ABSTRACT
The position of dialectics in Marx's thought is a fiercely contested issue. Some commentators view dialectics as a defining characteristic of Marxism, and vital for an understanding of the world. This chapter explores Marx's dialectical approach. The starting point of any examination of Marx's dialectics must be the thought of Hegel. Hegel's dialectics may usefully be separated out into two forms, the conceptual and the empirical. This division, it must be emphasised, is for purposes of analysis only and does not conform to Hegel's treatment of dialectics. The mystification which the dialectic suffers in Hegel's hands by no means prevents him from being the first to present its general forms of motion in a comprehensive and conscious manner. Hegel's conceptual dialectic describes opposed concepts, such as 'being' and 'nothing', united by their mutual interdependence. The rational kernel of the Hegelian dialectic centres on the three elements change, connection and contradiction.
