Qualitative and quantitative changes. Categories of quality, quantity, measure

Dialectics is the doctrine of the most general laws of development and forms of communication in nature and society, as well as the method of cognition based on this doctrine. The basic laws of dialectics express the laws of the development of the world, as well as knowledge. The laws of dialectics are assumed to be universal, that is, their actions are manifested in all objects and processes. In other words, dialectics claims a certain universality.

The law of unity and struggle of opposites

The law of the unity and struggle of opposites says this: every object has opposite sides, properties, tendencies, they, mutually complementing and mutually negating each other, constitute a contradiction, which serves as the reason for the development of the object. A vivid example of this is the political sphere of society, where the ruling forces and various opposition act as opposites. One of the functions of the opposition is to point out the shortcomings of the current course. If there were a guarantee that no one would be able to criticize, much less dislodge, the ruling power, then it would have less incentive to try to lead at least a decent line. The main phases of the development of the contradiction are as follows. 1. Harmony - opposites do not interfere with the unity of the system, revealing the diversity of its properties. 2. Disharmony - one of the opposites is trying to increase at the expense of the other. 3. Conflict - the struggle between opposites reaches the limit, the existence of the whole - the system - is questionable. 4. Resolution of the contradiction: several options are possible: 4.1. The destruction of one of the opposites with its subsequent restoration.

4.2. The split of the system or the mutual destruction of opposites, both of which are the death of the whole.

4.3. Temporary return to harmony.

4.4. The removal of a contradiction is an evolutionary leap, in which the old contradiction loses its meaning, that is, this option is development through the struggle of opposites. An example in the political realm. Stages 1-3 - those dissatisfied with the current situation are trying to strengthen their positions, from a stable situation we move on to an aggravation of the political struggle, a revolutionary situation or a situation close to it. Here are the options below. 4.1. The opposition was dispersed, the activists were arrested, but later the opposition movement will begin to gain momentum again.

4.2. Civil War.

4.3. Some concessions to the opposition, as a result of which the situation is temporarily stabilized. 4.4. progressive reforms.

The law of the transition of quantity into quality

Law of transition quantitative changes in qualitative states: a change in the quality of an object occurs when a change in its quantitative characteristics passes a certain boundary. A vivid example is the change in the aggregate states of substances, and the boundaries here are the melting and boiling points. This law of dialectics speaks of the quasi-stability of systems: there are intervals on which the systems are stable, and points between these intervals on which the systems are unstable. Dialectics believes that there is an interval within which a given quality is preserved, despite a change in quantitative characteristics. When the boundaries are crossed, a jump occurs - a transition from one qualitative state to another. A vivid example is how angry some people are: at first they seem to endure, and then, when the negative accumulates, they rage, they can even break something. Well, or at least masterfully swear.

Many people ask if it is possible to know in advance what the chemical composition of the water in the future well will be and whether it will change some time after the start of the water intake operation. Having planned well drilling on a suburban area, the owners are trying to find out the characteristics of the water from their neighbors, in whose areas there are already wells or wells. The second way is to obtain water sample analysis data indicated in the cadastral documents for wells.

The chemical composition of the water in the well can change over time

Experts believe that the most accurate information about chemical composition water can be reflected only in relation to "young" wells. If the cadastre contains information from the beginning of this century, the quality of water in such wells does not always correspond to documented indicators. Drilling masters know many cases when the chemical composition of water from an underground source changed quite a lot even after five to seven years from the moment the well was drilled. This is a consequence of the fact that the properties of water have changed in the entire water-bearing layer due to external factors that have different effects on natural objects.

Based on the foregoing, a reasonable question may arise: is it necessary to purchase an expensive water treatment plant that can work for more than a dozen years, if in five to seven years you have to replace it with a new one, more suitable for treating water with changed chemical parameters? Experts consider this opinion unfounded. According to statistics, in every tenth well, the chemical composition of water changes dramatically after 10-13 years. Buying cheap water treatment equipment can lead to problems: frequent breakdowns, low cleaning efficiency, short service life.

Water quality from artesian wells and sand wells

Most of the complaints about the change in water quality come from the owners of wells "on the sand." As a rule, in water extracted from water-saturated sandy rocks, it is noted high concentration gland. But there are cases when, after drilling a well, water samples from it show the norm of the content of dissolved iron. But after some time, the amount of iron suddenly rises so much that all the norms of the MPC for this are violated. chemical in drinking water.

