Ralph Dumain
RALPH: Well, specifically, how does the progression plant-seed-plant constitute the negation of negation? How does the physiology of plant reproduction correlate to a logical relationship? Is not the burden of proof on a person making a positive assertion to indicate why it makes sense? What could the concept of negation mean in this instance but some kind of loose metaphor? ^^^^^ CB: You start out with a seed. Out of it grows a plant. The plant is not the seed, yet it grows out of what it is not, a type of turning into its opposite. The flower grows out of the plant, what it is not. The seed has turned into a flower. Some plants even spiral up in growth :>) The ontogeny of a plant is a process with stages of development, one stage growing out of the prior stage. A dialectical logical relationship involves development, change of an analogous type. Dialectics is the logic of development. No, I'm not sure that a person making a positive assertion has the burden of proving that it is not empty verbiage, just because somebody pops up an says it's empty verbiage. Could just as easily say that the burden of proof is on the one asserting that it's empty verbiage to prove the proposition that it's empty verbiage. What you mean by "loose metaphor" is not clear. What is an example of negation that is not a "metaphor" ? In the discussions of dialectics I am familiar with negation means something turning into something that it is not. It is not just obliteration, but obliteration that simultaneously creates something new. The fact plant ontogeny is "simple" or "trivial" doesn't count against it being dialectical. As a logic, dialectics can be simple just like formal logic can be simple , as in A = A, identity , its basic principle. Tautology ( triviality) is the first principle of formal logic. That change is turning into something else that something is not is trivial, but fundamental. Complexity is not a necessary characteristic of a dialectical process. Charles _______________________________________________ Marxism-Thaxis mailing list Marxism-Thaxis@lists.econ.utah.edu To change your options or unsubscribe go to: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism-thaxis
