Dialectics and metaphysics as antipodes of concepts

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:43

Dialectics and metaphysics are opposite philosophical concepts, and their methods are considered the most important for understanding the world. These concepts are quite ambiguous and have gone through a certain evolutionary path since their appearance, but their diametricality can be traced throughout the history of philosophy. They consist of a combination of various techniques, which are due to general ideas about the universe. Consider what these terms mean and what are the differences between their methods.

For the first time the concept of dialectics was introduced by Socrates, he derived this word from the verb "to discuss", "to talk", as a result of which it began to mean the art of speech, argumentation, dispute. It was believed that the struggle of two views (“dia” means two, and “lekton” means a concept in translation) leads to the truth. Later, Plato developed this approach, believing that the dialectical technique combines and disassembles concepts, leading to their definition. Further, this term became more and more often associated with the study of the development of existence.

Ancient dialectics, the founder of which was Heraclitus, had a new meaning. It emphasized the constant process of movement that underlies everything. An ancient philosopher claimed thatthe fact of the variability of things contradicts the nature of their being, since a moving object exists and does not exist at the same time (in his opinion, “it is impossible to enter the same water twice”).

Currently, dialectics implies the doctrine of regularities and laws

development of society and nature, which are based on the external and internal interconnection of all things, their constant movement and development. Moreover, development is meant qualitative, that is, the withering away of the old and the emergence of a more perfect new one. This transformation occurs due to the fact that each phenomenon has two poles that connect and negate each other (for example, male and female).

Now let's find out how dialectics and metaphysics differ. Our second term initially denoted the philosophical works of Aristotle, and then for a long time it was understood as a worldview about the principles and foundation of being, which were revealed with the help of simple inferences. Then metaphysics was given a negative value (compared to philosophy),

because its meaning no longer coincided with the new views on things, and this word began to be called various statements that were not confirmed by experience in any way.

Proponents of this approach believed that all phenomena and objects are interconnected only outwardly and there is no movement and contradiction in them. They saw development only in the physical growth (increase) of the existing unchanging properties of things under the influence of external forces (for example, seeds are plants in the embryonicstate and quality, they do not change in any way). Here dialectics and metaphysics diverge in their opinions in opposite directions. In addition, the basic state of things, in their opinion, is peace, from which only outside interference (God) can lead.

As you can see, dialectics and metaphysics differ significantly in their views on development, its sources, on the interaction of objects and their movement.