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What's New:
September 2013
27/09/13: I have just
re-written Essay Ten Part One --
Practice And History Refute Dialectics.
Approximately
1,500 words of new material has been added (thus making the Essay just over 3% longer).
I have also corrected several errors and typos, and clarified the argument.
17/09/13: I have just
re-written Essay Nine Part One --
Why Workers Will Always Ignore 'Materialist Dialectics'.
Approximately
3,000 words of new material has been added (thus making the Essay just over 6% longer).
I have also corrected several errors and typos, and clarified the argument.
12/09/13: I have just
re-written Essay Five --
Motion Isn't Contradictory.
I have added approximately
3,500 words of new material (thus making the Essay nearly 6% longer), corrected
several errors and typos. I have also clarified the argument.
09/09/13: I have just
written a reply to a comrade who criticised my Essay on Wittgenstein --
Hit The
Bottle.
04/09/13: I have also
republished John Moran's path-breaking New Left Review article --
Wittgenstein And Russia -- originally published in May-June 1972.
03/09/13: I have just
finished and posted my new Essay --
Was Wittgenstein A Leftist?
This Essay contains
original research based into the links between Hegel, Marx, Engels, and
Wittgenstein's work not spotted before by anyone, including myself.
I explain my motivation
for writing it and why this isn't just an academic exercise in the Introduction
and Conclusion.
August 2013
08/06/13: I am putting the
finishing touches to a new Essay -- Was Wittgenstein A Leftist?
It should be ready to post
in the next few weeks.
June 2013
01/06/13: I have just
finished the re-write of two more introductory Essays: the Summary of Essay
Twelve Part One --
Why All Philosophical Theories, Including Dialectical
Materialism, Are Nonsensical; and the Summary of Essay Thirteen
Part One --
Lenin's Disappearing Definition Of Matter.
May 2013
28/05/13: At the request
of one or two comrades who are interested in my ideas, I have responded to a new
batch of critics of my ideas over at
RevLeft.
This new Essay is called
Dialectical Confusion 2.
20/05/13: I have just
re-written Essay Two --
Dialectics
-- Imposed On Reality, Not Read From
It.
I have added about
4,500 words of new material, clarified the argument and corrected several typos
and errors.
I have also re-written the
Summary Essay --
Why All Philosophical Theories Are Non-Sensical
-- correcting a few errors and, I hope, making the argument much clearer.
This essay should not be
confused with the one mentioned below. In fact, it's a summary of the Essay
below! A summary of a summary!
13/05/13: I am in the
process of re-writing the
Summary Essays.
As of this week, I have
finished all of them up to and including the Summary Of Essay Twelve Part One
--
Why All Philosophical Theories, Including Dialectical
Materialism, Are Non-sensical.
After that, I plan to
start work on Essay Twelve Part Four -- Linguistic Idealism: Is Nature
Rational?
That should be ready by
August.
April 2013
25/04/13: At the request
of one or two comrades who are interested in my ideas, I am in the process of
responding to several critics of my ideas over at
RevLeft.
This new Essay is called
Dialectical Confusion.
16/04/13: I have
completely re-written and re-formatted
The Dialectical Materialism Exam, adding
several new questions.
09/04/13: For some reason
I can't work out, the web editor I have been using for the past seven or more
years decided to scramble Essay Nine Part Two --
The Damage
Dialectical Materialism Has Inflicted On Marxism -- , rendering
much of it unreadable and to such an extent that it has taken me the best part of a
month to reconstruct it from an earlier saved copy.
That is one reason why
there has been nothing new to announce at this site for five or six weeks.
Anyway, I took this
opportunity to re-write that Essay to take account of the crisis that has been
brewing in
the UK-SWP since the turn of the year.
February 2013
23/02/13: I have just
finished re-writing Essay Nine Part Two --
The Damage
Dialectical Materialism Has Inflicted On Marxism -- to take account
of
the on-going crisis in the UK-SWP.
I have added approximately
35,000 words of new material (thus making the Essay 25% longer), corrected
several errors and typos; I have also clarified the argument.
05/02/13: As noted below,
because of
the on-going crisis in the UK-SWP, I am
re-writing Essay Nine Parts
One and
Two,
posting the changes as they are being made.
January 2013
25/01/13: The re-write of
Essay Thirteen Part Three --
Mind, Language,
And Cognition -- has just been
finished.
I have added just over
21,000 words of new material (making the Essay about 12% longer), and have
corrected several errors and typos, and clarified the argument considerably.
15/01/13: The re-write of
Essay Thirteen Part Three has had to be shelved for a week because of the
looming crisis in the UK-SWP. [On that, see
here.]
I have had to re-write
large sections of Essay Nine Part Two --
The Damage
Dialectical Materialism Has Inflicted On Marxism --, which deals
with such matters, in the light of these developments.
08/01/13: Here's a new
book out this January that is well worth checking out:
This is from the
publisher's website:
"Blistering
and timely interrogation of the politics and motives of an
infamous ex-leftist.
"Irascible
and forthright, Christopher Hitchens stood out as a man
determined to do just that. In his younger years, a
career-minded socialist, he emerged from the smoke of 9/11 a
neoconservative 'Marxist,' an advocate of America’s invasion of
Iraq filled with passionate intensity. Throughout his life, he
played the role of universal gadfly, whose commitment to the
truth transcended the party line as well as received wisdom. But
how much of this was imposture? In this highly critical study,
Richard Seymour casts a cold eye over the career of the 'Hitch'
to uncover an intellectual trajectory determined by expediency
and a fetish for power.
"As an orator
and writer, Hitchens offered something unique and highly
marketable. But for all his professed individualism, he remains
a recognizable historical type -- the apostate leftist.
Unhitched presents a rewarding and entertaining case study,
one that is also a cautionary tale for our times."
03/01/13: I am in the
process of re-writing Essay Thirteen Part Three --
Mind, Language,
And Cognition -- posting the changes as they are being made.
It should be finished
within the next week or so.
December 2012
02/12/12:
I have just finished
the re-write of Essay Thirteen Part One --
Lenin's
Disappearing Definition Of Matter.
I have added about 7,000
words of new material (making it approximately 12% longer), clarified the
argument, and corrected several errors and typos.
November 2012
23/11/12: I have just
posted Chapter Eight of Guy Robinson's unpublished book, Philosophy and
Demystification --
Philosophy In The Service Of History. This is
the last chapter of the above book.
October 2012
31/10/12: I have just
posted Chapter Seven of Guy Robinson's unpublished book, Philosophy and
Demystification --
Newton, Marx and Wittgenstein.
08/10/12: A supporter of
this site has sent a couple of letters to the editors of Socialist Review
and Socialist Worker in response to two articles about John Molyneux's
new book, The Point Is To Change It: Introduction To Marxist Philosophy.
They chose not to publish
either of them (no surprise there!). They can both be accessed
here.
