Marxist Systems Thinking and the Categorization of Materialist Dialectic

In this paper, I consider the relationship between the systematicity of Marxism and the attempts to analyse materialist dialectic in terms of categories and laws.Is the categorization of materialist dialectic a necessary outcome of the scientific character of Marxist thought and a confirmation of that scientificity?Or is Marxism a systemic mode of thought precisely because it rests on conceptions of dialectic and materialism that are expressed through general laws and all-encompassing categories?At the heart of the problem lies the connection between the ideas of "system" and "science," which was already emphasized by Kant and Hegel, whose works famously highlight the concept of "category".Starting with this debate, I focus on the thesis that Marxism is a system composed of interconnected subsystems, and I present an account that unifies three complementary interpretations of Marxism.Then, I highlight the interrelations between systemic philosophy, Marxism, and various layers and applications of the systems paradigm.Subsequently, I tackle selected aspects of the question of the categories of materialist dialectic based on the categorization attempts undertaken by Sovient Marxist categoricians.The suggestion that Marxism should be considered as an open system is formulated by means of a call for an open categorization of materialist dialectic that admits the primacy of the category of praxis

Categorization · Dialectic · Dialectical materialism · Marxist philosophy · Materialism · Systems thinking · Critical Theory and Philosophy · Philosophy and History of Science · Political Economy and Marxism