Dialectics is a word originating from the Greek term dialektiké and means the art of dialogue, the art of debate, in persuade or reason.
Dialectics is a debate where there are different ideas, where a position is defended and contradicted right after. For the Greeks, dialectics was separating facts, dividing ideas in order to be able to debate them more clearly.
Dialectics is also a way of philosophizing, and its concept has been debated for decades by several philosophers, such as Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Hegel, Marx, and others. Dialectics is the power of argument.
It is intended to arrive at the truth through the counterposition and reconciliation of contradictions. Dialectics proposes a method of thinking that is based on the contradictions between unity and multiplicity; the singular and the universal; the movement of immobility.
Plato's Dialectic
For Plato, dialectics is the movement of the spirit, it is synonymous with philosophy, it is an effective method to bring individual ideas closer to universal ideas. Plato said that dialectics is the art and technique of questioning and answering something.
Hegelian dialectics
According to the German philosopher Hegel, dialectics is the law that determines and establishes the self-manifestation of the absolute idea.
For Hegel, dialectics is responsible for the movement in which:
- an idea comes out of itself (thesis);
- to be something else (antithesis);
- then it returns to its identity, becoming more concrete (synthesis).
Despite this, Hegel also claims that dialectics is not just a method, but consists of the philosophical system itself. According to the philosopher, it is not possible to separate the method from the object, because the method is the object in motion.
The Hegelian dialectic is very important in existential philosophy and other areas such as evangelical theology.
Marxist Dialectics
According to Marx and Engels, dialectics is thought and reality simultaneously, that is, reality is understood through its contradictions.
For Marxist dialectics, the world can only be understood as a whole, based on a dialectical thought that considers the existing contradictions.
Marx and Engels changed Hegel's concept, and introduced a new concept, the materialist dialectic. According to theory, historical movements take place according to the material conditions of life, modes of production and class struggle.
Socrates' Dialectics
Socrates created a dialectical method divided into two parts: irony and maieutics. Socrates said that his dialectical method was like childbirth, that dialectics was “giving birth” to ideas, helping the emergence of new knowledge.
Learn more about meaning of Socrates' Dialectics (Maieutics).
Aristotle's Dialectic
For Aristotle, dialectics was a rational process, the logical probability of things, something that is acceptable to everyone, or at least the majority.
Kant continued with Aristotle's theory, saying that dialectics is actually a logic of appearances, as it is based on subjective principles.
Eristic dialectics
Eristic dialectics is a philosophical system of the German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer that differs from the dialectics of Marx and Hegel.
This expression also describes a work not completed by Schopenhauer but which was published in 1831 by a friend of the philosopher.
In this work, which became known as "The Art of Being Right" or "How to Win a Debate Without Being Right", 38 strategies for winning an argument are covered.
See too: dialectical materialism