The Nature of Human Brain Work: An Introduction to Dialectics

This primer on dialectical materialism is the first and best-known work of a pioneer of socialist philosophy. Joseph Dietzgen, a tanner by trade, was self-taught and developed his theory of dialectical materialism independently of Karl Marx. In this book he argues that thinking is a process involving two opposing aspects—generalization and specialization—and all thought is therefore a dialectical process. Knowledge is limited, truth is relative, and the only absolute is existence itself. This cornerstone of socialist philosophy lays the foundation for a nondogmatic, flexible, nonsectarian yet principled socialist politics.

Joseph Dietzgen was a philosopher of social theory and comrade of Karl Marx whose work influenced Vladimir Lenin. He lived in Germany, Russia, and the U.S., where he became the editor of the anarchist publication Chicagoer Arbeiterzeitung after the previous editors were executed for their role in the Haymarket bombings.