Abstract

The authors, who are lecturers at the University of Kent and conduct a seminar there on dialectical materialism, have two main aims in this book: to clarify the meaning of dialectic in Hegel and Marxism, and to urge consideration of the materialist dialectic as a living philosophy. The treatment, however, is not merely expository but also critical and exploratory. The book is a debate in five essays, two by Sayers and three by Norman, the format thereby allowing each writer to develop an argument at some length. Sayers mainly confines himself to elucidating the orthodox Marxian position and defending it against what he sees as misconceptions and distortions on the part of Norman and others. Norman provides the main interest, for although he regards himself as a dialectical materialist his views break away from those of Hegel and Marx, and he probes some of the more problematic aspects of dialectical philosophizing.