Marx's doctoral dissertation--new edition Ralph Dumain . . . So let the good times roll.
Carroll is correct. Speculative and not empirical is correct, also. Attributing idealism to speculative materialism is an interesting way to go. This implies that all metaphysics is idealist, perhaps all ontology, sort of like the logical empiricists claimed. Given that the ancient Greeks were not in a position to settle the fundamental constituents of matter by scientific experiment, speculation--or hypothesis formation without testing, was all they had. Still, their efforts were quite bold. ^^^^ CB: Thanks for indulging :>). Why not some fun . Marx chose these two for his thesis because of their materialism, I believe. So, if they are speculative, aren't they some sort of specualtive materialists ? I guess the point is that they _were_ materialists, in that they aren't explaining things in terms of Gods or Ideas and Ideals. I guess, as with Lenin, materialism is defined by the belief in the existence of objective reality, not by empirical method of determining its characteristics. Is empiricism not essential to materialism ?! Can one believe that there is objective reality , but believe that we come to know it through, say, intuition ? That seems like 18th Century romanticism. _______________________________________________ Marxism-Thaxis mailing list [email protected] To change your options or unsubscribe go to: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism-thaxis
