Socialist Appeal
The Marxist voice of Labour and youth
How do we acquire knowledge? Is there a real world beyond our senses? And if so, what is our relation to it? In this important theoretical contribution, Alan Woods mounts a defence of materialism against idealism and the obscurantist, postmodernist subjectivism popular on university campuses today.
Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel was born 250 years ago on 27 August 1770 in the German city of Stuttgart. A towering genius with an encyclopaedic mind, Hegel revolutionised every field that he dedicated himself to. The impact of Hegel’s ideas cannot be underestimated. As Marxists, we owe him a tremendous debt.
Revelations that Dominic Cummings sat on the government’s scientific advisory committee have raised question marks over just how ‘impartial’ expert advice is. Under capitalism, science will never be truly objective or independent.
Yesterday was the 160th anniversary of Darwin's 'Origin of Species'. Albeit unconsciously, Darwin's theory of evolution revealed how nature operates dialectically. This radically challenged the ideology of the ruling class.
Far from fuelling scientific progress, the profit motive and capitalist competition have become an enormous barrier to advancing humanity's understanding of nature. Only a socialist plan can free science from these chains.