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Reason in Revolt further develops the theory of Dialectical Materialism, using the most important scientific discoveries of the 20th century as a tool. First exposed by Marx and Engels, Dialectical Materialism is a comprehensive methodology explaining the unity of the laws that govern nature, science and society, from evolution to chaos theory, nuclear physics to childhood development. First published in 1995 to coincide with Engel's centenary, Reason in Revolt has had a great success around the world. It has been published in Spanish, Italian, Greek, Turkish, Urdu, and is now being translated into German and Flemish. The Spanish edition recently went into its second edition. To date, no one has found serious fault with the science of the book. And every new discovery of science serves to confirm the statement of Engels, that "in the last analysis, Nature works dialectically."
E-Book Content
REASON IN REVOLT
REASON IN REVOLT DIALECTICAL PHILOSOPHY AND
MODERN SCIENCE Volume I
Ted Grant & Alan Woods
Algora Publishing New York
© 2002 by Algora Publishing. All Rights Reserved. www.algora.com No portion of this book (beyond what is permitted by Sections 107 or 108 of the United States Copyright Act of 1976) may be reproduced by any process, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form, or by any means, without the express written permission of the publisher. ISBN: 0-87586-156-3 (softcover) ISBN: 0-87586-157-1 (hardcover) Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data: 2002014693 Grant, Ted. Reason in revolt : dialectical philosophy and modern science / Ted Grant, Alan Woods. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references. ISBN 0-87586-157-1 (alk. paper) — ISBN 0-87586-156-3 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Communism and science. 2. Dialectical materialism. I. Woods, Alan. II. Title. HX541 .G736 2002 335.4'112—dc21 2002014693
Printed in the United States
TABLE of CONTENTS
AUTHOR’S PREFACE TO THE NORTH AMERICAN EDITION Marxism and the United States
1 1
The Importance of Dialectics
2
Marxism and Religion
4
The Big Bang
5
Marxism and the Future
7
Authors’ Foreword
11
Engels’ Role
12
PART ONE: REASON AND UNREASON
15
1. Introduction
15
Lag in Consciousness
16
“Reason Becomes Unreason”
19
Science and the Crisis of Society
22
2. Philosophy and Religion
25
Do We Need Philosophy?
25
Role of Religion
27
Division of Labor
32
Materialism and Idealism
35 VII
3. Dialectical Materialism
39
What is Dialectics?
39
“Everything Flows”
41
Quantity and Quality
43
Mendeleyev’s Periodic Table
46
Phase Transitions
49
The Electromagnetic Spectrum
51
Order Out of Chaos
51
Whole and Part
54
Complex Organisms
56
The Molecular Process of Revolution
59
The Unity and Interpenetration of Opposites
61
Positive and Negative
63
Nuclear Fission
65
Polar Opposites?
66
Attraction and Repulsion
68
The Dialectics of Capital
73
4. Formal Logic and Dialectics
77
What is a Syllogism?
81
Does Logic Teach How to Think?
84
Limits of the Law of Identity
85
Logic and the Subatomic World
91
Modern Logic
93
Notes Part One
97
PART TWO: TIME, SPACE AND MOTION
99
5. Revoluti