AlanJ: “Q: How many
AlanJ:
“Q: How many Hegelians does it take to screw in a light bulb? A: Two, of course. One stands at one end of the room and argues that it isn’t dark; the other stands across from him and says that true light is impossible. This dialectic creates a synthesis when the bulb gets screwed in. (Explanation : Hegel and Marx use a logical procedure called dialectics to seek answers to seemingly mutual exclusive positions. Shortened it is “thesis, antithesis, synthesis”. Thus ‘no light’ and ‘no dark’ can arrive at a middle ground through logical examination ‘it’s dark but it can be made light’.)”
The correct answer is, of course, “None at all, the light bulb changes itself.”
But, Debs is seriously wide of the mark here. “Thesis, anti-thesis, synthesis” is in fact Kant and Fichte’s method, not Hegel’s. Marx toyed with it in some of his early work, but it is arguable he is also lampooning it.
http://anti-dialectics.co.uk/Thesis_Anti-Thesis_Synthesis.htm
Moreover, for there to be a dialectical change here, light would have to ‘struggle’ with darkness. Has anyone ever witnessed this?
Can light ‘struggle’ with the absence of light?