: Dialectics are boring
Antithesis: Dialectics are a waste of time
Synthesis: Dialectics are a boring waste of time

[Lyev]

Thesis: this thread was really bad
Antithesis: Lyev tried to bring it up a notch or two (see earlier posts)
Synthesis: so it's moved into chit-chat (?!)

:(

[synthesis]

This thread trips me out

[Broletariat]

This thread trips me out

There it is!

[Martin Blank]

This thread trips me out

Found him!

[Rusty Shackleford]

Thesis: Yes
Antithesis: No
Synthesis: Maybe

[Luís Henrique]

Thesis: Yes
Antithesis: No
Synthesis: Maybe

That's a middle term, not a synthesis.

The synthesis would be, find someway to make it "yes", taking into consideration the reasons why it would be "no" (but, really, at such level of abstraction, it doesn't seem relevant).

Luís Henrique

[Kamos]

Thesis: Yes
Antithesis: No
Synthesis: No... err, yes

[Hit The North]

Thesis: Egg
Antithesis: Chicken
Synthesis: Chicken omelette.

Nor so much a dialectic triad, more a recipe.

[Luís Henrique]

Thesis: each capitalist seeks to maximise their profit rate.
Antithesis: by doing that, they collectively make the average profit rate fall.
Synthesis: a crisis of the system.

Luís Henrique