a method of viewing the diversity of phenomena in the world that posits a single principle or source (substance) for all that exists; a method of formulating a logically consistent theory from a single initial proposition.
The opposites of monism are dualism, which recognizes two independent principles, and pluralism, which assumes a plurality of principles. Monism originally took the form of naive notions about the primary substance from which all things arose; for example, Thales believed this substance to be water, while Heraclitus asserted that it was fire. The main philosophical problem of monism is the way of comprehending the relationship between the material and the ideal; this presupposes the solution of the fundamental question of philosophy from a materialist or idealist standpoint. Materialist monism states that the ideal proceeds from the material; it rejects both objective-idealist and subjective-idealist monism. One of the varieties of the latter is neutral monism (Machism, empiriomonism), which seeks to trace both the physical and the mental back to some neutral substance—for example, elements, according to E. Mach. Idealist monism, facing the fundamentally insoluble task of giving a rational explanation for the “creation” of the world by consciousness or spirit, comes to contradict the data of natural science and logic. Dualism, which asserts the mutual independence of material and spiritual substances, cannot explain the agreement between physical and mental processes in human conduct (as in the dualistic philosophy of R. Descartes).
Unlike idealist monism and dualism, materialist monism considers the ideal a property and function of matter. However, metaphysical materialism, which seeks to link the ideal directly with nature, cannot explain either the rise of the ideal from the material or the conversion of the ideal into a material force; it cannot use the principle of materialist monism to attain an understanding of human society. The highest and only consistent form of monism is dialectical materialism, which links the principle of the material unity of the world with the principle of development. Dialectical materialism has proved that all the diverse phenomena of nature, society, and human consciousness are the end product of developing matter.
The introduction into philosophy of the category of practice made it possible to regard the two opposites, the material and the ideal, as arising in history and turning one into the other. The category of practice has enabled philosophers to combine the teachings on being and knowledge into a single view, to complete the edifice of materialism, to make it the philosophy of action, and to create a single methodology of revolutionary thought and revolutionary action.
The integrity of the teachings of Marxism-Leninism is a model of the monistic development of a theory. Dialectical materialist monism is not only a world view but a logical and methodological principle that requires that a theory reveal the inner unity and connection of phenomena. Dialectical materialist monism demands consistency in a specific view of the facts and requires the systematic ascent from the abstract to the concrete and from the general law to its specific manifestations.
L. K. NAUMENKO