Materialist dialectics and dialectical materialism: towards a materialist conception of history

Abstract

It is not the consciousness that determines life, but the life that determines consciousness; this is one of the key mottos with one can start for a materialist conception of history. The starting point is the material production of immediate life and to conceive the form of exchange of this mode of production, engendered by it in the distinct phases of society and from this, the process of real life, to reach ideology and the echoes of that process. Marx’s conception of society is where philosophy of the twentieth century has been most nurtured. Conceptions such as materialism and dialectics have played a key role in the language of philosophy. For this reason, the thread of this writing is the exposition of dialectical materialism and its subsequent criticisms. This paper begins with the exposition of the conception of dialectical materialism as formulated by Stalin, based on his interpretation of Engels’ ideas. Following this, a critique of this formulation is presented, and then a reinterpretation of dialectical materialism is offered through the critical reflections of authors such as Sartre, Schmidt, and Lukács. And so, finally, conclude with an idea of what is a true conception of the materialism of history.