dialectics

Englisch

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /daɪəˈlɛktɪks/

• Audio (US):

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Etymology 1

From Ancient Greek διαλεκτική (dialektikḗ, “the art of argument through interactive questioning and answering”), from διαλεκτικός (dialektikós, “competent debater”), from διαλέγομαι (dialégomai, “to participate in a dialogue”), from διά (diá, “inter, through”) + λέγειν (légein, “to speak”).

Nomen

dialectics (uncountable)

1. (philosophy, uncountable) A systematic method of argument that attempts to resolve the contradictions in opposing views oder ideas.

   The dialectics of absolute and relative, concrete and abstract, subject and object, and theory and practice is focused on some of the most important questions in philosophy.

   • 1880, Friedrich Engels, chapter 2, in Socialism: Utopian and Scientific:

     None of these processes and modes of thought enters into the framework of metaphysical reasoning. Dialectics, on the other hand, comprehends things and their representations, ideas, in their essential connection, concatenation, motion, origin and ending. Such processes as those mentioned above are, therefore, so many corroborations of its own method of procedure.

Synonyms

• dialectic
• dialectical method

Translations

systematic method of argument

• Armenian: դիալեկտիկա (hy) (dialektika), տրամախոսություն (hy) (tramaxosutʻyun)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 辯證法／辩证法 (zh) (biànzhèngfǎ)

• Czech: dialektika f
• Esperanto: dialektiko
• Finnish: dialektiikka (fi)
• French: dialectique (fr) f
• German: Dialektik (de) f
• Irish: dialachtaíocht f
• Italian: dialettica (it) f
• Polish: dialektyka (pl) f
• Portuguese: dialética (pt) f
• Russian: диале́ктика (ru) (dialéktika)
• Spanish: dialéctica (es) f

Etymology 2

Nomen

dialectics

1. plural of dialectic

Further reading

• “dialectics”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

Anagrams

• cesticidal