Library:Fundamental principles of philosophy

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Foreword

Introduction

What is philosophy?

Why do we need to study philosophy?

What philosophy should we study?

A scientific philosophy: dialectical materialism

A revolutionary philosophy: the philosophy of the proletariat

Conclusion: unity of theory and practice

Study of the marxist dialectical method

The dialectical method

What is a method?

The metaphysical method

Its characters

Its historical significance

The dialectical method

Its characters

Its historical background

Formal logic and dialectical method

Traits of dialectics

Everything is connected (law of reciprocal action and universal connection)

An example

The first trait of dialectics

In nature

In society

Conclusion

See: Control questions

Everything is changing (law of universal change and of the continuous development)

An example

The second trait of dialectics

In nature

In society

Conclusion

See: Control questions

Qualitative change

An example

The third trait of dialectics

In nature

In society

Conclusion

Remarks

See: Control questions

The struggle of opposites (i)

The struggle of opposites is the driving force behind any change. An example

The fourth trait of the dialectic

Features of the contradiction

The contradiction is internal

The contradiction is innovative

Unity of opposites

Control issues

The struggle of opposites (ii)

Universality of contradiction

In nature

In the company

Antagonism and contradiction

The struggle of opposites, the driving force of thought

Control issues

The struggle of opposites (iii)

The specific nature of the contradiction

Universal and specific are inseparable

Main contradiction, secondary contradictions

Main and secondary aspects of the contradiction

General conclusion on contradiction – marxism versus proudhonism

Control issues

Study of marxist philosophical materialism

What is the materialistic conception of the world?

i. the two meanings of materialism

ii. matter and spirit

iii. the fundamental problem of philosophy

iv. the two meanings of the word "idealism".

v. materialism and idealism are opposed in practice as well as in theory

vi. Marxist philosophical materialism is distinguished by three fundamental features

control issues

Traits of marxist materialism

The materiality of the world

The idealistic attitude

The marxist conception

Matter and movement

Natural necessity

Marxism and religion

Conclusion

Control issues

Matter is prior to consciousness

New idealistic subterfuge

The marxist conception

Objectivity of being

Consciousness, reflection of the being

Thought and the brain

Two degrees of knowledge

Conclusion

Control issues

The world is knowable

The ultimate refuge of idealism

The marxist conception

The role of practice

A falsification of the marxist notion of practice

Relative and absolute truth

The union of theory and practice

Control issues

Dialectical materialism and the spiritual life of society

The spiritual life of the society is a reflection of its material life

An example

Idealistic "explanations

The dialectical materialist thesis

The material life of the society is an objective reality existing independently of the conscience and the will not only of individuals, but of man in general

The spiritual life of the society is a reflection of the objective reality of the society

How new ideas and social theories emerge

The issue of survivorship

Conclusion

Control issues

The role and importance of ideas in social life

An example

The error of vulgar materialism

The dialectical materialist thesis

It is the material origin of the ideas which founds their power

Old and new ideas

New ideas have an organizing, mobilizing and transforming action

Conclusion

Control issues

The formation, importance and role of scientific socialism

The three sources of marxism

German philosophy

English political economy

French socialism

Utopian socialism

Scientific socialism

a) Its evolution

b) Its traits

The role of scientific socialism

The fusion of socialism and the labor movement

Necessity of the communist party: criticism of "spontaneity"

Conclusion

Control issues

Historical materialism

Production: productive forces and production relationships

The conditions of the material life of society

The geographical environment

The population

The mode of production

Productive forces

Relations of production

Ownership of the means of production

The change in modes of production, a key to the history of society

Conclusion

Control issues

The law of necessary correspondence between the relations of production and the character of the productive forces

Productive forces are the most mobile and revolutionary element of production

The correspondent action of relations of production on the productive forces

The necessary law of correspondence

The role of human action

Control issues

The class struggle before capitalism

The origins of the society

The emergence of classes

Slave and feudal societies

The development of the bourgeoisie

Control issues

The contradictions of capitalist society

Capitalist relations of production: their specific contradiction

The law of correspondence necessary in capitalist society

The correspondence between capitalist relations of production and the character of the productive forces

The conflict between capitalist relations of production and the character of the productive forces

The class struggle of the proletariat as a method for resolving the contradiction between the relations of production and the productive forces

Conclusion

Control issues

The superstructure

What is the superstructure?

The superstructure is generated by the base

The superstructure is an active force

The superstructure is not directly related to production

Conclusion

Control issues

Socialism

Distribution and production

The economic basis of socialism

Objective conditions for the transition to socialism

The fundamental law of socialism

Subjective conditions of the transition to socialism and its development

Conclusion

Control issues

From socialism to communism

The first phase of communist society

The upper phase of communist society

Productive forces and production relations under socialism

The conditions of the transition from socialism to communism

Conclusion

Control issues

The materialist theory of state and nation

The state

The state and the "public interest"

The state, a product of irreconcilable class antagonisms

Origin of the state

The historical role of the state

The content and form of the state

The social content of the state

The form of the state

Class struggle and freedom

The bourgeoisie and "freedom"

The proletariat and freedoms

Control issues

The nation (i)

Nation and social class

The scientific conception of the nation

What is a nation?

Some mistakes to avoid

The bourgeoisie and the nation

The formation of bourgeois nations

The bourgeoisie at the head of the nation

The bourgeoisie traitor to the nation

The working class and the nation

Proletarian internationalism

Proletarian patriotism

Control issues

The nation (ii)

The colonial question: the right of nations to self-determination

Socialist nations

National question and socialist revolution

Character of socialist nations

The future of nations

Notes on Alsace and the Moselle

Control issues