Dialectical materialism

"My dialectic method is not only different from the Hegelian, but is its direct opposite. To Hegel, [...] the process of thinking which, under the name of 'the Idea,' he even transforms into an independent subject, is the demiurgos (creator) of the real world, and the real world is only the external, phenomenal form of 'the Idea.' With me, on the contrary, the ideal is nothing else than the material world reflected by the human mind and translated into forms of thought." —Karl Marx

Cover of Theses on Feuerbach, an early work by Karl Marx which would elaborate many principles of what would become dialectical materialism.

Dialectical materialism, or materialist dialectics is the philosophical framework of Marxism. It incorporates a materialist understanding of reality and studies it in a way which is dialectical. The application of dialectical materialism to the areas of history, sociology, economics, and politics is known as historical materialism.

Further reading

• Dialectical and Historical Materialism, by Joseph Stalin