>>Russ,
>
>
>If you don't mind, can you give me a brief explanation of the difference
>between the two?
>
>Thanks
>
>Pete
Hi Pete,
Okey doke. This is an old hot chestnut for Thaxians and one that sharply
divides us!
Raymond Williams summarises it nicely:
'Historical materialism refers to human activity, dialectical materialism to
universal process'
_Keywords_ p200
See also Bhaskar in Bottomore (ed) _A Dictionary of Marxist Thought_ and
_Dialectics, the Pulse of Freedon_.
But when Hugh gobs:
>Because the really sick thing about what Simon and Russ are saying >is the
>implication that they are totally against the spirit of >Marx's thought.
>This is just so much nonsense.
His implication is indeed nonsense. Marx takes a dialectical approach to his
subject, he does not postulate the existence of dialectical process
independent of this human engagement.
>Now if any of you cleverclogs's can show me a single quote in which >Engels
>or Lenin or Trotsky claim that dialectical materialism is a >finished body
>of philosophical doctrine, or that their own >contributions to its first
>steps are more than just that, then we >might have a discussion.
'the science of the general laws of motion, both of the external world and
of human thought - two sets of laws which are identical in their substance
but differ in their expression.'
Engels _Essay on Feuerbach_
Can there be unfinished laws?
Russ
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