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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
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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
See: Control questions
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
See: Control questions
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
See: Control questions
Study of marxist philosophical materialism
What is the materialist conception of the world?
The two meanings of materialism
Matter and spirit
The fundamental problem of philosophy
The two meanings of the word "idealism".
Materialism and idealism are opposed in practice as well as in theory
Marxist philosophical materialism is distinguished by three fundamental features
See: Control questions
Traits of marxist materialism
The materiality of the world
The idealistic attitude
The marxist conception
Matter and movement
Natural necessity
Marxism and religion
Conclusion
See: Control questions
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
See: Control questions
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
See: Control questions
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
See: Control questions
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
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The formation, importance and role of scientific socialism
The three sources of marxism
German philosophy
English political economy
French socialism
Utopian socialism
Scientific socialism
Its evolution
Its traits
The role of scientific socialism
The fusion of socialism and the labor movement
Necessity of the communist party: criticism of "spontaneity"
Conclusion
See: Control questions
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
See: Control questions
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
See: Control questions
The class struggle before capitalism
The origins of the society
The emergence of classes
Slave and feudal societies
The development of the bourgeoisie
See: Control questions
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
See: Control questions
The superstructure
What is the superstructure?
The superstructure is generated by the base
The superstructure is an active force
Conclusion
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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
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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
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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
See: Control questions
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
See: Control questions
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
See: Control questions