Papers by Dominique Meeùs
Marx and Engels showed that the history of the human world is not static, nor even cyclic, but is... more Marx and Engels showed that the history of the human world is not static, nor even cyclic, but is a forward movement, that can be explained and, to a certain extent, predicted (Communist Manifesto). This history cannot be understood without considering the necessity for the human animal to provide the means of existence for itself by work (production) in certain social relations. Marx untangled an unsolved problem of classical political economy, the origin of wealth under capitalism, by taking the difference (surplus value) between the work done by a worker and the work necessary to provide his or her means of existence. Engels may be associated with this breakthrough. For the physical world, Newtonian mechanics proved extremely fruitful but its very success could induce a mechanistic, static view of the world. Engels is remarkable for having seen in some of the advances of science in his time the sign that the physical world too has a history. Already in the Newtonian heritage, there were hints in that direction, like the origin of celestial bodies or the slowing down of the Earth by the tides (Laplace, Kant…) Engels felt the importance of conservation and transformation of energy, of biological evolution (geology, Lamarck, Darwin…), of the unity of the biological world based on the cell. Observing the advances of organic chemistry he stressed the unity of the whole, together with its evolutionary character, from inanimate matter to life, to mind and to society. The relation between dialectics and science has far reaching consequences for dialectics. Dialectics does not prove anything and one should not rely on dialectics to decide what is true or what is not true.
Les Cahiers du GRIF, 1985
C. R. Acad. Sci. Paris, 1971
C. R.Acad. Sci. Paris, 1970
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Papers by Dominique Meeùs