05/10/12: I have just
finished the re-write of
Essay Twelve Part One --
Why All Philosophical Theories, Including Dialectical
Materialism, Are Non-Sensical.
I have added about 26,000
words of new material (making it approximately 30% longer), clarified the
argument, and corrected several errors and typos.
September 2012
08/09/12:
I have just posted Chapter Five of Guy Robinson's unpublished book, Philosophy and Demystification
--
Creating Creativity.
I am in the process of
completely re-writing
Essay Twelve Part One, which is taking an
inordinate amount of time, hence the dearth of material posted of late.
I am publishing the
changes as they are being made, but I should have this finished in the next few
weeks.
August 2012
02/08/12: A few weeks ago
(mid July 2012) a supporter of this site sent a letter to Socialist Worker,
which they chose not to publish. You can read it
here,
and then try to guess why...
In addition, I have just
found out that John Molyneux's latest book,
The Point Is To Change It, has now been
published. I have ordered a copy, and will post a few comments about it in a
week or so.
However, I have seen
advanced copies of this book, and the sections that deal with dialectics make
all the usual mistakes.
No surprise there then.
July 2012
23/07/12:
Just a reminder that the Second Edition of
The Liberal Defence of Murder is now out in
paperback, with a new Afterword.
"Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, a number
of prominent thinkers on the Left found themselves increasingly aligned with
their ideological opposites. Over the last decade, many of these thinkers have
become close to Washington; forceful supporters of the War on Terror, they help
frame arguments for policymakers and provide the moral and intellectual
justification for Western military intervention across the globe. From Kanan
Makiya, one of the chief architects of the US invasion and occupation of Iraq,
to Bernard Henri-Levy’s advocacy of 'humanitarian' intervention, The Liberal
Defense of Murder traces the journey of these figures from left to right
and explores their critical role in the creation of the new American empire.
With wide-ranging testimony from many key figures on the left, this is a crucial
account of the emergence of the 'pro-war left,' and its shaping of our post-9/11
world."
Critical comments about the
first edition:
“"Richard
Seymour's obsessively researched,
impressive first book holds its
place as the most authoritative
historical analysis of its kind."
-- Resurgence
"[T]ruly impressive breadth and
depth...[providing]...a new European
perspective -- and a warning -- on
the left's pragmatic and ultimately
short-sighted support for imperialist
adventures." -- Journal of
American Studies
"[A] powerful counter-blast against
the monstrous regiment of 'useful
idiots'" who have "contributed in
recent decades to the murderous mess
of modern times."
-- Times of London
"[A]n excellent antidote to the
propagandists of the crisis of our
times."
-- Independent on Sunday
"[T]imely, provocative and
thought-provoking."
-- Independent
"Among those who share
responsibility for the carnage and
chaos in the Gulf are the useful
idiots who gave the war intellectual
cover and attempted to lend it a
liberal imprimatur. The more
belligerent they sounded the more
bankrupt they became; the more
strident their voice the more craven
their position.… Richard Seymour
expertly traces their descent from
humanitarian intervention to blatant
Islamophobia."
-- Gary Younge
"Indispensable...Seymour brilliantly
uncovers the pre-history and modern
reality of the so-called 'pro-war
Left'."
-- China Miéville
"[E]ssential reading."
-- New Statesman
11/07/12: A character from Finland, or so I assume, is re-publishing large
chunks of my Essays
at an obscure Finnish site, [the posts have now
been taken down -- September 2012] only then to add
offensive (often scatological), superficial, and misleading comments about them.
I can't read Finnish, the language in which these impertinent remarks have been
written, but from the imperfect translation Google supplies, it is clear
that this character hasn't read my work with any care at all.
This is
typical of Dialectical Mystics -- as I have pointed out at the
foot of this page.
'He' certainly hasn't the courage to take me on directly (here,
for example), so 'he' simply snipes away at me, posting little other than abuse,
irrelevant comments and lies.
Which is, of course, further confirmation I'm on the right track...
10/07/12: I have just posted Chapter Four of Guy Robinson's unpublished book, Philosophy and Demystification
--
The Material and the External.
June 2012
24/06/12: I have just posted the next chapter of Guy Robinson's unpublished
book, Philosophy and Demystification -- 'Forms
of Life and the Construction of Reality'.
15/06/12 -- Back in the 1990s, I came across an odd article in a collection of
essays about Hegel, called 'The
Formalisation of Hegel's Dialectical Logic', by Michael Kosok. When I
first read it I concluded it was either a joke or a hoax since it was written by
someone who either didn't know what a formalisation even looked like, or who was
writing for those who didn't know and who would thus swallow any old rubbish.
Even
so, that didn't stop dialectically distracted comrades from referring me to this
odd piece of work, perhaps in the mistaken view it would 'sort me out'.
Well, I
have now published what is, I believe, the very first detailed demolition of
this 'formalisation'. Visitors can access it
here.
In
addition, Essay Eight Part Three --
Dialectical
'Contradictions' and Dialectical 'Logic'
-- where the above takedown appears, has been completely re-written.
I have added about 32,000 words of new material, clarified the argument and
corrected several typos and errors, making it approximately twice its previous
length.
Incidentally, the on-line version of Kosok's essay is riddled with typos -- many
minor, several major. In the above takedown, I have quoted Kosok extensively,
and corrected these errors.
07/06/12: Although I was aware of this book several years ago, I have just
received a copy of Radical Currents in Contemporary Philosophy (Warren
Green Inc, 1971), edited by David DeGrood, Dale Riepe and John Somerville.
This
book contains what is easily the best analysis of an obscure dialectical
doctrine, The Unity of Opposites (by V J McGill and W T Parry) that I
have encountered in over 25 years researching this 'theory'.
Having
said that, these authors have simply ignored the numerous serious philosophical problems
this theory faces, many of which I have levelled against this doctrine in Essay Seven
Part One, problems which should have been obvious to anyone who
approached this mystical 'theory' with a healthy dose of materialist-inspired
scepticism.
Even
so, I will add several comments on this article in a later re-write of Essays Four
Part One, Seven Part One and Eight Part Three.
I am in
the process of completely re-writing the last of the above Essays --
Dialectical
'Contradictions' and Dialectical 'Logic', uploading the new
material as it is being written.
In
addition to adding this material, I will include a long-overdue criticism of
Michael Kosok's misguided and confused attempt
to formalise 'Hegel's Dialectical Logic'.
It
should be ready to post in the next week or so.
May 2012
28/05/12: I have re-written and re-organised the Essay on
Wittgenstein,
adding 2000 words of new material (making it about 10% longer). I have also
corrected a few errors and typos.
21/05/12: I have now posted
another chapter from Guy Robinson's unpublished
book Philosophy and Demystification: 'Historical
and Ahistorical Views of the World'.
