Lenin and the Practice of Dialectical Thinking

Datos Bibliográficos

ID10487553
AutoresRupprecht Mayer (0000-0002-3587-204X, Loyola University Chicago, autor de correspondencia), Robert Mayer (Department of Political Science Loyola University Chicago 6525 North Sheridan Road Chicago, IL 60626-5385)
Año1999
Volumen63
Número1
Páginas40-62
Fecha de publicación1999-01-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaScience & Society (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0036-8237 • E-ISSN: 1943-2801
EditorialGuilford Press (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/003682379906300103
OpenAlexW178680864
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas5
Referencias citadas7

What did Lenin mean when he claimed to be think-ing dialectically about questions of political practice? Renewed interest has been expressed in this subject, but the tendency of most studies is to treat Lenin's dialectic as a metaphysical doctrine consisting of universal laws such as transformation into opposite, and so forth. Emphasizing Lenin's Hegel Notebooks , commentators have argued that his tactical innovations after 1914 were simply applications of these dialectical laws. Examination of Lenin's conception of the dialectic as set forth in his tactical writings after the turn of the century shows, however, that the Leninist practice of dialectical thinking was in fact the very antithesis of metaphysical reason, because it repudiated the universality of abstract rules in the formulation of tactics. Several examples of this practice are ex-amined, including the case of national self-determination and the problem of party dictatorship over the working class

Dialectic · Epistemology · Psychoanalysis · Sociology · Critical Theory and Philosophy · Philosophy · Political Economy and Marxism · Political theory and Gramsci · Psychology