Yes, you are correct about Engels' assertion. The question, remains, though, was diamat used in productive or counterproductive ways, in consonance with or contrary to Engels' prescription, on the part of his successors? Was Engels consistent himself in his various writings? We can examine this viz. the critical function of diamat or the constructive function. We have the historical examples of the Stalin and Mao disasters when it comes to dialectical arguments in relation to the sciences, mathematics, etc.
-----Original Message----- From: Charles Brown <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Dec 5, 2005 2:04 PM To: 'Forum for the discussion of theoretical issues raised by Karl Marx and the thinkers he inspired' <marxism-thaxis@lists.econ.utah.edu> Subject: [Marxism-Thaxis] Critique of pragmatism ............ [RALPH] I would say that the diamat perspective proved most useful in criticizing bourgeois philosophy and social theory, not so much in coming up with constructive ideas. You can see that for example in Cornforth's works. The criticisms of positivism and pragmatism are incisive, but the positive exposition of diamat is horrendous. ^^^^^^^ CB: I don't know if this addresses your thought, but don't forget, Engels announced the winding up of Old Philosophy in _Ludwig Feuerbach and the End of Classical German Philosophy_, classical German philosophy being the high point of the history of all philosophy. After Marx, there is only dialectics, formal logic and the positive sciences. Contrary to any claims that diamat is a metaphysics, it ends metaphysics before the logical positivists ended it. Anyway, the positive productions in diamat are not from "philosophy" , but from the positive sciences. Anthropology is one of the sciences. It covers a lot of the old philosophy's subjects. Ralph Dumain's The Autodidact Project http://www.autodidactproject.org The C.L.R. James Institute http://www.clrjamesinstitute.org _______________________________________________ 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