13/05/12: Essay Nine Part Two --
The Damage Dialectical Materialism Has Inflicted On
Marxism -- has just been completely re-written.
I have
corrected several errors and typos, clarified the argument, and added about 15,000
words of new material -- which makes this Essay about 12% longer.
08/05/12: American Insurgents:
A Brief History of
American Anti-Imperialism,
by Richard Seymour is a new book
well worth checking out, available in the UK next month.
From the publishers
website:
"American
Insurgents is a revealing, often surprising history of
anti-imperialism in the United States since the American Revolution. It charts
the movements against empire from the Indian Wars and the expansionism of the
slave South, to the Anti-Imperialist League of Mark Twain and Jane Addams; from
the internationalists opposing World War I to the Vietnam War and beyond. It
shows that there is a surprising, often ignored tradition of radical
anti-imperialism in the US. Far from being 'isolationist' in the fashion of Ron
Paul and Pat Buchanan, the book contends, these traditions were often the most
internationalist and cosmopolitan currents in US political history. The most
ambitious movements formed direct relationships with the victims of US
expansionism, from the abolitionists uniting with Native Americans to stop
colonial genocide to the solidarity movements in central America and the 'human
shields' in Palestine and Iraq. Far from being the privilege of the rich and
educated, antiwar activism has been most evident among the poor and oppressed.
It has been most militant when visibly connected to domestic struggles and
interests, such as slavery, civil rights, women’s oppression and class. Above
all, the book contextualizes each anti-imperialist movement in the evolving
structure of US expansionism and dominance, and explains how some movements
succeeded while others failed. In so doing, it offers a vital perspective for
those organizing antiwar resistance today."
Excerpt available
here.
Also worth mentioning:
Richard's earlier book, The Liberal Defense of Murder, will be re-issued
in paperback, 04/07/2012, with a new chapter added bringing the story
up-to-date:
"Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, a number
of prominent thinkers on the Left found themselves increasingly aligned with
their ideological opposites. Over the last decade, many of these thinkers have
become close to Washington; forceful supporters of the War on Terror, they help
frame arguments for policymakers and provide the moral and intellectual
justification for Western military intervention across the globe. From Kanan
Makiya, one of the chief architects of the US invasion and occupation of Iraq,
to Bernard Henri-Levy’s advocacy of 'humanitarian' intervention, The Liberal
Defense of Murder traces the journey of these figures from left to right
and explores their critical role in the creation of the new American empire.
With wide-ranging testimony from many key figures on the left, this is a crucial
account of the emergence of the 'pro-war left,' and its shaping of our post-9/11
world."
Critical comments about the
first edition:
“"Richard
Seymour's obsessively researched,
impressive first book holds its
place as the most authoritative
historical analysis of its kind."
-- Resurgence
"[T]ruly impressive breadth and
depth...[providing]...a new European
perspective -- and a warning -- on
the left's pragmatic and ultimately
short-sighted support for imperialist
adventures." -- Journal of
American Studies
"[A] powerful counter-blast against
the monstrous regiment of 'useful
idiots'" who have "contributed in
recent decades to the murderous mess
of modern times."
-- Times of London
"[A]n excellent antidote to the
propagandists of the crisis of our
times."
-- Independent on Sunday
"[T]imely, provocative and
thought-provoking."
-- Independent
"Among those who share
responsibility for the carnage and
chaos in the Gulf are the useful
idiots who gave the war intellectual
cover and attempted to lend it a
liberal imprimatur. The more
belligerent they sounded the more
bankrupt they became; the more
strident their voice the more craven
their position.… Richard Seymour
expertly traces their descent from
humanitarian intervention to blatant
Islamophobia."
-- Gary Younge
"Indispensable...Seymour brilliantly
uncovers the pre-history and modern
reality of the so-called 'pro-war
Left'."
-- China Miéville
"[E]ssential reading."
-- New Statesman
April 2012
07/04/12: I have just finished a re-write of Essay Three Part Two:
Abstract Ideas
-- Science On The Cheap.
I have
added about 4,000 words of new material -- making it about 6% longer. I have
also
corrected several errors and typos, and have updated and made the argument clearer.
02/04/12: The rate at which I am re-writing the main Essays at this site has
been greatly slowed by several time consuming debates I have been engaged in
over the last few weeks:
here,
here,
here,
here and
here.
I have
also written and posted a much shorter summary of the core argument of Essay
Twelve Part One -- entitled
Why All Philosophical Theories Are Non-sensical.
Since I
am endeavouring to make a very complex argument as clear and straight-forward as
possible, it will require several more re-writes before I am happy with it.
March 2012
12/03/12: I have now completely re-written Essay Eleven Part Two:
Dialectical
Wholism, Full Of Holes.
I have
added about 8,000 words of new material -- making it about 16% longer. I have
also
corrected several errors and typos, and have updated and made the argument clearer.
February 2012
17/02/12: Essay Ten Part One --
Dialectics, Refuted By Practice And History
-- has just been re-written.
I have
added about 3,000 words of new material -- making it about 8% longer --,
corrected a few errors and typos, updated and made the argument clearer.
12/02/12: I have now re-written Essay Nine Part One --
Why Workers
Will Always Ignore Dialectics.
I have
added about 5,000 words of new material -- making it about 10% longer --,
corrected a few errors and typos, and made the argument clearer.
03/02/12: Ok, I have now completed that major re-write of Essay Eight Part Two
--
Why Opposing
Forces Aren't Contradictions.
I have
added about 12,000 words of new material -- making it just over 20% longer. In
addition, I have
corrected a few errors and typos, and made the argument much clearer.
02/02/12: I have just re-written Essay Two --
Dialectics,
Imposed On Reality, Not Read From It.
I have
added about 4,000 words of new material -- making it just under 10% longer --,
corrected a few errors and typos, and made the argument clearer.
In the
next few days I'll be posting a major re-write of Essay Eight Part Two --
Why Opposing
Forces Aren't Contradictions.
It has
taken a little longer than I had expected to finish this Essay.
In
addition, I have
also re-written the Basic Introductory Essay --
Why I
Oppose Dialectical Materialism.
I have
added over 2000 words of new material, corrected a few errors and typos, and made the argument clearer.
01/02/12: A few years ago, I obtained a copy of Ian Hunt's Analytic and
Dialectical Marxism. I posted a few remarks on this book
here,
but I have now started to add more considered comments, aimed at showing that
despite Hunt's commitment to "clarity and rigour" in defence of dialectics, he
fails miserably to live up to both those aims.
January 2012
15/01/12: I have just re-written Essay One --
Why I Began
This Project.
I
haven't added much material (only about 500 words in all), but I have corrected
a few mistakes and typos and I've made the argument clearer.
12/01/12: Essay Nine Part Two --
The Damage Dialectical Materialism Has Inflicted On
Marxism -- has just been completely re-written.
