Evald Ilyenkov 1960

Dialectics of the Abstract & the Concrete

in Marx’s Capital

Written: 1960;

Source: The Dialectics of the Abstract and the Concrete in Marx’s Capital;

Publisher: Progress Publishers, 1982;

Translated: English translation 1982 by Sergei Kuzyakov;

Transcribed: Andy Blunden;

HTML Markup: Andy Blunden.

Chapter 1: Dialectical & Metaphysical Conception of the Concrete

Conception of the Abstract & the Concrete in Dialectics and in Formal Logic

From the History of the Concepts of the Abstract and the Concrete

The Definition of the Concrete in Marx

On the Relation of the Notion to the Concept

The Concept of Man and Some Conclusions from its Analysis

The Concrete and the Dialectics of the Universal and the Individual

Concrete Unity as Unity of Opposites



Chapter 2 - The Unity of the Abstract & the Concrete as a Law of Thought

The Abstract as an Expression of the Concrete

The Dialectical & the Eclectic-Empirical Conception of Comprehensive Consideration

Spiral-Like Character of Development of Reality & its Theoretical Reflection

Scientific Abstraction (Concept) & Practice



Chapter 3 - Ascent from the Abstract to the Concrete

On the Formulation of the Question

Hegel’s Conception of the Concrete

Marx’s View of the Development of Scientific Cognition

Materialist Substantiation of Ascent from Abstract to Concrete in Marx

Adam Smith, David Ricardo, Locke and Spinoza on Political Economy

Deduction and the Problem of Historicism



Chapter 4 - Logical Development and Concrete Historicism

On the Difference Between the Logical and the Historical Methods of Inquiry

Logical Development as Expression of Concrete Historicism in Investigation

Abstract and Concrete Historicism



Chapter 5 - The Method of Ascent from the Abstract to the Concrete in Marx’s Capital

Concrete Fullness of Abstraction and Analysis as a Condition of Theoretical Synthesis

Contradiction as the Condition of Development of Science

Contradictions of Labour Theory of Value and their Dialectical Resolution in Marx

Conradiction as a Principle of Development of Theory



“If I were to begin with the population, this would be a chaotic conception of the whole, and I would then, by means of further determination, move analytically towards ever more simple concepts, from the imagined concrete towards ever thinner abstractions until I had arrived at the simplest determinations. From there the journey would have to be retraced until I had arrived at the population again, but this time not as the chaotic conception of a whole, but as a rich totality of many determinations and relations.” Marx

Glossary References:

Abstract & Concrete | Dialectics | Unity of Opposites | Contradiction

Further reading:

Review of Critique of Political Economy, Engels 1859 | Method of Political Economy, Marx 1857 | Chapter One of Capital, Marx 1867 | Afterword to Second German Edition of Capital, Marx 1873 | Marx’s Grundrisse and Hegel’s Logic, Hiroshi Uchida | Marx at the Millennium, Cyril Smith | Marx’s Capital - Philosophy and Political Economy, Geoff Pilling | Marx's Theory of Alienation, Istvan Meszaros | Logic of Marx’s Capital, Tony Smith