Most likely, scientists believe, this is due to a change in the path of infiltration of the aquifer, for example, when precipitation begins to seep underground through layers of peat soils. Unlike sand wells, artesian springs have a more stable water composition.

Which source is preferable: artesian or sand well

AT Leningrad region wells "on the sand" are chosen for the most part by the owners of small suburban allotments - summer cottages and gardening plots. Artesian wells as sources of autonomous water supply are preferred by owners of country houses, because due to a large number tapping points they need a source with a high flow rate. Second special case the use of artesian water intake in summer cottage construction - a collective well.

From total number of all wells ordered from drilling companies, collective ones account for no more than 10%, and drilling is ordered mainly by developers building a new cottage settlement. Private traders, on the other hand, have to drill an individual well, since usually all neighbors are already provided with water from their own water supply sources.

It should be noted that the quality of water from an artesian well is usually higher than from a sand well or well.

"How does the quality of water in wells change over several years of operation", BC "POISK", tell friends: April 13th, 2016

19 Dialectics of quantitative and qualitative changes.

The dialectical method involves the consideration of all phenomena and processes in the general interconnection, interdependence and development. Initially, the term "dialectics" meant the art of arguing and was developed primarily in order to improve oratory. The founders of dialectics can be considered Socrates and the Sophists. At the same time, dialectics was developed in philosophy as a method of analyzing reality. Let us recall the doctrine of the development of Heraclitus, and later Zeno, Kant, and others. However, only Hegel gave dialectics the most developed and perfect form.

The Law of the Transition of Quantitative Changes into Qualitative describes the mechanism of self-development. Hegel gave, first of all, the definition of the categories of quality, quantity and measure, considering them to be three forms of the initial stage of the existence of an idea. Quality Hegel characterized as identical with being internal certainty. Quality is the internal certainty of an object, a phenomenon that characterizes an object or phenomenon as a whole. The qualitative originality of objects, phenomena acts, first of all, as their specificity. Originality, originality, as what distinguishes this item from another.

The quality of any object, phenomenon, according to Hegel, is determined through its properties. The properties of an object are its ability to relate in a certain way, to interact with other objects. That is, properties are manifested in the relationship between objects, phenomena, etc. Properties by themselves do not exist. The deep basis of properties is the quality of an object, i.e. a property is a manifestation of a quality in one of the many relations of a given thing to other things.

Quality acts as an internal basis for all the properties inherent in a given thing, but this internal basis is manifested only when a given object interacts with other objects. The number of properties of each object is theoretically infinite, because in the system of universal interaction an infinite number of interactions is possible. The differences between the properties of an object and its qualities are always relative, for what is a property in one respect becomes a quality in another respect.

Hegel defined quantity as a certainty external to being, he saw in it something relatively indifferent to this or that thing. For example, a house remains what it is, whether it is larger or smaller, and so on. At the same time, Hegel considered quality and quantity as interpenetrating opposites and believed that just as there is no quality without quantitative characteristics, so there is not and cannot be a quantity absolutely devoid of qualitative certainty.

Hegel expressed the directly concrete unity of quality and quantity, the qualitatively determined quantity, in the category of measure. A measure is not just a pointer, not the unity of quality and quantity in the form of their connection with each other, but also an indication of a certain correspondence between them. A measure is the unity of the qualitative and quantitative certainty of an object, an indicator that a certain range of quantitative characteristics can correspond to the same quality. Consequently, the concept of measure shows that not every, but only certain quantitative values ​​belong to quality. The limiting quantitative values ​​that a given quality can take, the boundaries of the quantitative intervals within which it exists, are called the boundaries of the measure. Hegel wrote that certain objects and phenomena can change - decrease or increase - quantitatively, but if these quantitative changes occur within the limits of a measure specific to each object and phenomenon, then their quality remains the same, unchanged. If such a decrease or increase goes beyond the limits, goes beyond the limits of its measure, then this will necessarily lead to a change in quality: quantity

will move to a new quality. So, for example, “the degree of water temperature,” Hegel wrote, “at first does not have any effect on its droplet-liquid state, but then, with an increase or decrease in temperature, a point is reached at which this state of cohesion changes qualitatively, and water passes from one side, into steam, and, on the other, into ice.

