Philosophy: Truth and Dialectics

Dialectics

• an act of refutation

• Original work of Hegel

• A process to bring forth change

• Karl Marx got the idea from Hegel

• a philosophy that explains change motion and development.

Greek noun for dialogos

• the art of argumentation/refutation (dialectike techne)

• from the verb dialegesthai, meaning "to enter into a conversation."

  • is derived from this verb as well, but in the case of Socratic dialectic the relevant Greek term is elegkhos (elenchus).

Elenchus

• means testing, and since those tested by

  Socratic questioning are often shown inadequate in their responses, it comes to mean refutation.

Thesis

• The currently perceived truth

• Starting point/status quo

Antithesis

• opposing point of view

• Mechanism for change (opposing group, ideas, people)

Synthesis

• When thought tries to reconcile thesis with antithesis

• Progress

Industrial Revolution

• refers to the rapid changes in the organization of manufacturing industry that transformed countries from rural agricultural to urban industrial economies.

• It began in the late 18th century in the Midlands area of England,