Between Systematicity and Historicity: The Dialectics of Das Kapital

Abstract: Different understandings of the dialectics in Das Kapital have given rise to two interpretive models: systematic dialectics and historical dialectics. Systematic dialectics emphasizes the systematic relationships and logical priority of economic categories. It is a method that unleashes the "Hegelian elements" in Marx's dialectical thought. Historical dialectics, on the other hand, unfolds its arguments from the historical premises of logical abstractions and the historical preconditions of social production. To understand the controversy over the forms of the dialectics in Das Kapital, we need to return to Marx's original purpose of writing Das Kapital and the textual structure. The research object of the dialectics in Das Kapital is an entirety formed by the internal connections of various economic categories of capitalism. The reason for the change in the narrative structure of Das Kapital is the continuous concretization of abstract categories, which impelled Marx to perfect the labor theory of value and the theory of surplus value, and ultimately form the scientific structure of Das Kapital. The change in the narrative structure of Das Kapital implies that Marx shifted from emphasizing the logical relationships of economic categories to strengthening the empirical analysis of specific links, and the dialectics in Das Kapital tilted from systematicity towards historicity. The specific application of the dialectics in Das Kapital is the combination of the dual methods of logical deduction of capitalist economic categories and empirical analysis of social reality. Both systematicity and historicity jointly determine the basic structure and theoretical purpose of the dialectics in Das Kapital. Paradoxically, the contradictory tension between systematicity and historicity enhances the dialectics' ability to criticize reality.