>>> Jim Devine <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> 05/24/00 11:04AM >>>
Carroll writes"
><< I blow hot and cold on the usefulness of the term "dialectical
>materialism," but even when I warm to it I don't like to see it posited
>as *the* philosophical basis for "historical materialism." <<
Right. "a" philosophical basis for Marx's materialist conception of
history makes more sense than "the" philosophical basis. (The notion of
there being only one ("the") philosophical basis of historical materialism
seems to come from Stalinist diamat itself.) Better, there was a
dialectical relationship between the two as Marx developed them, just as
there was a dialectical relationship between theory and empirical research
and between theory and practice...
_____________
CB: By the way, don't think Marx used "historical materialism" either, so no reason to
be less comfortable with "dialectical materialism" than "historical materialism".
CB
