An Examination of DialecticEtymology: Middle English dialetik, from Anglo-French dialetiqe, from Latin dialectica, from Greek dialektikE, from Old French dialetique, from feminine of dialektikos of conversation, from dialektos.- The art or practice of arriving at the truth by the exchange of logical arguments.- dialectics (used with a sing. verb) 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.- The contradiction between two conflicting forces viewed as the determining factor in their continuing interaction.- The method of refutation by examining logical consequences.- Contradiction of ideas that serves as the determining factor in their interaction.- Exposing contradictions in logic.- Logical reasoning or debate.- Understanding general, abstract ideas through investigation of particular cases or hypothesis.- a : discussion and reasoning by dialogue as a method of intellectual investigation; specifically : the Socratic techniques of exposing false beliefs and eliciting truth b : the Platonic investigation of the eternal ideas.- usually plural but singular or plural in construction a : any systematic reasoning, exposition, or argument that juxtaposes opposed or contradictory ideas and usually seeks to resolve their conflict b : anintellectual exchange of ideas.- The dialectical tension or opposition between two interacting forces or elements.- The logic of fallacy.- The general definition for dialectic is as follows: "a method of reasoning that compares and contrasts opposing points of view in order to find a new point of view that will incorporate whatever is true in the originals."- a. 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 the investigation ofthis process; b. Hegel's critical method for the investigation of this process.;c. the Hegelian process of change in which a concept or its realization passes over into and is preserved and fulfilled by its opposite; also : the critical investigation of this process. - a. 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. Often used in the plural with a singular or plural verb. b. The Marxian critique of this process.- dialectic (dī lĕkə 'tĭk) [Gr.,= art of conversation], in philosophy, term originally applied to the method of philosophizing by means of question and answer employed by certain ancient philosophers, notably Socrates. For Plato the term came to apply more strictly to logical method and meant the reduction of what is multiple in our experience of phenomena to the unity of systematically organized concepts or ideas. Immanuel Kant gave the name “Transcendental Dialectic” (the title of one section of his Critique of Pure Reason) to his endeavor to expose the illusion of judgments that attempt to transcend the limits of experience. G. W. F. Hegel applied the term dialectic to the logical method of his philosophy, which proceeds from thesis through antithesis to synthesis. Hegel's method was appropriated by Karl Marx andFriedrich Engels in their philosophy of dialectical materialism.- In classical philosophy, dialectic (Greek: διαλεκτική) is an exchange of propositions (theses) and counter-propositions (antitheses) resulting in a synthesis of the opposing assertions, or at least a qualitative transformation in the direction of the dialogue. It is one of the three original liberal arts or trivium (the other members are rhetoric and grammar) in Western culture. In ancient and medieval times,both rhetoric and dialectic were understood to aim at being persuasive (through dialogue). The aim of the dialectical method, often known as dialectic or dialectics, is to try to resolve the disagreement 1through rational discussion. One way — the Socratic method — is to show that a given hypothesis (withother admissions) leads to a contradiction; thus, forcing the withdrawal of the hypothesis as a candidate for truth. Another way of trying to resolve a disagreement is by denying some presupposition of the contending thesis and antithesis; thereby moving to a third (syn)thesis."The history of the term dialectic would by itself constitute a considerable history of philosophy" (Barbara Cassin, ed., Vocabulaire européen des philosophies [Paris: Le Robert & Seuil, 2004], p. 306, trans. M.K. Jensen). Briefly, the term "dialectic" owes much of its prestige to its role in the philosophy of Socrates and Plato, where it figures as the logical method of philosophy in the Socratic dialectical method of cross-examination. The term was given new life by Hegel, whose dialectically dynamic model of nature and of history made it, as it were, a fundamental aspect of the nature of reality (instead of regarding the contradictions into which dialectics leads as a sign of the sterility of the dialectical method, as Kant tended to do in his Critique of Pure Reason). In the mid-nineteenth century, the concept of "dialectic" was appropriated by Marx (see, for example, Das Kapital, published in 1867) and Engels and retooled in a non-idealist manner, becoming a crucial notion in their philosophy of dialectical materialism. Thus this concept came, for a time, to play a prominent role on the world stage and in world history. Today, "dialectics" can also refer to an understanding of how we can or should perceive the world (epistemology), an assertion of the interconnected, contradictory, and dynamic nature of the world outside our perception ofit (ontology), or a method of presentation of ideas or conclusions. Also you could look at these sides as Apollonian and Dionysian.Presocratic DialecticHeraclitus lived in the then flourishing Ionian Greek city of Ephesus, located on the western coast of present-day Turkey. The era during which he lived has been called the Shower of Stars by Will Durant and the center ofthe Axial Age by Karl Jaspers. Heraclitus flourished around 500 B.C., when the Buddha, Lao Tzu, Confucius, and Zarathustra were also alive and teaching in the East. The complete text of Heraclitus' book has been lost; however, since he was frequently quoted by other ancient