DIALECTICAL MATERIALISM

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in logic, "dialectic" is the action and reaction between opposites, out of which a new synthesis (harmony of the two opposites) emerges. This was an idea originated by the German philosopher Georg Wilhelm Hegel (1770 - 1831). "Materialism" is a philosophy which maintains that there is nothing in the universe but matter, that mind is a phenomenon of matter, and that there is no ground for assuming a spiritual first cause. "Dialectical materialism" was an adaptation of these ideas by German revolutionary leader and founder of modern socialism Karl Marx (1818 - 83) into his own "general laws of motion which govern the evolution of nature and society." He held that a conflict of opposites in human society is the evolutionary process by which a classless society would eventually b e reached. —Fundamentals of Thought Glossary Final approval 5.2.90