Showing the transition of quantity into quality, Hegel drew attention to the reverse process expressed by this law, namely, the transition of quality into quantity. Hegel considered these mutual transitions as an endless process, which, in his opinion, consists in the fact that quantity, passing into quality, by no means denies quality in general, but denies only the given definition of quality, the place of which is simultaneously occupied by another quality. This newly formed quality means a new measure, that is, a new concrete unity of quality and quantity, which makes possible a further quantitative change of the new quality and the transition of quantity into quality.

Hegel showed that the transition from one measure to another, from one quality to another, always takes place as a result of a break in gradual quantitative change, as a result of a leap. A jump is a general form of transition from one qualitative state to another. Hegel characterizes the leap as a complex dialectical state. A leap is the unity of being and non-being, which means that the old quality is no longer there, but the new quality is not yet there, and at the same time, the old quality is still there, and the new one is already there. A leap is a state of struggle between the new and the old, the withering away of the former qualitative definitions and their replacement by new qualitative states. There is no other kind of transition from one qualitative state to another besides a jump. However, a jump can take an infinite variety of forms in accordance with the specifics of one or another qualitative certainty.

The law was formulated by Friedrich Engels as a result of the interpretation of Hegel's logic and philosophical works Karl Marx.

The formulation of the law was given by F. Engels.

The wording and content of the law

The basis of the law is the relationship of two properties - quality and quantity.

For description, any phenomenon can be "split" into qualitative and quantitative certainty. Category " quality"Denotes such a certainty of a phenomenon that distinguishes an object from others, makes it what it is. Quantity expresses that which is common different things, in which they are similar, is a set of sets and quantities that characterize a thing. To find the quantitative certainty of a thing means to compare it with another having the same property.

Despite significant differences, quantity and quality are considered in dialectical materialism as parts of one whole, representing sides of the same subject. This unity is called a measure and is a boundary that defines the limits of possible quantitative change within a given quality.

The transition of quantitative changes beyond the limits of the measure (as the interval of quantitative changes within which the qualitative certainty of the object is preserved) leads to a change in the quality of the object, that is, to its development. This is the law of the transition of quantity into quality - development is carried out through the accumulation of quantitative changes in the subject, which leads to going beyond the limits of the measure and an abrupt transition to a new quality .

When a measure is overcome, quantitative changes entail a qualitative transformation. Thus, development appears as a unity of two stages - continuity and leap. Continuity in development is a stage of slow quantitative accumulation; it does not affect quality and acts as a process of increasing or decreasing the existing. A leap is a stage of radical qualitative changes in an object, a moment or period of transformation of an old quality into a new one. These changes proceed relatively quickly even when they take the form of a gradual transition.

It should be noted that the quantity itself does not translate into quality. Usually, certain quantitative changes lead to a change in parallel accompanying qualities. At the same time, quantity passes into another quantity, and quality, with a certain change in quantity, turns into another quality. The widely used expression "the transition of quantity into quality" is in fact an inaccurate formulation and may confuse those who are not familiar with this issue.

The principle of transition from quantitative to qualitative changes has been significantly developed and specified in synergy. Significantly detailed and deepened knowledge about transitions (leaps) at all levels of development of matter, from elementary particles to society.

Measure and Jump Examples

In synergy

AT thermodynamics of nonequilibrium processes(I. Prigogine, Belgium) The concept of bifurcations is central. Jumps occur at bifurcation points - critical states of the system, at which the system becomes unstable with respect to fluctuations and uncertainty arises: will the state of the system become chaotic or will it switch to a new, more differentiated and high level orderliness. An example of an unstable state leading to bifurcation is the situation in the country during the revolution. Since the direction of the jump is determined by fluctuations, the future is basically unpredictable, while at the same time, any person, generally speaking, can determine the course of history. Jumps at bifurcation points lead to both progress and regression.

AT catastrophe theory(R. Tom, France; V. I. Arnold, Russia), attention is focused on such important aspect, as the possibility of jumps (catastrophes) as a sudden response to small, smooth changes external conditions. It has been applied to the study of heart contractions, in optics, embryology, linguistics, experimental psychology, economics, hydrodynamics, geology and theory of elementary particles. On the basis of the theory of catastrophes, a study of the stability of ships, modeling of the activity of the brain and mental disorders, uprisings of prisoners in prisons, the behavior of stock market players, the effect of alcohol on drivers of vehicles.

