Reason in Revolt: Dialectical Philosophy and Modern Science

Ted Grant9780875861586, 087586158X, 087586239X

The dialectical materialism of Marx is not only a useful philosophical method for understanding the processes of society, but is also a powerful tool for the assessment of the scientific method, according to Marxists Grant and Woods. In this first volume of their work, they explain the philosophical basis of dialectical materialism and defend its practice using examples from current work in formal logic and physics. They suggest that just as science provides confirmation of dialectical materialism, so dialectical materialism helps demonstrate where science has lost its way. They are especially critical of the injection of mysticism into current works of theoretical physics.

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Table of contents :
to the second volume of the American edition……Page 12
Materialism Versus Mysticism……Page 13
Science and Philosophy……Page 14
Dialectics and Chaos Theory……Page 16
Dialectics and the World Today……Page 18
A Turning Point in History……Page 19
Marxism and the USA……Page 20
10. The Dialectics of Geology……Page 22
Wegener’s Theory……Page 24
What are Plate Tectonics?……Page 27
Earthquakes and the Genesis of Mountains……Page 30
Subterranean Processes……Page 32
Oparin and Engels……Page 34
How Did Life Arise?……Page 37
The Revolutionary Birth of Life……Page 40
Early Life Forms……Page 44
Photosynthesis and Sexual Reproduction……Page 47
The Cambrian Explosion……Page 49
Plants and Animals……Page 52
Mass Extinctions……Page 56
The Epoch of the Dinosaurs – the Mesozoic (850-65 million year ago)……Page 57
Why did the Dinosaurs Disappear?……Page 59
The Cosmic Terrorist – or How Not to Make a Hypothesis……Page 60
The Revolutionary Birth of Man……Page 63
Role of Toolmaking……Page 67
Social Organization……Page 71
Hypotheses on Human Development……Page 74
Engels and Human Origins……Page 77
Can Apes Make Tools?……Page 79
Humans and Language……Page 81
The Brain Puzzle……Page 85
The Mind – a Machine?……Page 86
What is the Brain?……Page 88
Evolution of the Brain……Page 90
Importance of Speech……Page 93
Eyes, Hand and Brain……Page 96
Vygotsky and Piaget……Page 99
The Emergence of Language……Page 104
Socialization of Thought……Page 107
Darwin’s Gradualism……Page 111
No Progress?……Page 114
Marxism and Darwinism……Page 117
Darwin and Malthus……Page 119
Social Darwinism……Page 124
Genetics……Page 126
Genes and Environment……Page 128
“Intelligence” and Genes……Page 131
IQ Testing……Page 133
Eugenics……Page 136
Crime and Genetics……Page 138
Racism and Genetics……Page 141
The Selfish Gene……Page 143
The Future of Genetics……Page 150
NOTES PART THREE……Page 153
16. Does Mathematics Reflect Reality?……Page 156
Contradictions in Mathematics……Page 159
Does the Infinite Exist?……Page 161
The Calculus……Page 163
Crisis of Mathematics……Page 166
Chaos and Complexity……Page 169
Mandelbrot’s Fractals……Page 172
Quantity and Quality……Page 174
17. Chaos Theory……Page 178
Division of Labor……Page 180
Chaos and Dialectics……Page 184
18. The Theory of Knowledge……Page 186
What Is the Scientific Method?……Page 190
Limits of Empiricism……Page 193
Prejudice Against Dialectics……Page 195
Stalinist Caricature……Page 200
Capitalism in a Blind Alley……Page 203
Contradictions Remain……Page 205
The Scourge of Unemployment……Page 208
Alienation……Page 209
Marx and Alienation……Page 213
Morality……Page 215
Limitless Possibilities……Page 221
Back to the Future?……Page 223
Socialism and Aesthetics……Page 226
“Thinkers” and “Doers”……Page 229
Humanity and the Universe……Page 231
NOTES PART FOUR……Page 235
Bibliography……Page 238
Glossary of Terms……Page 242