I have
corrected several errors and typos, clarified the argument, and added about 20,000
words of new material -- which makes this Essay about 20% longer.
December 2011
09/12/11: I have just finished a complete re-write of Essay Eight Part One --
Change Through
'Internal Contradiction'.
I have
corrected several errors and typos, clarified the argument, and added about 7000
words of new material -- which makes this Essay about 20% longer.
November 2011
27/11/11: I have now finished re-writing Essay Seven Part One -- Engels's
Three 'Laws'. I have added just under 25,000 words of new
material, strengthening the argument and clarifying it extensively.
23/11/11: I am about half of the way through re-writing Essay Seven Part One
-- Engels's
Three 'Laws'.
This is
in fact a major re-write of this Essay which has up to now taken me the best part
of a month to do.
So far
this Essay about 25% longer -- at approximately 128,000 words.
I am
posting the changes as they are being made.
19/11/11: I have just finished re-writing Essay Eight Part Three --
What Are
'Dialectical Contradictions'? -- correcting several errors and
typos, and making the argument clearer. I have added about 1000 words of new
material.
I have
also just re-witten the Basic Introductory Essay --
Anti-Dialectics For Dummies -- hopefully making the argument even
clearer.
October 2011
27/10/11: I have just finished re-writing the
Summary Of The Rest Of Essay Twelve.
Even though
Essay Twelve
Part One itself appeared several years ago, last year I decided to
post this Summary of the rest of Essay Twelve (which forms the core of my case
against metaphysics, and the forms-of-thought one finds in Hegel and
'materialist dialectics') since Sections Two to Seven of Essay Twelve will not be published for many years. This
delay has created a gaping hole in my argument. This Summary partially fills it.
26/10/11: I have just finished a complete re-write of Essay Four Part One --
Formal Logic Can
Handle Change.
I have
added about 10,000 words of new material (so the Essay is now approximately 20%
longer), corrected a few mistakes and typos, and made the argument clearer and
more comprehensive.
September 2011
27/09/11: Essay Six --
The Law Of identity Does Not Preclude Change
-- has just been completely re-written. I have added approximately 7000 words of
new material (which makes it about 15% longer), corrected several errors and
typos and made the argument clearer.
13/09/11: I have just finished a complete re-write of Essay Five --
Motion Is Not
Contradictory.
As with
Essay Three Part Two, I have added approximately 10,000 words of new material
(which makes it about 20% longer), corrected several errors and typos, and have
made the argument clearer.
August 2011
29/08/11: I have just finished a complete re-write of Essay Three Part Two --
Abstract Ideas
2: Science On The Cheap.
I have
added about 10,000 words of new material (which makes it nearly 20% longer),
corrected several errors and typos, and have made the argument clearer.
13/08/11: Because it is central to some of the main ideas presented at this
site, Essay Three Part One --
Abstract Ideas 1, The Heart Of The Beast -- has
just been completely re-written. I have added about 12,000 words of new material
(which makes it about 20% longer), corrected several errors and typos, and have
made the argument much clearer.
July 2011
27/07/11: I have just finished a complete re-write of Essay Twelve Part One:
Dialectics And
Metaphysics -- Or, Lenin Thinks The Unthinkable.
I have
added about 13,000 words of new material (so the Essay is approximately 15%
longer), made the argument considerably clearer and more comprehensive, and
corrected several errors and typos.
20/07/11: I wasn't able to post much in June since I was away for a couple of
weeks and then my old computer finally gave up the ghost and died on me.
The
first posting therefore from my new computer is a complete re-write of Essay
Eleven Part One --
The 'Totality': WTF Is It?
I have
corrected several errors and stylistic infelicities, clarified the argument
somewhat and added 4000 words of new material.
Incidentally, the Dialectical Mystics over at RevLeft, who have recently gained
a majority hold over the Admin department, banned me from posting any more of my
'awkward' posts at their site. They have done this since they certainly can't
win an argument with me.
A
supporter of my site, 'LJJW', who helped me write some of my Essays, has agreed
to post there in my stead, although he will not be able to do so quite as often
as I used to.
May 2011
14/05/11: I have just re-written the Basic Introductory Essay --
Why I
Oppose Dialectical Materialism -- correcting a few errors and
typos, making the argument clearer and adding 1000 words of new material.
08/05/11: A character at
RevLeft has tried to respond to some of my
arguments against Engels's so-called "First Law" -- The Transformation of
Quantity into Quality. I have responded to his criticisms
here.
05/05/11: The central sections of Essay Thirteen
Part Three
(i.e., (3) to (5) inclusive) have just been re-written. These deal largely with
Voloshinov's confused ideas about language and cognition. I have made the
argument much clearer, corrected a few errors and typos and have added over 1000
words of new material.
April 2011
17/04/11: I have just re-written Essay Eight Part Two --
Opposing Forces
Aren't Contradictions -- correcting several errors and typos, and
making the argument clearer. I have also added approximately 2000 words of new
material.
March 2011
16/03/11: The Summary of Essay Thirteen Part One --
Lenin's Disappearing Definition Of Matter
--- has just been published. This is an entirely new Summary which hasn't
appeared here before.
13/03/11: The Summary of Essay Twelve Part One --
Dialectics And Metaphysics -- has just been
completely re-written.
I have
made the argument considerably clearer and easier to follow. Since it
encapsulates many of the core ideas presented at this site, readers might find
helps them see where I am coming from.
05/03/11: The Summary of Essay Eleven Part Two --
Dialectical Wholism Full of Holes -- has
just been re-written.
04/03/11: I have just completely re-written the Summary of Essay Eleven Part One
--
The 'Totality', WTF Is It?
February 2011
18/02/11: The Summary of Essay Ten Part One --
Practice And History Refute Dialectics --
has just been re-written.
11/02/11: I have just finished re-writing Essay Nine Part Two --
The Damage Dialectical Materialism Has Inflicted On
Marxism.
January 2011
28/01/11: I have just finished re-writing Essay Nine Part One --
Why Workers Will Always Reject Materialist Dialectics.
27/01/11: The Summary of Essay Eight Part Two --
Forces And Contradictions -- has now been
fully re-written.
24/01/11: I have just re-written the Summary of Essay Eight Part One --
Change Through 'Internal Contradictions', Refuted.
22/01/11: The Summaries of all three Parts of Essay Seven have now been
completely re-written:
Part One -- Quantity And Quality, Demolished;
Part Two -- Dialectics Cannot Explain Change;
Part Three --
The Negation Of The Negation Implodes.
12/01/11: The Summaries of Essays Five and Six --
Motion
Is Not Contradictory, and
Identity Is No Enemy Of Change -- have just been completely
re-written.
08/01/11: I have just completed the re-write of the Summary of Essay Four Part
One --
Formal Logic Can Handle Change.
06/01/11: The Summary of Essay Three Part Two --
Abstraction: Science On The Cheap -- has
now been completely re-written, too.
