Hegelian dialectic

American  

noun

1. an interpretive method, originally used to relate specific entities or events to the absolute idea, in which some assertible proposition thesis is necessarily opposed by an equally assertible and apparently contradictory proposition antithesis, the mutual contradiction being reconciled on a higher level of truth by a third proposition synthesis.

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Hegelian dialectic British  

/ hɪˈɡeɪlɪan, heɪˈɡiː- /

noun

1. philosophy an interpretive method in which the contradiction between a proposition (thesis) and its antithesis is resolved at a higher level of truth (synthesis)

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Example Sentences

Marx proposed an alternative to the Hegelian dialectic, called dialectical materialism.

From Textbooks • Jun. 15, 2022

This three-part structure has deep roots in the humanities tracking back to the Hegelian dialectic of thesis, antithesis, synthesis.

From Scientific American • Mar. 11, 2020

Shouldn’t they study geology, chemistry and microbiology rather than Euclidian geometry and Hegelian dialectic?

From Washington Post

This disdain is expressed most systematically by Philosopher Herbert Marcuse, who through an elaboration of the Hegelian dialectic has decided that civil liberties are the opposite of what they seem.

From Time Magazine Archive

For, if I may be permitted to toy with the Hegelian dialectic in the manner of Marx, no man can be a fruitful idealist until he has become a materialist.

From Socialism: Positive and Negative by La Monte, Robert Rives