Jim Farmelant :
As far as I can tell the term "dialectical materialism" was first
coined by the German worker Josef Dietzgen, who had independently
arrived at political and philosophical views that were akin
to those of Marx and Engels. Plekhanov is usually credited
as having been responsible for popularizing the term
around 1890 as a designation for the philosophical
outlook that was attributed to Marx and Engels. So
I think the part of the article that ascribes the term to
Plekhanov ought to be cleaned up, although that
seems to be a mistake that one can find in lots
of respectable books.
^^^^
CB: I believe Engels does use "materialist dialectics". I can look it up
easily enough. It's in _Ludwig Feuerbach_. Here it is.
And this _materialist dialectic_ (emphasis added -CB), which for years has
been our best working tool and our sharpest weapon, was, remarkably enough,
discovered not only by us but also, independently of us and even of Hegel,
by a German worker, Joseph Dietzgen. (2)
^^^
CB: I believe "materialist dialectic" is Engels' formulation. The above is
in the larger paragraph copied below.
Hegel was not simply put aside. On the contrary, a start was made from his
revolutionary side, described above, from the dialectical method. But in its
Hegelian form, this method was unusable. According to Hegel, dialectics is
the self-development of the concept. The absolute concept does not only
exist - unknown where - from eternity, it is also the actual living soul of
the whole existing world. It develops into itself through all the
preliminary stages which are treated at length in the Logic and which are
all included in it. Then it "alienates" itself by changing into nature,
where, unconscious of itself, disguised as a natural necessity, it goes
through a new development and finally returns as man's consciousness of
himself. This self-consciousness then elaborates itself again in history in
the crude form until finally the absolute concept again comes to itself
completely in the Hegelian philosophy. According to Hegel, therefore, the
dialectical development apparent in nature and history - that is, the causal
interconnection of the progressive movement from the lower to the higher,
which asserts itself through all zigzag movements and temporary
retrogression - is only a copy [Abklatsch] of the self-movement of the
concept going on from eternity, no one knows where, but at all events
independently of any thinking human brain. This ideological perversion had
to be done away with. We again took a materialistic view of the thoughts in
our heads, regarding them as images [Abbilder] of real things instead of
regarding real things as images of this or that stage of the absolute
concept. Thus dialectics reduced itself to 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 substance, but differ in their expression in so
far as the human mind can apply them consciously, while in nature and also
up to now for the most part in human history, these laws assert themselves
unconsciously, in the form of external necessity, in the midst of an endless
series of seeming accidents. Thereby the dialectic of concepts itself became
merely the conscious reflex of the dialectical motion of the real world and
thus the dialectic of Hegel was turned over; or rather, turned off its head,
on which it was standing, and placed upon its feet. And this materialist
dialectic, which for years has been our best working tool and our sharpest
weapon, was, remarkably enough, discovered not only by us but also,
independently of us and even of Hegel, by a German worker, Joseph Dietzgen.
(2)
Dietzgen lived in St. Petersburg for a while. Bertell Ollman essays Dietzgen
in _Alienation_ and Dietzgen lived in the U.S. ! In New York and Chicago !
He lived in Chicago in the May Day era.
Dietzgen is:
2) See Das Wesen der menschlichen Kopfarbeit, dargestellt von einem
Handarbeiter [The Nature of Human Brainwork, Described by a Manual Worker].
Hamburg, Meissner.
Joseph Dietzgen
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Joseph DietzgenJoseph Dietzgen (December 1828 - 1888) was a socialist and
marxist philosopher.
He was born in Blankenberg near Siegburg, Germany. He was, like his father,
a tanner by profession. Entirely self-educated, he developed the notion of
dialectical materialism independently from Marx and Engels. Ludwig
Feuerbach's works had a great influence on his early theories.
He spent some time in the U.S. from 1849 to 1851 and again from 1859 to
1861. From 1864 to 1868, he lived in St. Petersburg, where he was headmaster
in the state tannery. Back in Germany, he met Marx in 1869. In 1881, he ran
for the elections of the German Reichstag (the parliament), but emigrated in
1884 to New York City. He moved to Chicago two years later, where he became
editor at the Arbeiterzeitung.
"For my part, I lay little stress on the distinction, whether a man is an
anarchist or a socialist, because it seems to me that too much weight is
attributed to this difference." In this he acted to reconcile marxists and
anarchists - see Anarchism and Marxism.
He died whilst at home smoking a cigar. he had taken a stroll in Lincoln
Park, and was have a political discussion in a "vivacious and excited"
manner about the "imminent collapse of capitalist production". He stopped in
mid-sentence with his hand in the air - dead of paralysis of the heart.
His grave is at Waldheim a few feet away from the Haymarket Martyrs.
[edit]
External links
Joseph Dietzgen Archive
This biography of an academic is a stub. You can help by expanding it.
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Dietzgen";
Categories: Academic biography stubs | 1828 births | 1888 deaths | Marxist
theorists
PS French Encyclopedists were materialists
CB
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