An Introduction to Dialectics

<p>Editor s Foreword<br /> <br />LECTURE ONE<br /> Prejudices against the dialectic <br />the double character of the dialectic <br />the dialectic as method of articulating the Ideas (Plato) <br />the order of concepts expresses the order of things <br />the vital nerve of the dialectic <br />the dialectic as necessary exaggeration <br />the positivist element of the dialectic<br /> <br />LECTURE TWO<br /> The movement of the concept (Hegel)<br />the dialectic hypostasizes the identity of thought and being <br />Hegel s dialectic as the union of identity and non–identity<br />non–identity in the process, identity in the result<br />introduction to the dialectic as a model of dialectic<br />the movement of the concept is not sophistical <br />the movement of the concept as the path of philosophical science <br />the object of knowledge is internally dynamic<br />the movement of the object is not arbitrary <br />the metaphysical concept of truth<br /> the inevitable reification of truth <br />historical movement is not the movement of being but is concrete <br />the dialectic is not a philosophy of foundations<br />the temporal core of dialectic<br /> <br />LECTURE THREE<br /> Critique of prima philosophia <br />matter no first principle either&nbsp;<br />Hegel s dialectic also a preservation of first philosophy<br />all determination implies mediation <br />the movement of the concept is no external contribution of thought <br />a sophistical displacement of meaning in Gehlen <br />the whole is the true solely as the result of all mediations &ETH; the idea of an open dialectic <br />the whole is neither a pantheistic totality of nature nor a seamless unity <br /> the truth is essentially result <br />individual phenomena only intelligible in terms of the whole <br />recourse to the whole is mediated through the self–movement of the individual<br />the concept of the whole as already given<br /> <br />LECTURE FOUR<br /> The traditional concept of system: derivation of the whole from one fundamental principle <br />the dialectical concept of system <br />determinate negation <br />contradiction in Kant <br />contradiction in Hegel <br />antithesis arises from thesis <br />the measure of the absolute lies in objectivity<br />dialectical criticism is necessarily immanent <br />refutation of a thought as development of the thought <br />the emergent absolute is essentially temporal<br />the interaction of theory and practice<br />the truth as result is concrete<br /> <br />LECTURE FIVE<br /> The charge of universal rationalization<br />dialectical thought is not rationalistic thought <br />the dispute over rationalism <br />conceptual thought is indispensable <br />the truth moment of irrationalism <br />the irrational as a moment of ratio <br />suffering and happiness are immanent to thought <br />being in itself, being for itself, being in and for itself <br />relationship of thesis, antithesis, synthesis <br />dialectical method concerns the contradictory life of the object <br />the dialectic not immune to ideological abuse<br /> <br />LECTURE SIX<br /> Dialectical method not a formal conceptual schema <br />the objectivation of truth <br />every true thought becomes untrue once it is isolated <br />the triadic schema irrelevant in Hegel <br />the charge of universalizing contradiction <br />contradiction is not a first principle <br />Hegel s critique of Kant s transcendental dialectic<br /> <br />LECTURE SEVEN<br /> Hegel s dialectical principle of development is a principle of real being<br />dialectic in Kant is only the negative side of the critique of reason&nbsp;<br /> the positive moment of the critique of reason<br />reflection as the principle of the speculative self–knowledge of reason <br />knowledge of knowledge also the principle of substantive knowledge <br />dialectic and formal logic the example in Hegel <br />logical form of the judgement and the emphatic concept <br />dialectical contradiction expresses the disparity of thought and world<br /> <br />LECTURE EIGHT<br /> Dialectic names the negative state of the world by its proper name <br />contradiction not only in thought, but is objective <br />contradiction as principle of diremption is also the principle of unity <br />dialectic as union of the a priori and experience <br />the objective order of the world also conceptual in character <br />coercive character of dialectic the systematic claim of dialectic <br />dialectical contradiction in Hegel s political philosophy <br />dialectical system not a seamless deductive structure <br />the concept of experience in Hegel<br /> <br />LECTURE NINE<br /> The paradoxical task of knowledge: identifying the non–identical <br />identity of thought and being (Hegel)<br />non–identity and contradiction not resolvable in thought (Marx) <br />the materialist priority of being over consciousness is problematic <br />the whole and the parts presuppose one another <br />the materialist critique of literature cannot proceed from unmediated instances of particular experience (Benjamin) <br />dialectical materialism is not vulgar materialism <br />the charge of metaphysically hypostasizing the totality (Weber)<br /> <br />LECTURE TEN<br /> Knowledge of the social whole precedes individual experience <br />prior awareness of the whole not unique to human beings <br />rejection of Hegel s attempted restoration of immediate experience <br />the congruence of whole and parts as result of a process <br />intuition theory neither static nor complete <br />the danger of a dogmatic ossification of dialectic (Luk&aacute;cs) <br />tracing knowledge back to origins is undialectica<br />survival of obsolete philosophical notions in the individual