Date: Wed, 3 Sep 1997 00:23:21 -0400 (EDT) From: Siddharth Chatterjee <siddhart-AT-mailbox.syr.edu> Subject: M-I: Dialectical Laws - Ollman [From "Dialectical Investigations" by Bertell Ollman, Routledge,1993, pp. 64-65.] What are called the "laws of the dialectic" are those movements that can be found in one or another recognizable form on every level of generality, that is, in the relations between qualities that fall on each of these levels, including that of inanimate nature. The transformation of quantity to quality and development through contradiction, which were discussed above, are such dialectical laws. Two other dialectical laws that play important roles in Marx's work are the interpenetration of polar opposites (the process by which a radical change in the conditions surrounding two or more temporarily abstracted elements or in the conditions of the person viewing them produces a striking alteration, even a complete turnabout, in their relations), and the negation of the negation (the process by which the most recent phase in a development that has gone through at least three phases will display important similarities in what existed in the phase before last). Naturally, the particular form taken by a dialectical law will vary considerably, depending on its subject and on the level of generality on which this subject falls. The mutually supporting and undermining movements that lie at the core of contradiction, for example, appear very different when applied to forces of inanimate nature than they do when applied to specifically capitalist phenomena. *Striking differences such as these have led a growing band of critics and some followers of Marx to restrict the laws of the dialectic to social phenomena and to reject as "un-Marxist" what they label "Engles' dialectics of nature".* (emphasis, SC). Their error, however, is to confuse a particular statement of these laws, usually one appropriate to levels of generality where human consciousness is present, for all possible statements. This error is abetted by the widespread practice - one I also have adopted for the purposes of simplification and brevity - of allowing the most general statement of these laws to stand in for the others. Quantity/ quality changes, contradictions, etc., that occur among the unique qualities of our existence (level one), or in the qualities we possess as workers and capitalists (levels two and three), or in those we possess as human beings (level five), however, are not simply illustrations for and the working out of still more general natural laws. To be adequately apprehended, the movements of quantity/quality change, contradiction, etc., on each level of generality must be seen as an expression of a law that is specific to that level as well. Most of the work of drafting such multilevel statements of the laws of dialectics remains to be done. The importance of the laws of the dialectic for grasping the pressures at work on different levels of generality will also vary. We have just seen Marx claim that capitalism in particular is full of contradictions. Thus, viewing conditions and events in terms of contradictions is far more important for understanding their capitalist character than it is for understanding their qualities as human, or natural, or unique conditions and events. Given Marx's goal to explain the double move- ment of the capitalist mode of production, no other dialectical law receives the attention given to the law of development through contra- diction. Together with the relatively minor role contradiction plays in the changes that occur in nature (level seven), this may also help account for the mistaken belief that dialectical laws are found only in society. What stands out from the above is that the laws of the dialectic do not in themselves explain, or prove, or predict anything, or cause anything to happen. Rather, they are ways of organizing the most common forms of change and interaction that exist on any level of generality for purposes of study and intervention into the world of which they are part. With their help, Marx was able to uncover many other tendencies and patterns, also often referred to as laws, that are peculiar to the levels of generality with which he was concerned. Such laws have no more force than what comes out of the processes from which they are derived, balanced by whatever countertendencies there are within the system. And like all the other movements Marx investigates, the laws of the dialectic and the level-specific laws they help him uncover are provided with extensions (one aspect of the process of abstraction - SC) that are large enough to encompass the relevant interactions during the entire period of their unfolding. --- from list marxism-international-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu ---
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