03/01/11: I have now completely re-written the Summary of Essay Three Part One
--
Abstraction: The Heart of the Beast.
I have
endeavoured to make the argument clearer and less repetitive.
December 2010
29/12/10: Having finished re-writing all the main Essays at this site, I am
now in the process of doing likewise with the summaries. To that end, I have now
completely re-written the Summary of Essay Two --
DM:
Imposed on Nature.
23/12/10: I have just published another essay by Guy Robinson --
On Misunderstanding Science --, an
exposition of Thomas Kuhn's work. Until Guy sends me some more material, this is
the last of the his essays I will be publish.
I am
now working on Essay Thirteen Part Two -- Dialectical Materialism And Science.
All being well, it should be ready to publish in the summer of 2012.
October 2010
23/10/10: I have just finished re-writing
Essay Thirteen
Part Three -- Mind, Language And Cognition; Voloshinov (And
Others) Debunked.
I have
corrected several errors and typos, made the argument clearer, and added about
9000 words of
new material. That Essay is now over 150,000 words long.
August 2010
26/08/10:
I have just finished re-writing
Essay Thirteen Part One -- Lenin and the
Disappearing Definition of Matter.
I have
corrected several errors and typos, made the argument clearer, and added about
3000 words of
new material.
15/08/10:
I have just finished re-writing
Essay Twelve Part One -- Dialectics And
Metaphysics, Or Lenin Thinks The Unthinkable.
I have
corrected several errors and typos, made the argument clearer, removed about
3000 words (that now appear in other Essays), and added about 10,000 words of
new material.
July 2010
27/07/10:
I have just re-written
Essay Eleven Part Two -- Dialectical
Wholism, Full Of Holes.
I have
corrected several errors and typos, made the argument clearer and added over
2000 words of new material.
10/07/10: Essay
Eleven Part One -- The Mysterious "Totality" -- has just been
re-written.
I have
added approximately 5,000 words of new material, corrected several errors and
typos and made the argument clearer.
June 2010
28/06/10: I have just finished re-writing
Essay Ten Part
One -- Practice Refutes Dialectics.
I have added approximately 2000 words of new material, clarified the argument
and corrected several errors and typos.
May 2010
21/05/10: I have just finished re-writing
Essay Nine Part
Two -- The Damage Dialectical Materialism Has Inflicted On Marxism.
I have
added about 4500 words of new material, clarified the argument considerably, and
corrected several errors and typos.
I'd like
to bring to visitors' attention to the publication (at the end of May) of a
Marxist analysis of modern Toryism, The Meaning of David Cameron, by
Richard Seymour:
"Richard Seymour,
blogger of
Lenin's Tomb fame, and
author of The Liberal Defence of Murder will be in store discussing his
latest publication, The Meaning of David Cameron.
Date and Time: Wednesday, May
26, 2010, 7:00pm - 9:00pm.
Location: Housmans Bookshop,
5 Caledonian Road, Kings Cross, London.
"The Tories are posing as a 'progressive' and 'radical' alternative to New
Labour. Drawing from George W Bush's 'compassionate conservatism', they maintain
that the 'Big Society' can do what 'Big Government' cannot -- produce a
cohesive, mutually supportive, happy society. Cameron's court intellectual,
Philip Blond, maintains that this is a viable alternative to the failures of the
egalitarian left and the excessively pro-market right. But is this more than
campaign mood music? And are the conservative traditions that they draw on
-- from the bucolic, pseudo-medievalism of
G K Chesterton to the
anti-statism of
Friedrich Hayek -- really
a bulwark of progress and radicalism?
"Richard Seymour argues that such ideas can only seem 'progressive' in light of
New Labour's acquiescence to Thatcherism. To understand the Cameronites, it is
necessary to understand how the social landscape and corresponding political
language was transformed by the collapse of post-war social democracy and its
more radical competitors. To resist the Cameronites, he argues, it is necessary
to attack the neoliberal consensus on which all major parties found their
programme."
April 2010
08/04/10: I have now published another of Guy Robinson's essays, Chapter Two
of his unpublished book Philosophy and Demystification -- "The
Concept of Nature, its Mystification and Demystification".
February
2010
18/02/10: I have now published another of Guy Robinson's essays, the
Introduction to his second book, Philosophy
and Demystification, which has yet to find a publisher.
I have
also published a reply to a comrade, who, when he is not trying to be normal,
doubles-up as the in-house Fool of the Far Left -- our old friend,
Mr G.
January
2010
31/01/10: Over the next few weeks I will be
publishing several of Guy Robinson's Essays. These had until recently
been posted at Guy's site, which no longer seems to exist.
The
first Essay -- Making Materialism Historical -- has been posted
here.
In my opinion, Guy is one
of the few Marxist Philosophers whose work is genuinely worth reading. Indeed,
I'd go much further: I cannot praise his book, Philosophy and Mystification
(Fordham University Press, 2003), too highly; it seems to me that this is
how Marxist Philosophy should be done.
I only encountered
Guy's work in 2005, but I soon saw that he had anticipated several of my own
ideas -- except he manages to express in two paragraphs what it takes me several
pages to say! Unlike the vast majority of work that claims to be Marxist, Guy's
work is a model of clarity. It is no accident, therefore, to see Guy writing in
the
Wittgensteinian
tradition.
I am posting
these essays here with his permission, but no one should assume that he agrees
with any of the views expressed at this site -- other than those already
contained in his essays.
20/01/10: I have re-written Essay Eight Part Three --
What Are
Dialectical Contradictions? -- correcting several errors and
typos, and adding approximately 3000 words of new material. The Essay is now
just over 10% longer.
13/01/10: I have just re-written Essay Eight Part Two --
Forces Aren't
'Contradictions'. I have corrected several errors and typos, made the
argument clearer and added about 4000 words of new material.
I have
also deleted a 25,000 word section entitled "What are Dialectical
Contradictions?", which was reposted as Essay Eight
Part Three
a year or so ago. It made no sense to leave it in Part Two, therefore.
December 2009
19/12/09: I have just finished re-writing Essay Eight Part One --
Change Through
'Internal Contradictions'. I have corrected several errors, clarified
the argument, and deleted a long passage that now appears in Essay Ten Part One.
In have
added about 2000 words of new material, but because of the deletion, the Essay
is about 5% shorter.
07/12/09: Essay Seven Part One --
Engels's Three Laws -- has just been
re-written. I have made the argument clearer, corrected several errors and
typos, and added 5000 words of new material.
November 2009
10/11/09: Essay Six --
Identity Is No Threat To Change; Trotsky On Identity
-- has just been re-written. I have cut a long passage that is now to be found
in Essay Four, corrected several errors and typos, and added about 2500 words of
new material.
02/11/09: Essay Five --
Motion is Not Contradictory -- has just been
re-written. I have corrected several errors and typos and added over 6000 words
of new material.
