Reason in Revolt: Marxist Philosophy and Modern Science

Grant, Ted

Science & Math

Well Red Publications

History of British Trotskyism

Business & Money

Ted Grant

Economics

In the Cause of Labour: A History of the British Trade Unions, 1792 - 2003

Rob Sewell

History

My Life: An Attempt at an Autobiography

Leon, Trotsky

Biographies & Memoirs

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work. This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

The Permanent Revolution: Results and Prospects

Russia

The Venezuelan Revolution: A Marxist Perspective

Alan Woods

Americas

Dialectics of Nature is an unfinished 1883 work by Frederick Engels that applies Marxist ideas – particularly those of dialectical materialism – to science.  In his 1939 preface to the work, the biologist J. B. S. Haldane states "most of the manuscript seems to have been written between 1872 and 1882, that is to say it refers to the science" of that era. "Hence it is often hard to follow if one does not know the history of the scientific practice of that time. The idea of what is now called the conservation of energy was beginning to permeate physics, chemistry and biology, but it was still very incompletely realised, and still more incompletely applied. Words such as 'force', 'motion', and 'vis viva' were used where we should now speak of energy". Some then controversial topics of Engels' day, pertaining to incomplete or faulty theories, are now settled, making some of Engels' essays dated. "Their interest lies not so much in their detailed criticism of theories, but in showing how Engels grappled with intellectual problems".  One "law" proposed in the Dialectics of Nature is the "law of the transformation of quantity into quality and vice versa". Probably the most commonly cited example of this is the change of water from a liquid to a gas, by increasing its temperature (although Engels also describes other examples from chemistry). In contemporary science, this process is known as a phase transition. There has also been an effort to apply this mechanism to social phenomena, whereby population increases result in changes in social structure.  Dialectics and its study was derived from the philosopher G. W. F. Hegel, who, in turn, had studied the Greek philosopher Heraclitus. Heraclitus taught that everything was constantly changing and that all things consisted of two opposite elements which changed into each other as night changes into day, light into darkness, life into death etc.  Engels's work develops from the comments he had made about science in Anti-Dühring. It includes the famous The Part Played by Labour in the Transition from Ape to Man, which has also been published separately as a pamphlet. Engels argues that the hand and brain grew together, an idea supported by later fossil discoveries.  Must read philosophy book, to understand about dialectical materialism.

Dialectics of Nature

Politics & Social Sciences

Friedrich, Engels

Politics & Government

Stalin: An Appraisal of the Man and His Influence

Trotsky, Léon

See the best price to sell, buy or rent books by the Well Red Publications publisher. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Well Red Publications