Dialectic has meant different things to different philosophers. No single definition can cover all legitimate uses of this term.

辩证法对于不同的哲学家意味着不同的事物。单一的定义无法涵盖该术语所有的合理使用。

Before 1800.  Originally, dialectic was the method employed by Zeno of Elea in the 5the century B. C. to show that the position of his opponents gave rise to paradoxes. These paradoxes are still widely discussed.

1800年之前。最初，辩证法是公元前5世纪埃利亚的芝诺为展示其对手立场产生的悖论所使用的方法。现在，这些悖论依然被广泛讨论。

Influenced by Zeno and Socrates (see DIALOGUE), Plato called dialectic the supreme science and contrasted it with deduction. His dialectic moves upward from premises to presuppositions and ultimately to the eternal Forms. Dialectic is needed for, but does not always lead to, the mystical vision of the highest Form, the Good. This fusion of intellectual training and mysticism also characterized Neoplatonism, which associated dialectic with THREE stages. The world was said to be governed by a pattern of unity—going out of, and returning into, oneself.

受到芝诺和苏格拉底的影响，柏拉图称辩证法为至高的科学，并将它与演绎法相对比。他的辩证法从前提上升至预设，最终上升到永恒的形式。因为善需要辩证法，但它不会总是通向最高形式的神秘幻象。这种智力训练和神秘主义的融合同样是新柏拉图主义的特征，它将辩证法与三个阶段联系在一起。

In Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason (1781) dialectic becomes “the logic of illusion,” while “Transcendental Dialectic” (half of the book) is defined as “a critique of this dialectical illusion.” Under this heading Kant offered his epoch-making attacks on dogmatical psychology and cosmology and on attempts to prove God’s existence. To show how reason becomes involved in contradictions when it transcends experience, he offered four theses and four antitheses on facing pages. Soon Fichte introduced the THREE-steps of thesis, antithesis, and synthesis; and Schelling took up these terms. Hegel did not.

在康德的《纯粹理性批判》（1781年）中，辩证法变成了“错觉的逻辑”，而“先验辩证法”（该书的一半）被定义为“对这一辩证法错觉的批判”。在这个标题下，康德对教条主义的心理学和宇宙论，以及试图证明上帝的存在发动了他划时代的攻击。为展示当理性超越了经验，它是如何卷入矛盾的，他在对开页上提出了四个正题和四个反题。不久，费希特对正题、反题，以及综合引入了三步法；而且谢林吸纳了这些术语。黑格尔却没有。

Since 1800. Nevertheless, it is widely assumed that Hegel invented the dialectic in which every thesis generates an antithesis, and then a synthesis (a fusion of both) that becomes the thesis of another triad. In fact, Hegel derided such mechanical formalism, and his triads cannot be reduced to such terms. His dialectic is neither a law nor a rigorous method. He insisted that everything spiritual must be comprehended through its development, and he established the historical approach to philosophy, religion, and art. He stressed conflict and ironical reversals. Pushed to their limits, concepts and views change strikingly, but not in any precise sense into their opposites.

自1800年以来。然而，人们普遍认为黑格尔创造了辩证法，其中，每个正题都会产生一个反题，然后是一个综合（二者的融合），以至于变成了另一个三元组的正题。实际上，黑格尔嘲笑过这种机械的形式主义，而他的三元组也无法简化为这样的术语。他的新方法既不是法则，也不是一种严格的方法。他坚持认为，一切精神的东西都必须通过它的发展来理解，并且他建立了研究哲学、宗教和艺术的历史方法。他强调了冲突和具有讽刺意味的逆转。当将它们推向极限，概念和观点发生了惊人的变化，但在任何确切的意义上并没有变成它们的对立面。

Marx rejected Hegel’s emphasis on spirit and stressed economic factors, while consciously adopting Hegel’s dialectic (see DIALECTICAL MATERIALISM). Kierkegaard attacked Hegel from a Christian point of view but also prized his dialectic; and neo-orthodox Protestant theology has been called “dialectical theology.”

马克思拒绝黑格尔对精神的强调，而强调经济的因素，同时有意识地采纳了黑格尔的辩证法（见辩证唯物主义词条）。虽然克尔凯郭尔从基督教的观点攻击了黑格尔，但也珍视他的辩证法；而且新正统派的新教神学被称为了“辩证神学”。

Today “dialectic” usually suggests some subtle ironical development, and not sophistry. But when no meaning is specified and no historical reference implied, the term lacks precision.

今天，“辩证法”通常意味着某些微妙的讽刺发展，而不是诡辩。但当没有指定含义，并且没有隐含历史参考时，该术语就缺乏了精确性。

                            WALTER KAUFMANN, Author of “Hegel”

                           沃尔特·考夫曼，“《黑格尔》”的作者

                                                              2023年11月23日译

（译者注：该词条位列《大美百科全书》1985年版，第9卷，第56页