Laws of development

The processes of nature and society are always in a state of "renewal and development, where something always arises and develops, something is destroyed and outlives its age." When the emerging and developing reaches maturity, and the decaying and obsolete finally disappears, something new arises - something that did not exist before. Processes do not repeat the same cycle of changes all the time, they move from one stage to another as a new one appears. This is the real meaning of the word "development".

Mere change is not development. We speak of development only when, gradually, step by step, something new arises. Development is a change that occurs from one stage to another in accordance with its own internal laws.

But development is not growth. The difference between these concepts - "growth" and "development" is well known, for example, to biologists. Growth is an increase, i.e. purely quantitative change. Development does not mean an increase, but transition to a qualitatively new stage, the acquisition of a different quality. For example, a caterpillar grows, becoming longer and thicker - this is growth. But when the grown caterpillar pupates and turns into a butterfly, this is already development, since a qualitative change takes place - the caterpillar becomes a chrysalis, and then a butterfly.

All these processes take place in nature and society - simple movement, change, growth, and the most important and important thing for us - development.

For example, it is now customary for bourgeois politicians and ideologists to say “the economy is developing”, “the development of the economy”. But in fact, there is no development, there are changes, and growth can take place (for example, production growth in inter-crisis periods), but the appearance of a new, more High Quality not seen in the economy. This means that we cannot talk about any development.

Or another example - the death of the USSR. Here a qualitative change is evident: there was socialism, capitalism has become. But there is no development of society either, because there has been a movement back, not a jump to a higher level, but a fall. There was a degradation of society in all its manifestations - from the economy to social sphere. Therefore, we cannot consider this process as "development" either.

But the changes that have taken place in Russian bourgeois society from the 90s to the present are development, because Russian capitalism has been moving upward, acquiring new qualities: moving from "wild" capitalism initial stage to dying and decaying capitalism, i.e. imperialism, and further - to state-monopoly capitalism.

Materialist dialectics is just trying to cognize the general laws of development. This is one of its tasks - to establish what general laws are manifested in any development, and, therefore, to give a method of approach to understanding, explaining and controlling the development process itself, in order to be able to influence it in one way or another.

The law of the transition of quantity into quality

One of these general laws of development is "the law of transition of quantitative changes into qualitative ones".

What does it mean?

Every change has a quantitative side, that is, a side that is characterized by a simple increase or decrease that does not change the nature of what is changing. But quantitative change, increase or decrease, cannot continue indefinitely. At a certain moment it always leads to a qualitative change, and then in this critical point(or "nodal point", as Hegel called it) a qualitative change suddenly sets in.

For example, if you heat water, it will not become hotter and hotter indefinitely; at a certain temperature, it begins to turn into vapor, undergoing a qualitative change - the liquid suddenly becomes a gas. In the same way, more and more weights can be added to a rope that is suspended from a load, but at some point the rope will not hold and will break. And in a steam boiler it is impossible to infinitely increase the steam pressure, at some stage it will definitely explode - the walls of the boiler will not withstand the internal pressure of the steam.

Similar processes are observed in biology. For example, a variety of a plant may be exposed to a lower temperature for a number of generations. As a result, changes accumulate in the plant, which at a certain moment lead to qualitative changes - its heredity changes. Thus, for example, spring wheat was turned into winter wheat.

The law of the transition of quantitative changes into qualitative changes is fully in force in social processes.

For example, in England, before the advent of capitalist industry, there was a process of accumulation of wealth, obtained by plundering the colonies, in a few private hands. Parallel to it was the formation of a poor proletariat, which was deliberately created by pursuing a policy of enclosing and expelling peasants from the land in the country. At a certain stage in this process, when the considerable capital necessary for extensive industrial activity had been accumulated and when a sufficient number of people were proletarianized to work for meager wages, the conditions were ripe for the emergence of a new social order- capitalism. The accumulation of quantitative changes led to the emergence of a qualitative stage in the development of society - England stepped from feudalism into capitalism.

Another example is social revolutions. New productive forces gradually appear and grow in society. new technology and technology. At the same time, the dissatisfaction of the oppressed social classes with the old production relations, which do not allow the full use of these new productive forces, do not allow them to develop further, is growing. At a certain moment, when the cup of patience of the oppressed classes is overflowing, they overthrow the old power, which ensures the preservation of the old production relations, by means of an armed uprising. Political power in society passes into the hands of a new public class. It destroys the historically obsolete old production relations and establishes new, convenient production relations that give scope for the development of new productive forces of society. All bourgeois and socialist revolutions took place in this way.

