Logic as a Positive Science
Encyclopedia
Logic as a Positive Science is one of the major works of Italian Marxist philosopher Galvano Della Volpe
. It was first published in 1950 as Logica come Scienza positiva. A second edition appeared in 1956 and according to translator, Jon Rothschild, Della Volpe was reportedly working on a third edition at the time of his death in 1968 which was never completed. The definitive, enlarged edition was published posthumously in 1969 under the slightly different title Logica Come Scienza Storica Jon Rothschild translated the book into English for New Left Books (now Verso), and was first published by them as Logic as a Positive Science in 1980.
The book's thesis is that the progress made in philosophy has come out of struggles against apriorist idealism. Della Volpe provides several case studies of such critiques of apriorism including Plato
's critique of Parmenides
, Aristotle
's critique of Plato, Galileo's critique of scholastic science, Kant
's critique of Leibniz's rationalism, and the young Marx's critique of Hegelian idealism.
Della Volpe used those case studies in order to defend the thesis that Marxism is a science to the extent that it relies upon a Galilean methodology, not unlike the one that he saw as underlying the natural sciences. For Della Volpe, Capital
is the best exemplification of this moral Galileanism in practice, with Marx exploding the apriorist reasonings of the classical economists, which involved reliance upon 'speculative' or 'forced' abstractions that implied the existence of natural and eternal economic laws. Instead, Marx followed a methodology that relied upon determinate abstractions instead. Della Volpe analyzed Marx's methodology as one which followed the pattern of Concrete-Abstract-Concrete (C-A-C), which is the pattern or circle of scientific materialist dialectics (as opposed to Hegelian dialectics which, according to Della Volpe, follows the circle of Abstract-Concrete-Abstract).
In developing this analysis of Marx, Della Volpe advanced an understanding of the logic of scientific verification that was not unlike the one that Karl Popper
presented in his Logic of Scientific Discovery. However, it would seem that Della Volpe did not rely upon Popper in developing his analysis but instead relied on such writers as Galileo, Lord Bacon
,
Claude Bernard
, John Dewey
, and Friedrich Engels
. Whereas, Popper was concerned in The Logic of Scientific Discovery was concerned with providing solutions to the demarcation problem (i.e. rules for distinguishing science from non-science) and the induction problem, Della Volpe was concerned mainly with demonstrating that the "moral sciences" follow the same logic as the natural or positive sciences, and with showing that Marx had likewise embraced what Della Volpe called a "moral Galileanism."
Galvano Della Volpe
Galvano Della Volpe was an Italian professor of philosophy and Marxist theorist. In Italy, his work was seen by many as a 'scientific' alternative to the Gramscian Marxism which the PCI had claimed as its guide...
. It was first published in 1950 as Logica come Scienza positiva. A second edition appeared in 1956 and according to translator, Jon Rothschild, Della Volpe was reportedly working on a third edition at the time of his death in 1968 which was never completed. The definitive, enlarged edition was published posthumously in 1969 under the slightly different title Logica Come Scienza Storica Jon Rothschild translated the book into English for New Left Books (now Verso), and was first published by them as Logic as a Positive Science in 1980.
The book's thesis is that the progress made in philosophy has come out of struggles against apriorist idealism. Della Volpe provides several case studies of such critiques of apriorism including Plato
Plato
Plato , was a Classical Greek philosopher, mathematician, student of Socrates, writer of philosophical dialogues, and founder of the Academy in Athens, the first institution of higher learning in the Western world. Along with his mentor, Socrates, and his student, Aristotle, Plato helped to lay the...
's critique of Parmenides
Parmenides
Parmenides of Elea was an ancient Greek philosopher born in Elea, a Greek city on the southern coast of Italy. He was the founder of the Eleatic school of philosophy. The single known work of Parmenides is a poem, On Nature, which has survived only in fragmentary form. In this poem, Parmenides...
, Aristotle
Aristotle
Aristotle was a Greek philosopher and polymath, a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. His writings cover many subjects, including physics, metaphysics, poetry, theater, music, logic, rhetoric, linguistics, politics, government, ethics, biology, and zoology...
's critique of Plato, Galileo's critique of scholastic science, Kant
KANT
KANT is a computer algebra system for mathematicians interested in algebraic number theory, performing sophisticated computations in algebraic number fields, in global function fields, and in local fields. KASH is the associated command line interface...
's critique of Leibniz's rationalism, and the young Marx's critique of Hegelian idealism.
Della Volpe used those case studies in order to defend the thesis that Marxism is a science to the extent that it relies upon a Galilean methodology, not unlike the one that he saw as underlying the natural sciences. For Della Volpe, Capital
Das Kapital
Das Kapital, Kritik der politischen Ökonomie , by Karl Marx, is a critical analysis of capitalism as political economy, meant to reveal the economic laws of the capitalist mode of production, and how it was the precursor of the socialist mode of production.- Themes :In Capital: Critique of...
is the best exemplification of this moral Galileanism in practice, with Marx exploding the apriorist reasonings of the classical economists, which involved reliance upon 'speculative' or 'forced' abstractions that implied the existence of natural and eternal economic laws. Instead, Marx followed a methodology that relied upon determinate abstractions instead. Della Volpe analyzed Marx's methodology as one which followed the pattern of Concrete-Abstract-Concrete (C-A-C), which is the pattern or circle of scientific materialist dialectics (as opposed to Hegelian dialectics which, according to Della Volpe, follows the circle of Abstract-Concrete-Abstract).
In developing this analysis of Marx, Della Volpe advanced an understanding of the logic of scientific verification that was not unlike the one that Karl Popper
Karl Popper
Sir Karl Raimund Popper, CH FRS FBA was an Austro-British philosopher and a professor at the London School of Economics...
presented in his Logic of Scientific Discovery. However, it would seem that Della Volpe did not rely upon Popper in developing his analysis but instead relied on such writers as Galileo, Lord Bacon
Francis Bacon
Francis Bacon, 1st Viscount St Albans, KC was an English philosopher, statesman, scientist, lawyer, jurist, author and pioneer of the scientific method. He served both as Attorney General and Lord Chancellor of England...
,
Claude Bernard
Claude Bernard
Claude Bernard was a French physiologist. He was the first to define the term milieu intérieur . Historian of science I. Bernard Cohen of Harvard University called Bernard "one of the greatest of all men of science"...
, John Dewey
John Dewey
John Dewey was an American philosopher, psychologist and educational reformer whose ideas have been influential in education and social reform. Dewey was an important early developer of the philosophy of pragmatism and one of the founders of functional psychology...
, and Friedrich Engels
Friedrich Engels
Friedrich Engels was a German industrialist, social scientist, author, political theorist, philosopher, and father of Marxist theory, alongside Karl Marx. In 1845 he published The Condition of the Working Class in England, based on personal observations and research...
. Whereas, Popper was concerned in The Logic of Scientific Discovery was concerned with providing solutions to the demarcation problem (i.e. rules for distinguishing science from non-science) and the induction problem, Della Volpe was concerned mainly with demonstrating that the "moral sciences" follow the same logic as the natural or positive sciences, and with showing that Marx had likewise embraced what Della Volpe called a "moral Galileanism."