peaccenicked
11th February 2002, 16:00
Marx and Engels assumd the essentialist method ie it was so ingrained in their common sense. Religon and idealism was their main concern. Today, idealism is losing its relevence. Science has made great head way
yet even the most expert of nuclear physicists take a positvistic line where god is smuggled in the back door
and any form of universality as in Popper is reduced to
totalitarianism.
positivism.
1. PHILOSOPHY theory of knowledge: the theory that knowledge can be acquired only through direct observation and experimentation rather than through metaphysics and theology.
atˇomˇism [áttmiz'm ] noun
idea that atoms make up everything: the theory that all matter in the universe is made up of small, individual, finite, and indivisible particles.
Another useful term here
emˇpirˇiˇcism [em pírri sězzm ] noun
1. PHILOSOPHY philosophical belief regarding sense-derived knowledge: the philosophical belief that all knowledge is derived from the experience of the senses
2. application of observation and experiment: the application of observation and experiment, rather than theory, in determining something.
Marx states that "only nature is something" . it ony
states abstactions are nothing.
here is the Quote from EPM
"Hence the whole of Hegels Logic is proof of the fact that abstract thought is nothing for itself, that the absolute idea is nothing for itself, and that only nature is something.
Here is the path of Hegel from the same source.
Similarly, quality superseded equals quantity, quantity superseded equals measure, measure superseded equals essence, essence superseded equals appearance, appearance superseded equals reality, reality superseded equals the concept, the concept superseded equals objectivity, objectivity superseded, equals the absolute idea, the absolute idea superseded equals nature, nature superseded equals subjective spirit, subjective spirit superseded equals ethical objective spirit. ethical spirit superseded equals art, art superseded equals religion, religion superseded equals absolute knowledge. "
This idealism has a method of moving to understanding ever deeping ideal abstractions ie it is essentialist but not materialist.
Now here is Engels on Hegel and Marx
Hegel's dialectic is upside down because it is supposed to be the "self-development of thought," of which the dialectic of facts therefore is only a reflection, whereas really the dialectic in our heads is only the reflection of the actual development which is fulfilled in the world of nature and of human history in obedience to dialectical forms.
If you just compare the development of the commodity into capital in Marx with the development from Being to Essence in Hegel, you will get quite a good parallel for the concrete development which results from facts; there you have the abstract construction, in which the most brilliant ideas and often very important transmutations, like that of quality into quantity and vice versa, are reduced to the apparent self-development of one concept from another--one could have manufactured a dozen more of the same kind.
The important sentence here once Hegel is disposed of,
is "whereas really the dialectic in our heads is only the reflection of the actual development which is fulfilled in the world of nature and of human history in obedience to dialectical forms."
Perception is relative to the observer, but the existence of an objective world is absolute.
For marx, Knowledge moves from the abstract to the concrete,
From the Grundisse
It seems to be correct to begin with the real and the concrete, with the real production, thus to begin, in economics, with e.g. the population, which is the foundation and the subject of the entire social act of production. However, on closer examination this proves false. The population is an abstraction if I leave out, for example, the classes of which it is composed. These classes in turn are an empty phrase if I am not familiar with the elements on which they rest. E.g. wage labour, capital, etc. These latter in turn presuppose exchange, division of labour, process, etc. For example, capital is nothing without wage labour, without value, money, price, etc. Thus, if I were to begin with the population, this would be a chaotic conception of the whole, and I would then, by means of further determination, move analytically towards ever more simple concepts, from the imagined concrete towards ever thinner abstractions until I had arrived at the simplest determinations.
(It is here that Vox tries to contiminate me with thin abstractions.)
Here we see marx think as an essentialist. It is correct
to begin with what seems real .......
on closer examination a .
This is all essentialism claims as its method.
There is the central theme.
Capital begins with the commodity and ends wth Capital.
He moves from one essence to a deeper one.
yet even the most expert of nuclear physicists take a positvistic line where god is smuggled in the back door
and any form of universality as in Popper is reduced to
totalitarianism.
positivism.
1. PHILOSOPHY theory of knowledge: the theory that knowledge can be acquired only through direct observation and experimentation rather than through metaphysics and theology.
atˇomˇism [áttmiz'm ] noun
idea that atoms make up everything: the theory that all matter in the universe is made up of small, individual, finite, and indivisible particles.
Another useful term here
emˇpirˇiˇcism [em pírri sězzm ] noun
1. PHILOSOPHY philosophical belief regarding sense-derived knowledge: the philosophical belief that all knowledge is derived from the experience of the senses
2. application of observation and experiment: the application of observation and experiment, rather than theory, in determining something.
Marx states that "only nature is something" . it ony
states abstactions are nothing.
here is the Quote from EPM
"Hence the whole of Hegels Logic is proof of the fact that abstract thought is nothing for itself, that the absolute idea is nothing for itself, and that only nature is something.
Here is the path of Hegel from the same source.
Similarly, quality superseded equals quantity, quantity superseded equals measure, measure superseded equals essence, essence superseded equals appearance, appearance superseded equals reality, reality superseded equals the concept, the concept superseded equals objectivity, objectivity superseded, equals the absolute idea, the absolute idea superseded equals nature, nature superseded equals subjective spirit, subjective spirit superseded equals ethical objective spirit. ethical spirit superseded equals art, art superseded equals religion, religion superseded equals absolute knowledge. "
This idealism has a method of moving to understanding ever deeping ideal abstractions ie it is essentialist but not materialist.
Now here is Engels on Hegel and Marx
Hegel's dialectic is upside down because it is supposed to be the "self-development of thought," of which the dialectic of facts therefore is only a reflection, whereas really the dialectic in our heads is only the reflection of the actual development which is fulfilled in the world of nature and of human history in obedience to dialectical forms.
If you just compare the development of the commodity into capital in Marx with the development from Being to Essence in Hegel, you will get quite a good parallel for the concrete development which results from facts; there you have the abstract construction, in which the most brilliant ideas and often very important transmutations, like that of quality into quantity and vice versa, are reduced to the apparent self-development of one concept from another--one could have manufactured a dozen more of the same kind.
The important sentence here once Hegel is disposed of,
is "whereas really the dialectic in our heads is only the reflection of the actual development which is fulfilled in the world of nature and of human history in obedience to dialectical forms."
Perception is relative to the observer, but the existence of an objective world is absolute.
For marx, Knowledge moves from the abstract to the concrete,
From the Grundisse
It seems to be correct to begin with the real and the concrete, with the real production, thus to begin, in economics, with e.g. the population, which is the foundation and the subject of the entire social act of production. However, on closer examination this proves false. The population is an abstraction if I leave out, for example, the classes of which it is composed. These classes in turn are an empty phrase if I am not familiar with the elements on which they rest. E.g. wage labour, capital, etc. These latter in turn presuppose exchange, division of labour, process, etc. For example, capital is nothing without wage labour, without value, money, price, etc. Thus, if I were to begin with the population, this would be a chaotic conception of the whole, and I would then, by means of further determination, move analytically towards ever more simple concepts, from the imagined concrete towards ever thinner abstractions until I had arrived at the simplest determinations.
(It is here that Vox tries to contiminate me with thin abstractions.)
Here we see marx think as an essentialist. It is correct
to begin with what seems real .......
on closer examination a .
This is all essentialism claims as its method.
There is the central theme.
Capital begins with the commodity and ends wth Capital.
He moves from one essence to a deeper one.