Qualitative changes always happen suddenly, in the form of a jump. The new is born somehow suddenly and immediately, although its possibility is already contained in the gradual evolutionary process continuous quantitative change that took place before. It turns out that continuous, gradual quantitative change in certain point leads to intermittent, sudden quality change.

Speaking about the history of the development of philosophy, we have already said that most of the former philosophers saw the development of nature and society only from a continuous side. This means that they considered development only from the side of the process of growth, quantitative change, and did not notice its qualitative side - that at a certain point in the gradual process of growth a new quality suddenly appears, a qualitative transformation takes place.

But in real life the processes we observe occur exactly in this way - through the acquisition of a new quality. Warming up the kettle, we see that the water suddenly boils, as soon as it reaches the boiling point - 100 C. If we fry the eggs, then the liquid egg mixture in the pan, gradually frying, suddenly becomes a solid consistency, i.e. ready-to-eat dish. This process is even more clearly observed when we bake pancakes - liquid dough under the action of high temperature becomes dense and solid. There had just been some kind of tasteless liquid, and suddenly a delicious pancake appeared - a new quality appeared.

The sudden appearance of a new quality at a certain point in the gradual process of growth also occurs during the transformation of society. feudal society abruptly (through the bourgeois revolution) passed into the capitalist. Similarly, capitalist society, accumulating its contradictions within itself, will be transformed into a socialist society by a radical change - a social revolution, a leap towards a new state of society, when the rule of one class - the bourgeoisie - will be replaced by the rule of another, now oppressed class, the proletariat.

On the other hand, qualitative changes always result from the accumulation of quantitative changes, and qualitative differences are based on quantitative differences.

Since quantitative changes must at a certain point lead to a qualitative change, then we, if we want to achieve a qualitative change, must study its quantitative basis and to know what needs to be increased and what needs to be decreased in order to produce the change we require.

Natural science teaches us how a purely quantitative difference - addition or subtraction - leads to qualitative differences in nature. For example, the addition of one proton in the nucleus of an atom results in the transformation of one element into another. The atoms of all elements are formed from combinations of the same protons and electrons, and only the difference in the number of protons and electrons combined in an atom gives different kinds atoms, which means various elements with different chemical properties. Thus, an atom consisting of one proton and one electron is a hydrogen atom, but if you add another proton and one electron, it will be a helium atom, and so on. chemical compounds the addition of one atom to a molecule results in a distinction between substances having different chemical properties. Different qualities are always rooted in quantitative differences.

Engels in his "Dialectics of Nature" expressed this in the following words: "... in nature, qualitative changes - in a way exactly defined for each individual case - can occur only by quantitative addition or quantitative subtraction matter or movements…

All qualitative differences in nature are based either on different chemical composition, or on different quantities or forms of movement ... or - which is almost always the case - on both. Thus, it is impossible to change the quality of any body without adding or subtracting matter or motion, that is, without a quantitative change in this body.

This feature of the dialectical law, linking quality with quantity, is familiar from the atomic bomb, the principle of operation of which is known to many. For production atomic bomb it is necessary to have an isotope of uranium with an atomic weight of 235. In nature, uranium in uranium deposits consists of isotopes with an atomic weight of 238, which do not have the properties required for a bomb. The difference between these two isotopes is purely quantitative—the number of neutrons present in each isotope. But this quantitative difference atomic weights 235 and 238 leads to a qualitative difference between substances, one of which has the properties necessary for a bomb, and the other lacks such properties. Further, in order for an explosion to occur, a certain “ critical mass» uranium-235. If its mass is insufficient, then chain reaction, causing an explosion, will not occur, but if the "critical mass" is reached, then the reaction is sure to occur.

Thus we see that quantitative changes at a certain moment turn into qualitative changes and that qualitative differences are based on quantitative differences, and this common feature of development.

The law of unity and struggle of opposites

But why do quantitative changes lead to qualitative change? That is cause development?

The cause of development lies in nature itself, it is in the content of all these separate processes. With sufficient knowledge, it is possible in each separate case explain why this qualitative change is inevitable and why it occurs at that moment and not at some other moment.

But in order to give such an explanation, it is necessary to study actual circumstances this case . This explanation cannot be found by dialectics alone—knowledge of dialectics only tells us where to look for an explanation. In any particular case, we may not yet know how and why the change occurs. But we can find this out by examining the actual circumstances of the case, by studying a phenomenon or event. This is quite possible, because the emergence of a new quality does not contain anything unknowable and mysterious.

