dialektike

Dialektike, often rendered as dialectics in English, refers to a method of inquiry and a theoretical framework that examines how knowledge, truth, and social reality develop through the analysis of contradictions and their resolutions. The term comes from the Greek dialektikḗ, meaning the art of dialogue or argument, from dialegesthai to converse and discuss.

In classical philosophy, dialectic was the method of reaching understanding through discourse. Socrates used dialogical questioning to expose inconsistencies and move toward clearer definitions. Plato employed dialectic in his dialogues as a disciplined method for uncovering universal principles. Aristotle distinguished dialectic as a form of reasoned argument aimed at credible premises (endoxa) rather than demonstrative certainty, a foundation for later scholastic and logical methods. During the medieval period, dialectical reasoning remained central to theology and philosophy, especially in debates about faith and reason.

In modern philosophy, dialectics is associated most closely with the work of Hegel, who described a dynamic process in which a thesis encounters an opposing counter-movement (antithesis) and yields a higher unity (synthesis). This triadic scheme is a common simplification of his method, which emphasizes development through contradiction and sublation (aufheben). Karl Marx adapted dialectics to material conditions, giving rise to dialectical materialism, where social change arises from the conflict of opposing forces within the material base of society.

Today, dialectics is used across philosophy, social theory, and critical disciplines as a way to study processes, interrelations, and changes that cannot be understood by isolated elements alone. It is often contrasted with formal logic, highlighting real-world complexity and the dynamics of development.