Marx's Scientific Dialectics

Paolucci, Paul B.

doi:10.1163/ej.9789004158603.i-329

Cited by 24 publications

(6 citation statements)

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“…1 When engaging in relational analysis, a vantage point or perspective must be established. From there, the horizontal extension (or spatial scale) of the relation under analysis, as well as the temporal extension within which to trace its moments, is crafted (Lewontin & Levins, 2007;Paolucci, 2009). This brings certain dynamics into relief while abstracting out others that are, for the moment, treated as "constants."…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Researchers have tried to calculate the ecological and human costs accruing outside markets in price terms as "externalities." "Externalities" in general, and the case of MTR and CRM in particular, reflect the conflict between the human metabolism with nature for use-values that must characterize production in general with the historically specific, and self-undermining, domination of production for exchange-value in the capitalist mode of production (Foster et al, 2010;Paolucci, 2009). The dialectical identitydifference relation between use-value and exchange-value is crucial for avoiding reified conceptions of production by abstracting into focus class antagonisms (Burkett, 1999(Burkett, , 2009).…”

Section: The Vantage Point Of Capitalmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Coal River’s Last Mountain

Wishart

2012

Organization & Environment

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A failed proposal to substitute wind energy for mountaintop removal coal mining provides a valuable case study illustrating the weakness of theoretical approaches that neglect class relations and the analytical strength of Marxist ecology for understanding the processes of environmental degradation. The latter's strength is shown in its illumination of the ways in which class relations in the coalfields are tied to capitalism's metabolic rift and how this rift shapes political struggle and developmental path dependencies. Using Marx's approach of successive abstractions, the interrelated drivers and consequences of mountaintop removal mining in the Coal River Valley are analyzed from three vantage points: the perspective of ecology, of capital, and of human development. The destructiveness involved in this type of coal production reveals the ways in which capitalism depends on an après moi le déluge regime, discounting the future, and thus barring sustainable human development.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: The Vantage Point Of Capitalmentioning

confidence: 99%

Coal River’s Last Mountain

Wishart

2012

Organization & Environment

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“…A paper such as this is perhaps not the place to provide a thorough and detailed explanation of the philosophy of internal relations – given that this is the theme of this issue of Capital & Class , other papers will certainly cover some of that ground. In addition, interested readers can avail themselves of existent literature on the topic (see Ollman 1993, 2003; Paolucci 2009, 2011). That said, however, a few words on the topic are in order.…”

Section: The Philosophy Of Internal Relationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Marx’s scientific and political criticism: The internal relation

Paolucci

2015

Capital & Class

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Marx's method of critique via several philosophy of science categories reveals logical problems, as well as political biases, within different competing approaches of his period. Some principles subject to Marx's criticism include: metaphysics, ahistoricism, false universalisation, inversion, reductionism, idealism, obscurantism, incommensurability, and tautology. This paper examines these categories and their logical bases, the competing approaches Marx targets as politically biased because of their failure to either respect such principles or their violation of them, and the way in which, by extension, several traditions in modern social discourse reveal parallel political biases because of similar logical failures.

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“…Bhaskar : 125; : 77). Taking this on board Paolucci (: 116) usefully elaborates on possible qualitative research questions to pose in this sort of research setting: What are the ongoing empirical regularities within the context in question? What are the most essential structural relations in this context? What structural relations account for specific empirical regularities? What historical events account for the rise of this or that set of relations? How have these empirical regularities and structural relations changed over time? What are the primary causal forces of this change? For some critics, however, critical realism is far too abstract and vague when it comes to trying to make value‐judgements about empirical research contexts. Despite this worry, claim some opponents, critical realists nevertheless attempt to impose value‐judgements on empirical contexts but in the process reproduce a biased viewpoint on the factual knowledge accumulated about the context in question.…”

Section: Abstracting Social Structuresmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Such rhythms therefore tell us something about the direction of more abstract contradictions as well as the historical preconditions for determinant contradictions to be actualized. As Paolucci (: 115–116) observes, all objects of investigation have a history of becoming and it is these historical presuppositions we also need to explore (see also Murray ). Spatio‐temporal rhythms and their refracted contradictions in empirical contexts are one way of accomplishing this task.…”

Section: Dialectical Critical Realism: Diffraction and Refraction In mentioning

confidence: 99%

Critical Realism, Dialectics, and Qualitative Research Methods

Roberts

2014

J Theory Soc Behav

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Critical realism has been an important advance in social science methodology because it develops a qualitative theory of causality which avoids some of the pitfalls of empiricist theories of causality. But while there has been ample work exploring the relationship between critical realism and qualitative research methods there has been noticeably less work exploring the relationship between dialectical critical realism and qualitative research methods. This seems strange especially since the founder of the philosophy of critical realism, Roy Bhaskar, employs and develops a range of dialectical concepts in his later work in order to extend the main tenets of critical realism. The aim of this paper is to draw on Bhaskar's later work, as well as Marxism, to reorient a critical realist methodology towards a dialectical approach for qualitative research. In particular, the paper demonstrates how dialectical critical realism can begin to provide answers to three common criticisms made against original critical realist methodology: that the qualitative theory of causal powers and structures developed by critical realists is problematic; that critical realist methodology contains values which prove damaging to empirical research; and that critical realists often have difficulties in researching everyday qualitative dilemmas that people face in their daily lives.

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Marx's Scientific Dialectics

Cited by 24 publications

References 0 publications

Coal River’s Last Mountain

Coal River’s Last Mountain

Marx’s scientific and political criticism: The internal relation

Critical Realism, Dialectics, and Qualitative Research Methods

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