Consider, for example, the case of a qualitative change that occurs when water is heated.

When the mass of water in the kettle is heated, as a result, the speed of movement of the molecules that make up the water increases. As long as the water retains its liquid form, the attractive forces between the molecules remain sufficient to keep the entire mass of the molecules in liquid state, although individual molecules that are on the surface of the water can constantly break away from total weight liquids and volatilize. But when reaching 100C (boiling point), the movement of the molecules becomes too strong, they are no longer able to hold together. Water boils violently, and the entire mass of liquid quickly turns into steam.

What do we see? That a qualitative change in matter occurs as a result of the struggle of opposites acting inside the mass of water - the forces of repulsion and attraction. Molecules break away from each other despite the forces of attraction acting between them. The first tendency intensifies to the point where it is able to overcome the second - as a result of the external addition of heat, which is transferred to the water molecules and accelerates their movement, they become able to overcome the forces of attraction, the forces of repulsion become greater than the forces of attraction.

Another example is with a rope that breaks when the load hanging on it becomes too large. Here again a qualitative change occurs as a result of the action of the opposite that arises between the strength of the rope and the force of gravity of the load.

Further, when spring wheat turns into winter wheat, this is also the result of the action of the opposition between the "conservatism" of the plant and the changing conditions of growth and development that affect this plant; at a certain moment the influence of the second overcomes the first.

These examples lead to the general conclusion that inner content development process, the internal content of the transformation of quantitative changes into qualitative ones is struggle of opposites- opposite tendencies or forces in the things and processes under consideration.

Thus the law that quantitative changes turn into qualitative changes and that qualitative differences are based on quantitative differences leads us to the law of unity and struggle of opposites.

Here is how Stalin formulates this law, this feature of dialectics: “In contrast to metaphysics, dialectics proceeds from the fact that natural objects, natural phenomena are characterized by internal contradictions, because they all have their negative and positive side, its past and future, its moribund and developing, that the struggle of these opposites, the struggle between the old and the new, between the dying and the emerging, between the moribund and the developing, constitutes the inner content of the process of development, the inner content of the transformation of quantitative changes into qualitative ones.

Therefore, the dialectical method considers that the process of development from the lowest to the highest proceeds not in the order of the harmonious unfolding of phenomena, but in the order of the disclosure of contradictions inherent in objects, phenomena, in the order of the “struggle” of opposing tendencies acting on the basis of these contradictions. (I. Stalin "Questions of Leninism")

In order to understand development, in order to understand how and why quantitative changes lead to qualitative changes, how and why the transition from the old qualitative state to the new takes place, it is necessary to understand the contradictions inherent in each thing under consideration and each process under consideration, finding out how, on the basis of these contradictions, a “struggle” of opposing tendencies arises.

We must understand this specifically, guided in each individual case by Lenin's indication that "the basic tenet of dialectics" is that "truth is always concrete." It is impossible to derive the laws of development in each specific case from general principles dialectics: in each individual case they must be rediscovered by actual research. And dialectics only tells us what to look for.

The dialectical understanding of development - the doctrine of the unity and struggle of opposites - is most fully developed in the Marxist doctrine of society. Here, from the point of view of the struggle of the working class, on the basis of the experience of the labor movement, one can very well see all the contradictions of capitalism and their development.

The principles that characterize the development of society are the same as the principles that characterize the development of nature, although the form of their manifestation is different in each case. Thus, Engels in Anti-Dühring writes that he had no doubts that “in nature, through the chaos of innumerable changes, the same dialectical laws of motion make their way through, which also in history dominate the apparent randomness of events.”

This is how he explains in the same work the Marxist understanding of the contradictions of capitalism and their development.

The main contradiction of capitalism lies not simply in the antagonism of two classes that oppose each other like two external forces that have entered into an irreconcilable contradiction (antagonism). No, this is a contradiction within the social system itself, on the basis of which class antagonism arises and operates.

Capitalism has carried out the concentration of “means of production in large workshops and manufactories, their transformation in essence into social means of production. These social means of production and products, however, continued to be treated as if they were still means of production and products of the labor of individuals. If until now the owner of the instruments of labor appropriated the product, because it was, as a rule, his own product, and someone else's auxiliary labor was an exception, now the owner of the instruments of labor continued to appropriate the products, although they were no longer produced by his labor, but exclusively by someone else. labor.