October 2009
28/10/09: I have just finished re-writing the
Summary of the rest of Essay Twelve. Even though
Essay Twelve
Part One itself appeared several years ago, last year I decided to
post this Summary of the rest of Essay Twelve (which forms the core of my case
against metaphysics, and the forms-of-thought one finds in Hegel and
'materialist dialectics') since sections Two to Seven of Essay Twelve will not be published for many years. This
delay has created a gaping hole in my argument. The Summary partially fills it.
Anyway,
I thought this Summary was badly written and somewhat repetitive, so I decided
it needed a make-over. I have also added about 2000 words of new material.
12/10/09: I have just finished re-writing Essay Four:
Formal Logic Can
Handle Change, correcting several errors and typos. I have added
about 5% of new material, or 2500 words.
10/10/09: An
old enemy of this site has once again put
himself in the crosshairs,
here.
06/10/09: The debate mentioned below has continued
here,
here,
here
and
here.
04/10/09: In the debate below, a rather irascible Dialectical Mystic has tried
to reply to me; I have responded
here.
Links
at the above page.
03/10/09: Several comrades have attempted to reply to one or two things I have
said in the response mentioned below. I have now replied to them
here.
02/10/09: Yet another
obnoxious dialectician has tried to take me on.
Anyone interested in seeing him receive a good materialist slapping should read
this.
September 2009
27/09/09:
I have jut re-written Essay Three Part Two:
Abstract Ideas
-- Science On The Cheap. Again, I have clarified the argument,
corrected a few errors and typos, and added about 4000 words of new material,
making it just under 10% longer.
15/09/09: Essay Three Part One: (Abstract
Ideas -- The Heart Of The Beast) has just be re-written. I have
clarified the argument, corrected a few errors and typos, and added about 5000
words of new material, making it just under 10% longer.
A
debate took place recently at the
Marxist Humanist Initiative site over the
nature of 'dialectical contradictions'.
The
discussion was reasonably comradely until I thought to question a few of the
things one of these dialecticians (one "Juurrian") had to say. Upon that, he
soon descended into the by-now-to-be-expected dialectical abuse, vituperation,
use of scatological language and resort to lying. My reply to him has not yet
been published (it is awaiting moderation, which might take some time since I
am told the site is being re-designed), but it can be read
here in the meantime.
August
2009
28/08/09: Essay Two (Dialectics: Imposed On Nature) has just
been re-written. I have corrected a few errors and typos, clarified the argument
and added about 3000 words of new material.
18/08/09: I have completely re-written the
Summary of Essay Twelve Parts Two to Seven; when the rest of Essay
Twelve has been published, I will split it up into more manageable sections, since
it is far too long as it is.
I have
only posted it so that visitors can see where my argument will go in the future.
----oOo----
Ok, I
have moved the entire site to this new address.
Most of
the links below now work.
In the
intervening months I have completely re-written the
Basic
Introductory Essay to make it clearer and strengthen the arguments.
May
2009
19/06/09: I have just re-written
Essay Thirteen Part One: Lenin's
Disappearing Definition of Matter. I have corrected several errors and
typos, clarified the argument and added about 5% of new material.
Incidentally, I have to move home at the end of June, so there will be very few new updates
published here over the next three months or so.
May
2009
15/05/09: I have just re-written the
Basic
Introductory Essay. I have added approximately 1000 words of new
material, corrected a few errors and re-worked the argument in places to make it
clearer.
April
2009
23/04/09: I have
just finished a long re-write of
Essay Nine Part Two -- The Damage Dialectics
Has Inflicted On Marxism --, correcting several errors and typos, and making
the argument clearer. I have also added about 14,000 words of new material.
March
2009
17/03/09: I have just received a copy of
Science & Society, volume 72, October 2008.
In this number, noted Marxist economist Guglielmo Carchedi tries in vain to make sense
of Marx's ideas on the calculus. Alas, his arguments have already been
neutralised in Essay Seven Part One (here).
This is
doubly unfortunate, since the latest edition of
International Socialism contains a
review by Chris Harman which recommends the
above article.
In view
of the
recent split in UK-Respect, the depressingly poor results chalked up by the
Left List, and the internal wrangling in the UK-SWP, it looks
like my
prediction that comrades will openly return to this
mystical 'theory' in times of defeat and set-back has once again proved to be
correct.
February
2009
23/02/09: Ok, at last Essay Thirteen Part Three,
Mind. Language
and Cognition, has been published!
It is
by far the longest Essay at this site (at over 141,000 words), hence the
repeated delays.
17/02/09: I will be posting Essay Thirteen Part Three in the next few days; yet
more delays I'm afraid. Anyway, it is now about 99% complete.
01/02/09: Essay Thirteen Part Three (on 'Mind', Language and Cognition) is
almost finished -- illness and the fact that it is easily the longest Essay I
have so far written (it is fast approaching 120,000 words) have delayed it by
another week to ten days.
January
2009
11/01/09: A couple of months ago, a supporter of this site sent a letter to the
editor of
Socialist Review
in response to an
article on dialectics
by John Rees. The editors did not publish that letter, but you can read it
here.
04/01/09: Visitors can view
here the pictures I took of the demonstration in London
yesterday protesting the Zionist slaughter in Gaza.
There
were at least 50,000 on the march, which was amazing really, in view of the fact
that it had only been called three days earlier.
December
2008
12/12/08: I have just re-written Essay Three
Part One
-- Abstraction: The Heart of the Beast.
I have
added about 5000 words of new material, corrected several errors and typos, and
made the argument clearer.
02/12/08: Another dialectical punch-up has developed at
Liam Macuaid's excellent blog. Anyone who
checks it out will see the same hackneyed examples wheeled out for the
thousandth time, the same evasive and abusive tactics, the same
scatological language.
These
erstwhile apostles of universal change are living proof that
Heraclitus got it all wrong -- they never
change.
Incidentally, Essay Thirteen Part Three (on 'Mind', Language and Cognition) is
on course to be published before the end of January. The long delay is down to
the fact that this is easily the longest Essay so far published.
November 2008
20/11/08: More Socialist Unity mayhem
here. Visitors will once again notice the same
bluster, prevarication and abuse from our mystically-compromised comrades.
10/11/08: The argument at Socialist Unity of the 7th (see below) has
kicked-off again, but I am not allowed to post
my reply there. However, comrades can read my response
here.
A few months ago I mentioned a book that was soon to be published,
The Liberal Defence of Murder (Verso Books, 2008). Well it has now appeared,
and I can whole-heartedly recommend it.
