by Devine, James dialectical thinking > is a system of logic in the Hegelian sense of the word, [which] is not "logic" in the Aristotelian or Russellian senses.<
exactly. ^^^^^ The Aristotelian and Russllian senses are formal logic, for which the first principle is non-contradiction. Non-contradiction seems to be a principle that math shares with formal logic. A fundamental form of math proof or disproof is to make an assumption and derive a contradiction. For dialectics the first principle is contradiction. So, yes dialectics is not the same as formal logic ( Aristotelian and Russellian). For formal logic , arriving at a contradiction means there is a mistake, something is false. For dialectics, contradictions can be fruitful, drive the process to finding a truth. A dialectical question might be what contradictions is Marx dealing with in the absolute general law of capitalist accumulation ? Charles