sciences<br /> <br />LECTURE ELEVEN<br /> Terminological remarks on the concept of role<br />neither whole nor part enjoys priority over the other <br />metaphysics as science of the ultimate ground <br />origin as merel beginning (Hegel) <br />the ontological appropriation of Hegel <br /> abstract in Hegel<br />the dialectic not a dynamic ontology<br /> being in Hegel<br />philosophy of immediacy as regress to mythology<br />dialectic and positivism <br />the natural appearance of a reified world<br /> <br />LECTURE TWELVE<br /> Affinity between dialectic and positivism <br />the constitutive distinction of essence and appearance <br />dialectic exposes the apparent immediacy of ultimate givens <br />the Darmstadt investigation motivational analysis in industrial sociology <br />opinion research, empirical and critical <br />transition from positivism to dialectic <br />contradiction in the given as the principle of dialectical movement<br />&nbsp;<br />ECTURE THIRTEEN<br /> Scientific method in Descartes <br />rationalism as the will to control nature <br />the postulate of self–evidence (Descartes) <br />a hermeneutic intervention<br />self–evidence as a form of ultimate metaphysical grounding <br />evidence of sense–perception already mediated <br />the order of knowing, the order of the known <br />experience and conceptuality <br />emphasis on analysis destroys the crucial interest of knowing <br />philosophy of nature and natural science <br />philosophy always bound to the material knowledge of the sciences<br /> <br />LECTURE FOURTEEN<br /> Analysis alone yields no knowledge <br />the universal concretized through the particular <br />attitude of dialectic to the concept of development <br />the family not merely a remnant <br />society not an organism, but antagonistic in character <br />knowledge as a continuity of steps <br />the unity of society constituted by discontinuity <br />the presumption of continuity is merely affirmative <br /> enthusiasm a necessary moment of knowledge <br />the positive aspect of continuity<br /> <br />LECTURE FIFTEEN<br /> The coercive character of logic <br />immanent and transcendent critique<br />mobility of thought is not an evasion <br />contradictions are constitutive <br />against relativism <br />dialectical cognition of the particular object requires explicit self–reflection <br />the charge of groundlessness <br />a sociological excursus on the mobility of thought <br />the substance of philosophy lies in the vital source of its concepts <br />arrested movement in Heraclitus and Hegel<br /> <br />LECTURE SIXTEEN<br /> The dogmatic character of the axiom of completeness<br />the fulfilment of this demand in German Idealism <br />dialectical clarification of the objective by recourse to models<br />′ideal types in Weber<br /> intuition of essences in Husserl<br />thinking in models <br />labyrinthine communication in literary works (Kafka, Balzac, von Doderer) <br />historical transformations in the concept of system<br /> <br />LECTURE SEVENTEEN<br /> Consciousness as unifying principle in the modern conception of system <br />critique and renewal of the concept of system in 19th century<br />contemporary appeal of the concept of system<br />the spectral afterlife of the concept of system <br />the need for system and the closed experience of the world <br />no categorical continuum amongst the particular sciences (Talcott Parsons) <br />apologetic character of the functionalist concept of system frame of reference <br />the logic of science and debased metaphysics complement one another today <br />dialectic a beneficent anachronism<br /> <br />LECTURE EIGHTEEN<br /> Dichotomous consciousness <br />dialectical mediation not a matter of Both/And <br />mediation as the critical self–reflection of extremes <br />role of Either/Or in the social sciences <br />dialectic and the negative concept of truth <br />values are neither transcendent nor merely relative<br />the criterion of truth is immanent to the object <br />the dialectic is not a matter of standpoints <br />dialectic furnishes no recipes <br />definition as logical form<br /> <br />LECTURE NINETEEN<br /> The limits of deixis and definition with respect to the concept <br />the concept is not a tabula rasa concept and constellation <br />life and fluidity of the concept as the object of dialectic <br />verbal definitions and philosophical definitions <br />philosophical definition requires prior knowledge of the matter in question <br />it extends concepts into force fields <br />abbreviation as specific feature of philosophical definition <br />operational definitions in the particular sciences<br />forfeiting the synthetic moment of knowledge <br />operational definitions and their field of application <br />dialectic as a critical mediation of realism and nominalism <br />truth moment of the phenomenological analysis of meaning<br /> <br />LECTURE TWENTY<br /> Dialectical articulation of concepts as constellation and configuration <br />the order of ideas in Plato as an expression of the social division of labour <br />the exposition of the matter in question not external<br />exposition guarantees the objectivity of knowledge<br />contradiction in the identifying judgement as starting point of dialectic<br />truth and untruth of the logical judgement form<br />subjective synthesis and objective reference in the judgement <br />an immanent critique of logic the phenomenological critique of inference <br />surrender of logical subordination as index of dialectical thought <br />is knowledge possible without assuming the identity of subject and object?<br /> <br />Adorno s Lecture Notes<br /> <br />Abbreviations<br /> <br />Editor s Notes<br /> <br />Index</p>