Thus, the products of social labor began to be appropriated not by those who actually set the means of production in motion and were in fact the producers of these products, but by the capitalist.

This is very important thought, which reflects all the salt of the capitalist mode of production, without understanding which it is impossible to fully understand capitalism.

Speaking in scientific, Marxist terms, the main contradiction of capitalism is the contradiction between socialized production and capitalist (that is, private) appropriation. It is on the basis of this contradiction that the struggle between classes develops, the historical outcome of which is predetermined by its very essence.

“This contradiction ... contained in the embryo all the collisions of modernity ... The contradiction between social production and capitalist appropriation comes out as an antagonism between the proletariat and the bourgeoisie,” F. Engels writes in the same place in Anti-Dühring.

This contradiction can only be resolved by the victory of the working class, when the working class establishes its own dictatorship and instead of private property and private appropriation will introduce public ownership and public appropriation in accordance with the social nature of production.

The class struggle exists and operates on the basis of contradictions, inherent in the social system itself. It is precisely as a result of the struggle of opposing tendencies, opposing forces that arise on the basis of contradictions inherent in the social system, that a social transformation takes place, a leap to a qualitatively new phase. community development. This process has its quantitative side. The working class is growing both numerically and organizationally. Capital is increasingly concentrated and centralized.

“The centralization of the means of production and the socialization of labor reach a point where they become incompatible with their capitalist shell. She explodes. The hour of capitalist private property strikes. The expropriators are being expropriated,” wrote K. Marx in the first volume of Capital.

This is how the laws of dialectics — the transition of quantitative changes into qualitative ones, and the unity and struggle of opposites — operate in the development of society.

Therefore, in order to bring about the transformation of society, the working class must learn to understand the social situation in the light of the laws of dialectics. Guided by this understanding, he must base the tactics and strategy of his class struggle on a concrete analysis of the actual situation at each stage of the struggle.

Contradiction

The struggle of opposing tendencies, culminating in a certain fundamental transformation, a qualitative change, is not external and accidental. This struggle cannot be properly understood if we assume that we are talking about forces or tendencies that arise completely independently of each other, which accidentally meet, collide and come into conflict with each other.

On the contrary, this struggle is internal and necessary, because it arises and stems from the nature of the process as a whole. The opposing tendencies are not independent of each other, on the contrary, they are inextricably linked as parts or sides of a single whole. And they act and come into conflict on the basis of a contradiction inherent in the process as a whole.

Those. movement and change occurs on the basis of causes, intrinsic things and processes, based on internal contradictions.

So, for example, in accordance with the old mechanistic concept, movement occurs only when one body collides with another. For mechanists, there are no internal causes movement, that is "self-movement" and there are only external causes. However, in reality, the opposite tendencies that operate in the course of a change in the state of the body operate on the basis of the contradictory unity of the forces of attraction and repulsion, inherent in all physical phenomena.

Similarly, the class struggle in capitalist society arises on the basis of the contradictory unity of socialized labor and private appropriation, inherent in capitalist society. It does not arise as a result external causes, and as a result of the contradictions concluded in essence capitalist system. In contrast, the theoreticians of bourgeois society argue that the class struggle is caused by external interference - "communist agitators" or "red infection". They also believe that if only this external intervention could be stopped, then the capitalist system could perfectly exist in the form in which it is, as long as desired.

As an example, very common today in Russian society the thesis that supposedly the Great October Socialist Revolution was carried out with German money. And, they say, if there were no German money, then everything Russian Empire it would be wonderful - it would still exist, and everyone would now "crunch with French rolls." Interestingly, this completely overlooks the fact that before the October Revolution, in fact, there was a February Revolution, in its class essence - a bourgeois-democratic revolution, which just overthrew Russian autocracy and as a result of which political power in the country passed into the hands of the bourgeoisie. BUT October Revolution that is why it happened that the bourgeois Provisional Government did not do what it was obliged to do and what it demanded revolutionary people- destroy the remains of the old feudal relations(give the peasants land, i.e. destroy landownership) and stop the war. That is, the true causes of the Great October socialist revolution not at all external, not “German money”, but accumulated and aggravated to the extreme limits in Russia internal contradictions between the exploited and the exploiters who demanded their permission.