This is
from the
publishers web site:
"Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, a number
of prominent thinkers on the Left found themselves increasingly aligned with
their ideological opposites. Over the last decade, many of these thinkers have
become close to Washington; forceful supporters of the War on Terror, they help
frame arguments for policymakers and provide the moral and intellectual
justification for Western military intervention across the globe. From Kanan
Makiya, one of the chief architects of the US invasion and occupation of Iraq,
to Bernard Henri-Levy’s advocacy of 'humanitarian' intervention, The Liberal
Defense of Murder traces the journey of these figures from left to right
and explores their critical role in the creation of the new American empire.
With wide-ranging testimony from many key figures on the left, this is a crucial
account of the emergence of the 'pro-war left,' and its shaping of our post-9/11
world.
"Richard Seymour lives and writes in
London. His website
Lenin's Tomb comments on
issues such as imperialism, Zionism, Islamophobia and anti-capitalism, and
covers strikes and protests with footage, images and reportage. It has been
cited in, among others, Private Eye, the Guardian and
Slate. This is Richard Seymour's first book."
07/11/08: Over the last few days an argument over dialectics has broken out at
the
Socialist Unity blog. Several comrades there
were content merely to abuse me (for no good reason) and post 'fibs' about me
and my beliefs.
[Par
for the course, or what?]
However, before I could respond to the latest allegations about my work, the
owner of the site closed the thread!
No
worries; I have now written that response, and you can read it
here.
03/11/08: I have just re-written Essay One, which is an Introduction to this
site, and which explains why I began this project.
I am
still on course to finish Essay Thirteen Part Three ('Mind', Language and
Cognition) before Xmas.
October
2008
21/10/08: In the light of a few criticisms I have received from certain
comrades, I have completely re-written Essay Seven
Part One.
It is now approximately 15% longer at just under 91,000 words.
I am
still working on Essay Thirteen Part Three ('Mind', Language and Cognition); it should
be ready to publish before the end of December.
September
2008
28/09/08: I regularly search the internet for comments on my work. Some is
supportive, some not; but some is quite poor.
Here is the latest example of the latter. I
have straightened these comrades out
here.
24/09/08: I have now completely re-written the response to comrade Jones I posted at RevLeft,
mentioned below. I have entitled it "Engels
and Mickey Mouse Science".
12/09/08: I have just been informed that the
International Socialist Review has in fact published
the letter I sent them, in the
September/October issue, contrary to what I asserted below (entry for August
18th).
Comrade
Jones (the author of the
article that was the subject of my letter) has
responded with a surprisingly trite rebuttal.
I have
already posted a long reply to him
here; a more considered response will appear at
this site in the next few weeks.
However, anyone who accesses my reply will need to note that it was based on
a typed-out copy of the original response (by comrade Jones) posted at RevLeft by
yet another comrade (who made a few typos). I used that version of comrade
Jones's rebuttal since the link to the letters page at the
International Socialist website was not working (until I informed them of that
fact!), so I could not cut and paste his response.
That
will be rectified in the version I will be posting here.
11/09/08: In
August 2008, a supporter of this site sent a letter in to
Socialist Review. The
editor decided not to publish it. You can read it
here.
10/09/08: A week or so ago I received a copy of Ellen Meiksins Wood's latest
book
Citizens
To Lords. A Social History Of Western Political
Thought From Antiquity To The Middle Ages (Verso, 2008).
I was pleasantly surprised to find that several of her main theses amply confirm
a number of my own. One of these is summarised by Neil Faulkner in the latest
issue of
Socialist Review:
"Greek
democracy was traumatic for the ancient ruling class. Ellen Wood is right to
root her analysis of western political thought in the context of this
extraordinary historical experiment. For around 200 years, in the 5th and 4th
centuries BC, Athens and many other Greek city-states were ruled by ordinary
citizens. Major decisions -- like whether to go to war
- were made at mass meetings of thousands. The poorest hill farmer had the same
rights as the richest landowner. While it lasted, it was impossible for rulers
to screw their own people. Instead the rich faced wealth taxes and corruption
trials.
"The
Greek ruling class never forgot or forgave. They later combined with Macedonian
kings and Roman viceroys to smash democracy. This ancient class war between
landowners and peasants is the starting point for western political thought.
Other civilizations -- based on brutally enforced
obedience -- had no need for political theory: there
was a king, he was backed by god, his authority was beyond question, and that
was that. But the city-state was a community of free citizens, all doing
military service, all having political rights. Anything could happen
-- like cancellation of debts and redistribution of
land (the two great demands of the ancient left) --
and right wing intellectuals spent much time concocting theories to justify
inequality. This is the origin of Greek philosophy."
[Emphases added.]
The
main thrust of the last sentence above forms one of the main themes to Essays
Two,
Nine Part One,
Twelve Parts
One to
Seven, and Fourteen
Part One: that philosophy has always expressed the most abstract forms of ruling-class ideology.
Hence, the
importation of Hegel's philosophical ideas into Marxism (upside down, or the
'right way up') has meant that "ruling ideas" now
dominate revolutionary socialism in the form of 'Materialist Dialectics'.
August
2008
18/08/08: A few weeks back I sent a letter to the editors of the
International Socialist Review about an
article they published on Engels's
Anti-Dühring. They chose not to publish that letter.
A copy
can be found here.
The
next Essay to be published will be 13-03, Mind, Language and Cognition.
It will be ready before the end of September.
July
2008
29/07/08: The
Summary of Essay Eleven Part Two (Dialectical
Wholism -- Full of Holes) has just been posted.
13/07/08: I have just re-written
Essay Two -- Dialectics Imposed On Nature,
Not Read From It -- taking the opportunity to correct several errors and
typos, and to make the argument clearer. I have also added 10,000 words of new
material, so the Essay is now well over 30% longer.
11/07/08: Levins and Lewontin's Biology Under The Influence (Monthly
Review Press, 2007) has just landed on my desk. This book was given a glowing
review by Phil Webster in the latest issue of
Socialist Review.
However, where this book touches on dialectics, it makes all the usual mistakes,
which Webster either does not know about, or missed. I will be adding a few
comments on this book in a later re-write of Essay Seven Part One, and Essay
Eleven Part Two.
A
supporter of this site will be sending a letter about the review to the editor;
we will see if she publishes it.
10/07/08: I have just re-written Essay Eleven
Part Two
-- Dialectical Holism, Full of Holes -- correcting several errors and
typos, making the argument clearer, and adding over 2500 words of new material.
June
2008
29/06/08: I have just re-written Essay Twelve
Part One
-- Dialectics And Metaphysics. I have corrected several errors, clarified the
argument and added some new material. It is now about 5% longer.
23/06/08: The Summary of Essay Twelve Part One --
The Metaphysical Status Of Dialectics --
has just been published.
16/06/08: I have just re-written Essay Nine
Part Two
-- The Damage 'Materialist Dialectics' Has Inflicted On Marxism --,
correcting several mistakes and typos; I have also added about 3500 words of new
material.
06/06/08: I have just re-written essay Eight Part Three
"What
are 'Dialectical Contradictions'", correcting several errors and
infelicities, adding new material. It is now just over 10% longer.
