Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun The art or practice of arriving at the truth by the exchange of logical arguments.
  • noun The process especially associated with Hegel of arriving at the truth by stating a thesis, developing a contradictory antithesis, and combining and resolving them into a coherent synthesis.
  • noun The Marxian process of change through the conflict of opposing forces, whereby a given contradiction is characterized by a primary and a secondary aspect, the secondary succumbing to the primary, which is then transformed into an aspect of a new contradiction.
  • noun A method of argument or exposition that systematically weighs contradictory facts or ideas with a view to the resolution of their real or apparent contradictions.
  • noun The contradiction between two conflicting forces viewed as the determining factor in their continuing interaction.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Relating to the art of reasoning about probabilities; pertaining to scholastic disputation. Kantians sometimes use the word in the sense of pertaining to false argumentation.
  • Of or pertaining to a dialect or dialects; dialectal.
  • Also dialectical.
  • noun [= French dialectique = Sp. dialéctica = Pg. dialectica = It. dialettica = G. Dan. Sw. dialektik, ⟨ L. dialectica, ⟨ Gr. διαλεκτική (sc. τέχνη), the dialectic art, the art of discussion, logical debate, also the logic of probabilities, fem. of διαλεκτικός, belonging to disputation: see I.]
  • noun Logic, or a branch of logic; specifically, the art of critical examination into the truth of an opinion; inductive logic applied to philosophy; the logic of probable reasoning; the art of discussion and of disputation; logic applied to rhetoric and refutation.
  • noun Skill in disputation. Also dialectics.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun Same as dialectics.
  • adjective Pertaining to dialectics; logical; argumental.
  • adjective Pertaining to a dialect or to dialects.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun Any formal system of reasoning that arrives at a truth by the exchange of logical arguments.
  • noun A contradiction of ideas that serves as the determining factor in their interaction.
  • adjective dialectical

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun any formal system of reasoning that arrives at the truth by the exchange of logical arguments
  • adjective of or relating to or employing dialectic
  • noun a contradiction of ideas that serves as the determining factor in their interaction

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English dialetik, from Old French dialetique, from Latin dialectica, logic, from Greek dialektikē (tekhnē), (art) of debate, feminine of dialektikos, from dialektos, speech, conversation; see dialect.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Ancient Greek διαλεκτική (dialektike, "the art of argument through interactive questioning and answering"), from διαλεκτικός (dialektikos, "competent debater"), from διαλέγομαι (dialegomai, "to participate in a dialogue"), from διά (dia, "through, across") + λέγειν (legein, "to speak").

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word dialectic.

Examples

  • The ancient Greeks used the term dialectic to refer to various methods of reasoning and discussion in order to discover the truth.

    Recently Uploaded Slideshows 2009

  • The caricature of the dialectic is a boiling-down of every historical or philosophical pattern to two concepts in conflict with each other — depending on the caricature, either one concept inevitably prevails, or the two are mashed up into a crude "synthesis."

    No problem Matthew Guerrieri 2007

  • The caricature of the dialectic is a boiling-down of every historical or philosophical pattern to two concepts in conflict with each other — depending on the caricature, either one concept inevitably prevails, or the two are mashed up into a crude "synthesis."

    Archive 2007-09-01 Matthew Guerrieri 2007

  • The Marxist-Leninists call it dialectic materialism. say one thig to mask the fact that you mean the opposite.

    Think Progress » BUSH VIDEO: “We Must Always Ask Ourselves Not Only What Is Legal, But What Is Right” 2005

  • Then this is the progress which you call dialectic?

    The Republic by Plato ; translated by Benjamin Jowett 2006

  • Then this is the progress which you call dialectic?

    The Republic 427? BC-347? BC Plato 1855

  • Then this is the progress which you call dialectic?

    The Republic of Plato Plato 1763

  • e. with reality, it was natural that the term dialectic should be again extended from function to object, from thought to thing; and so, even as early as Plato, it had come to signify the whole science of reality, both as to method and as to content, thus nearly approaching what has been from a somewhat later period universally known as metaphysics.

    The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume 4: Clandestinity-Diocesan Chancery 1840-1916 1913

  • To become a really great lawyer you will need to internalize the process of having a dialog with the text - call it dialectic reasoning, or an internal Socratic Dialog if you must.

    Discourse.net: A Note for my 1L Torts Class 2009

  • Saying that, there is a certain dialectic (in the simple sense of the term) involved here, in terms of community norms that can be reasonably conceived and established within the context of both the law and wider moral/ethical considerations at the community level.

    The Volokh Conspiracy » A Sad Victory for Thuggery in Texas 2010

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.

  • Hegelian dialectic: triads, thesis-antithesis-synthesis

    immediate-mediate-concrete

    Kant: abstract-negative-concrete

    December 2, 2010

  • "Whereas the purpose of logic is classically said to be a method of arriving at the truth, dialectic, says |Arthur| Schopenhauer, "...on the other hand, would treat of the intercourse between two rational beings who, because they are rational, ought to think in common, but who, as soon as they cease to agree like two clocks keeping exactly the same time, create a disputation, or intellectual contest.""

    -- http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=The_Art_of_Being_Right&oldid=530348267

    February 4, 2013

  • can you overdose on cough drop

    February 5, 2013