The principle of contradiction : on the theory of dialectical materialism

Conze’s monograph The Principle of Contradiction: On the Theory of Dialectical Materialism is his most important philosophical work and the foundation for his later publications as a Buddhist scholar and translator. The openly Marxist work was published under considerable risk to both printer and author alike in December 1932 in Hamburg, Germany. Only months later, in May 1933, almost all of the five hundred copies of the first edition were destroyed during the Nazi book burning campaign. It is only now, more than eighty years later, that Conze’s key philosophical work is made available to a broad audience in this English translation. In the work, Conze sets out to develop a detailed account of the historical and material conditions that support the emergence, production, and transmission of theoretical knowledge as exemplified by the principle of contradiction and, furthermore, to show that under different social and historical conditions the allegedly necessary truth and indubitable content of the principle would dissolve and be replaced by a radically different understanding of the principle of contradiction a dialectic understanding of the principle that would compel a rejection of the Aristotelian dogma. From a Marxist perspective, the analysis and critique of the principle of contradiction is a crucial and necessary step towards a dialectical understanding of philosophical (and political) theory and practice. Conze’s monograph, which attempts to clear the ground for a deeper understanding of the very foundation of classical Marxist thought, may very well be the most comprehensive Marxist critique of the Aristotelian principle of contradiction available to this day. However, Conze’s pioneering 1932 monograph goes well beyond the constraints of an orthodox Marxist analysis. His erudite and scholarly account of the history and evolution of the principle of contradiction illuminates the thought of Aristotle, Marx, and Buddha, and provides the groundwork for a new cross-cultural and interdisciplinary approach to philosophical theory and practice. -- Provided by publisher Contents Foreword: Edward Conze and the Law of Non-Contradiction Graham Priest Notes Acknowledgments Introduction: Aristotle, Marx, Buddha: Edward Conze’s Critique of the Principle of Contradiction Biographical and Philosophical Background Universities Der Satz vom Widerspruch and the Rise of Nazi Germany From Aristotle to Marx to Buddha Aristotle: Being and Non-Contradiction Formulations of the Principle Now and Then: Aristotle’s Principle of Contradiction in the Rearview Mirror Marx: Dialectic Materialism and the Sociology of Knowledge History of Logic Sociology of Knowledge Buddha: Armies of Revolutionary Bodhisattvas Notes Der Satz vom Widerspruch Table of Contents Abbreviations 1 The Formulation of the Principle of Contradiction and Its Psychological Realization § 1. The Formulation of the Principle of Contradiction §2. The Psychological Version of the Principle of Contradiction I. Statement of the Conditions under which the Principle of Contradiction Applies to Psychical Processes n. First Condition for the Validity of the Principle of Contradiction regarding Psychical Processes IV. Third Condition V. Formulation of the Psychological Principle of Contradiction VI. The Necessity of Going Beyond the Psychological Version §3. The Logical Version of the Principle of Contradiction I. Clarification of the Formulation n. The Principle of Contradiction as the Law of Propositions IU. Meaning of the Copula and the Ontological Content of Propositions IV. Proposition and Sentence §4. The Object-Theoretical Version of the Principle of Contradiction §5. The Ontological Formulation of the Principle of Contradiction Addendum 1: The Significance of the Principle of Contradiction for the Construction of Thoughts Addendum 2: The Principle of Contradiction and the Principle of the Excluded Third Chapter One Notes 2 The Principle of Contradiction and the Principle of Identity §1 . Historical Introduction §2 . The Principle of Identity as Law of Thought L The Principle of Determinate Identity (PDI) §3. The Principle of Identity as Law of Being H. The Principle of Persistent Identity (PPI) HL The Principle of Objective Identity (POI) IV. The Principle of Self-Preserving Identity V The Principle of Determinate Identity VI. The Exclusion of Multi-Presence as an Aspect of the Principle of Identity §4. The Principle of Identity as Postulate of Man I. The Ethical Preference of Identity II. The Homogeneity of Cognizer and Cognized B. Three Forms of the Parallel Movement of Logos and Ethos III. The Principle of Persistent Identity IV. The Principle of Determinate Identity Chapter Two Notes 3 Arguments for the Validity of the Principle of Contradiction §1 . The Principle of Contradiction as Unprovable and Irrefutable Principle I. Proof from Evidence IL The Principle of Contradiction Is Innate with the Idea of Being §2. The Definitional Interpretation §3. The Nominalist Inductive Justification of the Principle of Contradiction I. The Nominalist and Realist Form of the Inductive Justification of the Principle of Contradiction IL Nominalism Is a Bourgeois Ideology IIL The Idea of Chaos IV. The Principle of Economy §4 Evolutionist-Biological Interpretations I. The Development of the Theory according to Spencer, James, and Others IL Thinking as a Weapon III. Discussion of the Evolutionist Claims §5 . The Justification of the Principle of Contradiction from Practical Activity I. Aristotle IL The Pragmatists III. The Concept of Practical Activity Supporting the Principle of Contradiction A. It Is Insufficiently Determined by Pragmatists §6 The Sociological Interpretation of the Principle of Contradiction I. Summary and Problems IL The Social Foundations of Logical Thought III. The Social Foundations of the Psychical and Ethical Particularities that Are Presupposed by the Principle of Contradiction IV. Socially Isolated Types V. Man as a Socially Laboring Life Form Chapter Three Notes Epilogue Herbert Marcuse Bibliography Index of Persons Contributors