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This book provides a thorough and panoramic exploration of dialectics, presenting it as both a mode of thought and a method of inquiry deeply embedded in the history of human thought. Rather than treating dialectics as a fixed system of abstract principles, the book underscores both its dynamic character and its historical development. Through careful examination of pivotal moments in dialectics across diverse historical periods and intellectual traditions, the book illuminates how dialectics has continually evolved to address the pressing intellectual and social challenges of each era. By tracing the historical trajectory of dialectics from its ancient, spontaneous forms to its modern expressions, the book highlights the significant transformations it has undergone over time.
The book also addresses the growing crisis in many fields dominated by reductionist and narrowly empirical approaches, which have proved inadequate for capturing the complexity and dynamism of developmental processes. In response, it points to a resurgence of interest in dialectics as a powerful methodological alternative. A central claim of the book is that the full potential of dialectics remains largely unrealised. Far from being an obsolete relic of the past, dialectics emerges as an essential method, particularly for the study of complex, dynamic systems. Ultimately, the book reconstructs the historical trajectory of dialectics and advocates its vital role in confronting the epistemological and methodological challenges of contemporary inquiry in an ever-changing world.
List of contents
Chapter 1. Introduction.- Chapter 2. A Preliminary Conceptual Outline of the Dialectic.- Chapter 3. Spontaneous Dialectic: Insights from Eastern Thought.- Chapter 4. Exploring Spontaneous Dialectic in Ancient Greece.- Chapter 5. Dialectics Across the Middle Ages and Renaissance.- Chapter 6 Metaphysics and Dialectics: Navigating the Landscape of the Rise of Modern Science.- Chapter 7. Exploring Dialectics in Classical German Philosophy.- Chapter 8. From Idealist to Materialist Dialectics: Karl Marx's Critical Engagement.- Chapter 9. The Eclipse of Dialectics: Rejections in the Late 19th and Early 20th Centuries.- Chapter 10. Dialectic Amidst Social Transformation.- Chapter 11. The Adventures of Dialectics in Western Marxism.- Chapter 12. The Analytic Tortoise Confronts the Hegelian Serpent.- Chapter 13. Deconstructing Dialectics in the Postmodern Condition.- Chapter 14. The Return of Dialectics: Beyond the 'End of History'.
About the author
Manolis Dafermos is Professor of Epistemology of Psychology at the Faculty of Social Sciences of the University of Crete, Greece. He completed his Ph.D. at the Faculty of Philosophy, Lomonosov Moscow State University. He is the author of Rethinking Cultural-Historical Theory: A Dialectical Perspective to Vygotsky (2018) and co-editor of Revisiting Vygotsky for Social Change: Bringing Together Theory and Practice (2020).
He has authored and co-authored numerous articles and book chapters in international journals and edited volumes. His work has been published in Greek, English, German, Russian, Spanish, Portuguese and Farsi. He served on the Executive Committee of the International Society of Cultural-Historical Activity Research and is a member of the editorial boards of several journals, including Human Arenas, Theory & Psychology, Outlines: Critical Practice Studies, Cultural-Historical Psychology, and Culture & Education.
Summary
This book provides a thorough and panoramic exploration of dialectics, presenting it as both a mode of thought and a method of inquiry deeply embedded in the history of human thought. Rather than treating dialectics as a fixed system of abstract principles, the book underscores both its dynamic character and its historical development. Through careful examination of pivotal moments in dialectics across diverse historical periods and intellectual traditions, the book illuminates how dialectics has continually evolved to address the pressing intellectual and social challenges of each era. By tracing the historical trajectory of dialectics from its ancient, spontaneous forms to its modern expressions, the book highlights the significant transformations it has undergone over time.
The book also addresses the growing crisis in many fields dominated by reductionist and narrowly empirical approaches, which have proved inadequate for capturing the complexity and dynamism of developmental processes. In response, it points to a resurgence of interest in dialectics as a powerful methodological alternative. A central claim of the book is that the full potential of dialectics remains largely unrealised. Far from being an obsolete relic of the past, dialectics emerges as an essential method, particularly for the study of complex, dynamic systems. Ultimately, the book reconstructs the historical trajectory of dialectics and advocates its vital role in confronting the epistemological and methodological challenges of contemporary inquiry in an ever-changing world.
