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Article 1544 of comp.ai.philosophy:
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>From: yodaiken@chelm.cs.umass.edu (victor yodaiken)
Newsgroups: comp.ai.philosophy
Subject: Re: Is dialectical thought an "informal logic"?
Message-ID: <39681@dime.cs.umass.edu>
Date: 23 Nov 91 11:22:42 GMT
Article-I.D.: dime.39681
References: <5RPRBB5w164w@depsych.Gwinnett.COM> <1991Nov23.012231.3630@nuscc.nus.sg>
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In article <1991Nov23.012231.3630@nuscc.nus.sg> smoliar@hilbert.iss.nus.sg (stephen smoliar) writes:
>In article <5RPRBB5w164w@depsych.Gwinnett.COM> rc@depsych.Gwinnett.COM (Richard
>Carlson) writes:
>>  To me at that
>>time a "dialectician" was a wild-eyed man with a long, scraggly
>>beard wearing foreign, Russian-looking clothes and spouting angry
>>nonsense.
>>

There is a very nice definition of dialectical materialism in the
book "Prisoner of Mao". I cannot recall the authors name right now, but
he was living in China during the anti-rightist campaigns of the late
1950's when his mixed french-chinese background was a definite sign
of criminal activity to the Chinese authorities. While in labor camp
he met a veteran of the Long March who had been imprisoned for not
clapping at the right moments. This fellow explained dialectical materialism
as follows. Suppose, he said, that foreign journalists are allowed to visit 
our workers paradise. They go back to their decadent capitalist nations
and write stories about us: all very negative. The cadres then go the
the leader in a panic --- we have been shamed in front of the world, they
say. The leader is not worried: "If our enemies slander us, we are doing
well, if they praised us, we would know that we were in trouble."
Unfortunately, soon after one of the journalists publishes an article which
warmly praises the Chinese state and its policies. The cadres return
to the leader, deeply worried by this praise from an enemy. But, the
leader, being a master of dialectics, reassures them: "If even our
bitterest enemies must acknowledge our triumphs", he says, "then
we must congratulate ourselves." Thus, the power of dialectical reasoning
is revealed.


