Reason in Revolt: Dialectical Philosophy and Modern Science: Vol 1

Reason in Revolt: Dialectical Philosophy and Modern Science brings together Marxist theory and contemporary science in a single, wide-ranging study — in two volumes. This is Volume 1.

Alan Woods and Ted Grant take the classical method of dialectical materialism and show how it illuminates the latest findings in physics, cosmology, biology, genetics, and logic.

The book begins with the crisis of modern society and “the lag in consciousness,” then moves through the history of philosophy, the role of religion, and the clash between materialism and idealism. A substantial early section introduces dialectics in plain language, using concrete examples: phase transitions in chemistry, Mendeleyev’s periodic table, the electromagnetic spectrum, and the “molecular process of revolution” in complex systems.

From there, the authors tackle formal logic and its limits, contrasting syllogisms and predicate calculus with a more dynamic, contradiction-filled view of thought. The second half of the book turns to time, space, and motion: the revolution in physics, wave–particle duality, quantum mechanics, uncertainty, causality, and chaos. Relativity theory, black holes, thermodynamics, and the “arrow of time” are treated through a philosophical lens, with a sharp critique of Big Bang cosmology and inflation theory, and a sympathetic look at alternative ideas such as the plasma universe.

Reason in Revolt also includes an accessible discussion of the Human Genome Project and what it means for questions of race, genetic determinism, and human potential, as well as an appreciative tribute to Stephen Jay Gould and his concept of punctuated equilibria.

This book will appeal to readers on the left, activists, and students of Marxism, as well as scientifically-minded readers who want a coherent philosophical framework for modern science. It is equally suited to those curious about the relationship between science and religion, or about how ideas in physics and biology connect to wider historical and social change.