76 SOCIAL SCIENTIST Essence of Dialectics Engels called dialectics the science of inter-connections and "the science of the general laws of motion and development of nature, society and thought."1 ^-Development" from the dialectical point of view is self-development in which the dialectical contradiction is ihe cause, source, motive force of all change and development. A correct understanding of contradiction is therefore essential and this is what Lenin was refering to when he noted while reading Hegel. "In brief, dialectics can be denned as the doctrine of the unity of opposites. This embodies the essence of dialectics, but it requires explanation and development."2 Precisely! Explanation and development is what Ilyenkov is concerned with. As pointed out above for Marxist philosophers an important problem lies in determining the relationship between ^thought' on the one hand, and nature and society on the other. Following Engels, Marxist philosophy differentiates between objective and subjective dialectics. Objective dialectics (Lenin called it. "The dialectics of things themselves, of nature itself of the course of events itself"8) exists independently of our (man's) consciousness of it and is primary. Subjective dialectics, the dialectics of thought is a reflection of objective dialectics. Reflection is ofcourse not a passive category as some critics of Materialism continue to misunderstand. On the contrary, it is an active and creative process based on the social praxis of man. Engels pointed out, that subjective dialectics, dialectical thought, conform to the same general laws which govern the processes of nature and society. The material unity of the world is a fundamental thesis in Marxism. Dialectics as method is the conscious systematic application of the laws of dialectics in the practical appropriation of the material world. On the basis of the theory of reflection, Marxism-Leninism thus overcomes the dualist opposition between thought and being, which was also responsible for the separation in philosophy between ontology, epistemology and logic. The unity or coincidence of the laws of thought and being on the basis of the fact that knowledge is reflection of the external world leads to the insight (prepared by Marx and formulated precisely by Lenin) that Logic, the theory of knowledge and dialectics build a unity. Lenin thus wrote, If Marx did not leave behind him a e Logic9 (with a capital letter), he did leave the logic of Capital, and this ought to be utilised to the full in this question. In Capital Marx applied to a single science Logic, dialectics, and the theory of knowledge of materialism (three words are not needed: it is one and the same thing) which has taken everything valuable in Hegel and taken it further.4 Reconstruction of the Dialectical Method Lenin^s remarks also furnish the framework for Part Two of Ilyenkov's book. A reconstruction of the Dialectical Logical method in