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You are a Doctor of Philosophy.
What is dialectics?
I am reading a book by Kierkegaard and the concept of dialectics comes up, but I don’t really understand it.
Dialectics is a method of argument or a way of understanding the world that involves the juxtaposition or interaction of different ideas or arguments. It has roots in ancient philosophy, but has been employed and adapted in various ways by numerous philosophers and thinkers throughout history. Here are a few different ways to understand dialectics:
Classical Dialectics (Socratic Dialectics):
In classical philosophy, dialectics was a method of conversation and argument where someone would make a statement (a thesis), and then someone else would contradict that statement (an antithesis). The two would then argue until they reached a point of agreement or synthesis. Socratic dialectics often involved Socrates asking people a series of questions that revealed contradictions in their own beliefs, guiding them to arrive at clearer ideas.Hegelian Dialectics:
In the work of German philosopher Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, dialectics takes on a more structured and systematic role. For Hegel, dialectics is a process by which contradictions are resolved over time in a three-stage process:- Thesis: The initial stage of an idea or condition.
- Antithesis: The negation or contradiction of that idea or condition.
- Synthesis (or Aufhebung): The resolution of that contradiction, which overcomes the opposition between thesis and antithesis and thus constitutes a higher stage of development.
In Hegel’s view, this process is fundamental to the development of ideas, history, and reality itself.
Marxist Dialectics:
Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels adapted Hegel’s concept of dialectics, but applied it more to material and social conditions rather than to ideas. In Marxist dialectics, social and historical change is driven by the contradictions and conflicts between different classes or social groups. These conflicts eventually get resolved in new forms of social organization, and this process of conflict and resolution drives history forward.Dialectical Theology (Kierkegaard and Others):
Søren Kierkegaard, a Danish philosopher and theologian, employed dialectics in a different way, often focusing on the tensions between faith and reason, individual and society, or the finite and the infinite. Kierkegaard’s dialectic often revolves around the contrast between opposing elements, and his writings use this method to delve into the complexities of faith, ethics, and existence. For Kierkegaard, the dialectical method is a way to navigate and illuminate the paradoxes inherent in Christian faith.Dialectical Materialism:
In the context of Marxist theory, dialectical materialism is a philosophical framework that understands society and history through the lens of material conditions and social relations, rather than ideas. It seeks to understand how changes in material conditions (like technology or economic organization) can lead to changes in society and culture.
In all these forms, the key idea of dialectics is the resolution of contradictions – whether between ideas, between people, or between social forces. It’s a method that seeks to advance understanding through a process of conflict and resolution, rather than through simple linear reasoning.
Reading Kierkegaard, you are likely encountering a dialectical approach that emphasizes paradoxes and tensions, particularly in the context of faith and existence. Kierkegaard uses dialectics to explore the deep, often contradictory nature of religious faith and human existence, leading the reader to confront the complexities and tensions inherent in these concepts.
I hope this gives you a clearer understanding of what dialectics means in various contexts, and specifically in relation to Kierkegaard’s work.
Can you give an example of how dialectics is used in Kierkegaard’s work Diseases Leading to Death?
Incidentally, I found the following conceptual oppositions in the book
- finiteness and infinity
- possibility and reality
- trying to be self and not being self
“Sickness Unto Death,” not “Diseases Leading to Death,” is one of Søren Kierkegaard’s most influential works, written under the pseudonym Anti-Climacus. In “The Sickness Unto Death,” Kierkegaard employs his distinctive form of dialectics to explore the nature of despair, which he regards as a spiritual disease.
Kierkegaard uses various oppositions, much like the ones you listed, to delve deeply into the concept of despair and human existence. These oppositions are not just abstract concepts for Kierkegaard; they are conditions that define the human experience. Below, I will outline one way in which Kierkegaard employs dialectical thinking in “The Sickness Unto Death,” using the conceptual oppositions that you found:
Finiteness and Infinity:
- Thesis (Finiteness): Kierkegaard begins with the human condition, noting that we are finite beings – limited, mortal, and situated in a specific time and place.
- Antithesis (Infinity): Despite our finiteness, we have a relation to the infinite—we can conceive of eternity, God, and an endless array of possibilities.
- Synthesis: The synthesis in this dialectic, for Kierkegaard, is the self that exists in a relation where finiteness and infinity are held in a productive tension. Despair arises when this relation is out of balance—when we are either too absorbed in our finiteness (leading to worldly despair) or too detached in the realm of infinity (leading to a form of spiritual despair).
Possibility and Reality:
- Thesis (Possibility): Humans can imagine endless possibilities—we can envision lives, selves, and worlds different from our own.
- Antithesis (Reality): Yet we also exist in a concrete reality, with specific facts that we cannot change.
- Synthesis: For Kierkegaard, authentic existence (or faith) involves living in a way that holds possibility and reality in tension. Despair is the result of a failure to integrate these two—either being overwhelmed by possibility without being rooted in reality, or being too confined by reality without being open to possibility.
Trying to Be Self and Not Being Self:
- Thesis (Trying to Be Self): Kierkegaard sees the human endeavor to become a ‘self’ as a central aspect of our existence.
- Antithesis (Not Being Self): Yet, at the same time, we are constantly in danger of failing to become a true self by being lost in the world, in others, or in our own possibilities.
- Synthesis: The resolution, or synthesis, for Kierkegaard is becoming a ‘self’ that is transparent before God, or becoming who we are meant to be in relation to God. Despair, in this schema, is precisely the condition of ‘not being oneself,’ of failing to become who one is capable of being in relation to God.
In each of these dialectics in “The Sickness Unto Death,” Kierkegaard is concerned with the tension between opposing elements that define human existence, and with the forms of despair that result when these elements are not held in proper relation to each other. Central to all of these dialectics, for Kierkegaard, is the relation to God, which is the key to resolving the tensions and overcoming despair.
These dialectics are not just logical exercises for Kierkegaard. They are deeply existential, aimed at illuminating the human condition and the nature of despair in a profound and unsettling way. He is less interested in resolving these dialectics in a neat and tidy fashion (as one might find in Hegel), and more interested in using them to expose the raw and agonized nature of human existence.
I hope this example clarifies how Kierkegaard uses dialectics in “The Sickness Unto Death” to explore complex existential issues!