May
2008
30/05/08: I have just added 1500 words of comment and argument to Note 4 of
Essay Seven Part
One, in view of the fact that my original argument had a few gaping
holes in it.
I have
also added new links to
this page, which records the many 'debates' I
have had on the Internet with dialecticians (mostly at RevLeft).
25/05/08: I have re-posted, as a separate Essay (i.e., as
08-03 -- "What
are 'Dialectical Contradictions'"), a long footnote that
appeared in Essay Eight
Part Two.
Because of its length, this footnote has in fact taken on a life of
its own. Buried
as it was in 08-02, it was not easy to access.
25/05/08: I have now published the Summary of Essay Eleven
Part One: "The 'Totality' -- WTF Is It?"
-----oOo-----
I have
been away for over three weeks, hence the lack of activity at this site of late.
The
next work to be published will be a summary of Essay Eleven Part One; that will
be followed sometime in July by Essay Thirteen Part Three: "Dialectics,
Language, 'Mind' and 'Cognition'".
April
2008
26/04/08: I am progressively re-writing
Essay
Sixteen, which is an extended summary of my ideas. Because of its
length, it has been broken up into manageable sections, each corresponding
more-or-less to one of the main Essays.
To that
end, I have just finished the summary of Essay Ten
Part One: Dialectics -- Refuted By History.
24/04/08: Because of the interest it is receiving (in fact it is currently the
most visited page at this site), I have just re-written Essay Ten
Part One,
making numerous small changes and correcting a few errors and typos.
23/04/08: Essay One has
just be re-written. This Essay explains the background to my work, and serves as
an Introduction.
21/04/08: The re-write of Essay Thirteen
Part One
(on Lenin's Materialism and Empirio-criticism) has just been completed.
I have
corrected several errors and typos and added about 3500 words of new material.
17/04/08: I have just re-written
Essay Five, since it is still attracting much
interest.
I have
corrected a few errors and typos, made the argument clearer and added small
amounts of new material.
It is
now just short of 5% longer.
I am
also in the process of re-writing Essay Thirteen
Part One,
posting the changes as they are being made.
March
2008 Latest
31/03/08: The summary of Essay Nine
Part Two has just been published -- 'Militants
on Methadone'.
This
outlines the reasons why I think dialecticians have swallowed this ruling-class
theory, and the consequent damage this has done to Marxism.
27/03/08: I have now written and posted a summary of Essay Nine
Part One: 'Dialectics -- A Ruling-Class Theory'.
24/03/08: I have just written the
Summary of Essay Eight Part Two -- Why
'Dialectical Contradictions' cannot be equated with opposing forces.
20/03/08: Over the last few months I have been completely re-writing Essay
Sixteen (which is an extended introduction to and summary of my work), breaking it up into
manageable parts.
Well,
as part of that, I
have now written the
Summary to Essay Eight Part One.
18/03/08: I have just re-written Essay Twelve
Part One,
correcting several errors, and adding new material. I have also tried to make
the argument even clearer.
That
Essay is now approx 3,500 words longer.
17/03/08: Visitors can find my pictures of the recent anti-war demonstration in
London,
here.
07/03/08: I have just finished re-writing
Essay Five
-- 'Motion is not Contradictory' -- making numerous small changes, correcting
several errors and typos, and adding some new material. It is now about 1000
words longer.
05/03/08: A few weeks ago, a sympathetic reader of my Essays added a comment
about my work to the article on DM at Wikipedia.
Unfortunately, a rather miffed Maoist and a thin-skinned Trotskyist deleted it
(the latter after it had been restored).
Apparently, such 'scientific' comrades cannot tolerate the idea that their
theory has been systematically demolished, and think that censoring me will make
me or my ideas go away.
However, the original poster has restored it again. You can read it
here (if it is still there!).
[It can
be accessed in the History section of that article anyway.]
04/03/08: The seminar in Oxford went well. I filmed the talk and subsequent
discussion, but the lighting was poor. If I can improve the quality of the video
on edit, I'll post it on YouTube.
I'll
also post a transcript of the talk, and discussion at a later date.
February
2008
28/02/08: Essay Nine
Part Two has just been re-written; I have
corrected a few errors, clarified the argument somewhat and added new material.
It is now just under 2000 words longer.
Essay Five
is still being re-written
Also, I
have just received the second edition of Reason In Revolt by Woods and
Grant.
The
chapter on logic is still among the worst I have ever seen in a book about
dialectics, even though, at my suggestion, Alan Woods has removed the syntactic
mess that used to appear on page 98.
The
book still makes grossly erroneous remarks about
Wittgenstein (among others), and it repeats all the old errors
(debunked at this site) as if they were eternal truths.
On page
101, the authors still manage to get George Boole's name wrong (they call him 'George
Boyle') even though I pointed this error out to Woods in 2004 -- just as they
mis-spell Gottlob Frege's name on the same page.
These
might seem small errors, but they reveal how sloppy dialecticians are when it
comes to logic -- even after such things have been pointed out to them!
[There
are plenty
more examples of this sort of thing
here.]
25/02/08: I have just received a copy of
Science, Marxism and the Big Bang,
by Peter Mason. While this book is a short critique of Woods and Grant's
Reason in Revolt, it is by far and away the most measured and reasonable
defence I have ever seen of Dialectical Materialism. I will add a few comments
about this book to Essay Seven at a later date.
Added later: I wrote the above after reading only half of the said
book. However, much of the second half is highly repetitive, the author becoming
fixated on infinity, saying more or less the same thing over and over again for
the next 60 pages!
I am
also in the process of re-writing
Essay Five in view
of the fact that it is attracting quite a few visitors right now.
21/02/08: I have just re-written
Essay One, correcting several errors, and
adding new material. It is now about 5% longer.
14/02/08: A few months ago, I wrote a very basic outline of the egregious
logical errors Hegel committed, which launched the 'dialectic', and which
subsequent prominent Marxists accepted uncritically.
I have now
re-written it to make the argument even
clearer.
It was
originally designed for those who found the extended argument
here,
here,
here
and
here a
little too daunting.
That
being so, the dialectic has no foundation in logic, or in fact.
It is
no surprise therefore to find it has presided over 150 years of almost total
failure.
12/02/08: After a long delay, I have finally published Essay Thirteen Part One:
Lenin's
Disappearing Definition Of Matter.
This
Essay took me far longer to complete than I had imagined!
01/02/08: The next Essay to be published will be ready to post in the next week
or so. It is Essay Thirteen Part One, which will demolish what is easily Lenin's
worst published work: the lamentable Materialism and Empirio-Criticism.
Apologies for the delay, but it has been far harder to finalise than I had
anticipated.
A
supporter of this site will be addressing a conference on the renewal of the
left, to be held at Oxford University at the end of February.
More
details
here.
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