ABSTRACT
In response to the problems generated by this logical-historical reading of Marx’s dialectical
method, the last two decades saw a return to Hegel’s work in its relation to Marx’s writings. This
new dialectical method is variously referred to as ‘systematic dialectics’, ‘new dialectic’, or
‘New Hegelian Marxism’ (Arthur, 2004, p. 1). It finds its most systematic exposition in the
works of Christopher J. Arthur and Tony Smith.10 They distinguish between logical-historical
and systematic readings of Marx’s dialectic. While the former examines the causal genesis or
historical origins of capitalism, the latter tries to systematically represent the conceptual cat-
egories of capital as an organic totality to show its reproductive interrelations (Arthur, 2004;
Smith, 1990). Relations between the moments or aspects of capitalist totality are presented syn-
chronically. In this manner, argue systematic dialecticians, Marx followed a systematic route in
presenting his concepts by starting from the most abstract category-the commodity-in order
to introduce step by step more concrete categories, which result from the internal contradictions
of more abstract categories (Arthur, 2004, p. 66; Reuten & Williams, 1989, pp. 19-20; Smith,
1990; cf. Sayer, 1979, pp. 96-103).