The internal necessity of the struggle of opposing forces, the understanding that it must end with one result or another, is not just a subtlety. philosophical analysis. It is of great practical importance.

For example, bourgeois theorists may well recognize the fact of class clashes in capitalist society. However, they do not recognize need such a clash - they do not recognize that this clash is based on contradictions inherent in nature itself capitalist system, and that therefore the class struggle can only end in the collapse of the system itself and its replacement by a new, higher social system. They try to soften the class struggle, weaken it and reconcile opposing classes, or extinguish this struggle in the hope of keeping the capitalist system intact. It is this bourgeois view of the class struggle that is introduced into labor movement social reformists(supporters of reforming capitalism into "capitalism with human face or "capitalism of the 21st century").

It was precisely in contrast to such a narrow, metaphysical way of understanding the class struggle that Lenin pointed out: “The main thing in Marx's teaching is the class struggle. So they say and write very often. But this is not true... To limit Marxism to the doctrine of class struggle means to curtail Marxism, to distort it, to reduce it to what is acceptable to the bourgeoisie. A Marxist is only one who extends the recognition of class struggle to the recognition of the dictatorship of the proletariat. This is the most profound difference between a Marxist and a common petty (and big) bourgeois. On this touchstone one must test the real understanding and recognition of Marxism.

The fundamental idea in dialectics is the idea of ​​contradiction as a phenomenon inherent in the very nature of things. Driving force qualitative change lies in contradictions, within all processes of nature and society. Therefore, in order to understand things and phenomena, control them and dominate them in practice, we must proceed from concrete analysis their contradictions.

According to the metaphysical concept, contradictions arise in our concepts of things, and not in the things themselves. We can make contradictory propositions about a thing, and therefore there is a contradiction in what we say about this thing, but there can be no contradiction in the thing itself.

With this point of view, the contradiction is considered simply and exclusively as a logical relation between separate propositions, and at the same time it is not taken as a real relation between things that really exists. This point of view is based on considering things in statics as "solidified and frozen", and does not take into account their movements and dynamic relationships.

If we consider real complex movements and interconnections of real, complex things, then we will see that contradictory tendencies do exist in real things, phenomena and processes. For example, if the forces acting in the body combine the tendencies of attraction and repulsion, then this is a real contradiction. And if the movement of society combines the tendency towards the socialization of production with the tendency to preserve the private appropriation of the product, then this is also a real contradiction.

The existence of contradictions in things is a very familiar phenomenon to us.

For example, we say of a person that he has a "contradictory" character, or that he is "full of contradictions." This means that this person shows opposite tendencies in his behavior, such as gentleness and cruelty, courage and cowardice, selfishness and self-sacrifice. Or again: conflicting relationships are the subject of everyday gossip when we talk about a married couple who are always quarreling, but will never be happy apart.

Such examples indicate that Marxists, speaking about "contradictions in things", do not invent some kind of artificial philosophical theory, but they mean something that is well known to everyone, that really exists. They also do not use the word "contradiction" in some new, unusual, special sense, understandable only to them, but use it in its usual, everyday meaning.

Real contradiction is the unity of opposites. A real contradiction, inherent in the very nature of a thing, process or relation, exists when opposite tendencies are combined together in this thing, process or relation in such a way that none of these tendencies can exist without the other. In the unity of opposites, both opposite sides are in a relationship of mutual dependence, where one opposite is a condition for the existence of another opposite.

For example, the class contradiction between workers and capitalists in capitalist society is just such a unity of opposites, because in capitalist society neither workers can exist without capitalists, nor capitalists without workers. The nature of capitalist society is such that these opposites are present in it together and are inextricably linked with each other. This unity of opposites belongs to the very essence of the social capitalist system. Capitalism is a system in which the capitalists exploit the workers and the workers are exploited by the capitalists.

Exactly unity of opposites in contradiction makes inevitable and necessary struggle of opposites. The struggle between them arises precisely because the opposite sides inextricably merged. For example, because opposing classes are united in a capitalist society, the development of this society takes place and cannot but take place in the form of class struggle.

You can also talk about interpenetration opposites in conflict. For in any phase of the struggle, each of the opposing tendencies united in the course of the struggle is, in its actual character and action, in many respects subject to influence, change, or penetration by another tendency. Each side of the contradiction is always affected by its connection with the other side of the contradiction.

KRD "Working Way"

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V. I. Lenin, Works, vol. 25, pp. 383, 384