Think Twice Show23 Dec 2025

The Philosophy of Dialectical Materialism

Marxism is many things to many people.

For some, it’s a buzzword used by the right-wing to denigrate their political opponents.

For others, it's a comprehensive political ideology that has important and timely critiques of capitalism.

However, ‘Marxism’ makes you feel, today we dig below the surface and look at the philosophy of Karl Marx that came before the politics- Dialectical Materialism.

The philosophy is a combination of two distinct ideas.

The first is Dialectics, which has European roots in Ancient Greece (Plato) and is understood in traditions all over the globe. Put simply, Dialectics is the principle that ideas are constantly in conflict with opposing ideas and this tension causes the birth of new ideas in a never ending process that drives human progress. Hegel, who was Karl Marx’ mentor, is often attributed as the author of this framework and the father of ‘modern’ Dialectics.

Marx took Hegel’s Dialectic and applied it to the second idea, Materialism, to create Dialectical Materialism. In a break from Hegel’s idealism (the belief that consciousness gives rise to the material world), Marx believed in the primacy of the material world (materialism).

Instead of ideas driving human progress, Marx explained the history of humanity as a material class struggle between the capitalist class and workers, which would end in a Communist worker’s paradise.

In today's episode, we try to unpack Marx's ideas and interrogate the materialist worldview from a modern perspective.

Subscribe to our

Youtube

TikTok

Instagram

--------------------

Topics: Karl Marx, Marxism, Leftists, Dialectical Materialism, Plato, African Spirituality, Buddhism, Capitalism, Revolution, Human progress, Hegel, Engels, Plato, Dialectics, Hoteps

Det här avsnittet är hämtat från ett öppet RSS-flöde och publiceras inte av Podme. Det kan innehålla reklam.

Avsnitt(59)

Season 6 Wrap up

Thinkers!Sorry that we couldn't release our season finale today- our guest has had some issues come up that prevent us from releasing our episode at the moment.BUT thank you for supporting us this sea...

16 Juli 2min

The Politics of Storytelling ft Kelechi Okafor

Around 65,000 years ago, our ancestors painted an everyday scene on the wall of a cave in Indonesia. It tells the story of 3 human beings surrounding a pig, possibly on hunt.In 2026, the tools, custom...

10 Juli 45min

The Philosophy of Parenthood

“It starts at home.” It’s where we first feel love, where we say our first words and crucially, where our parents raise us.And our parents’ choices mould us into the adults we are today.Today we have ...

2 Juli 45min

The Philosophy of Judgement

It feels natural to judge people based on what we see.After all, we experienced the world through our senses- our sight, smell and touch. And we analyse what we experience, including the people we mee...

25 Juni 37min

The Politics of Violence

The story of humanity has always been a violent one. For millenia, empires have risen and fallen based on conquest, and war has been an ever present feature of modern politics.In 2026, nothing seems t...

18 Juni 39min

The Philosophy of Sustainability

Humanity is facing an existential crisis and we aren't taking it seriously enough.Planet Earth is facing climate change at an alarming rate and the place we all call home is set to change forever. Exp...

11 Juni 33min

The Politics of Childhood

What are the next generation concerned about? What excites them? And how different are their childhoods from ours? Today we head into a school to try to answer these important questions with London's ...

4 Juni 39min

The Philosophy of Absurdism

What is the meaning of life?One of the most famous Europeans to tackle this question was Albert Camus, a French writer and thinker who is often accredited with being the founder of Absurdism. In his b...

28 Maj 31min