Engels: On the scientistic foundation of Marxism
After the clear, precise, and convincing words of Professor Wetter, I should now like to turn to an aspect of the problem of Engels' generalization of Marx' dialectic of history. In doing so, my intention is not to tackle Engels' attempt at dialectic of nature but rather, within the meaning of a broader interpretation of the concept of an "Engels Variant9* as used by Professor Wetter, to deal with the discussion of the dialectic of nature by Soviet philosophers. At the centre of this discussion we find Engels' attempt to define mechanical spatial motion, which is understood to be necessarily inherent in all higher forms of motion. Engels's definition of motion is regarded as a standard example of a dialectical contradiction, the "nature of self-motion".1