Marx and Engels developed their theory of knowledge in the nineteenth century, at a historical moment when science was still largely shaped by the paradigm of Newtonian mechanics, the principles of classical chemistry, and the first outlines of evolutionary biology as articulated by Darwin. The universe was imagined as a vast mechanical clockwork governed by deterministic laws, matter was treated as inert substance moved by external forces, and life was only beginning to be explained in naturalistic terms. Against this backdrop—and against the dominant idealist philosophies of Hegelianism and its successors—Marx and Engels advanced a radically different conception of knowledge. They rejected the idea that truth was an abstract play of concepts or a detached contemplation of eternal forms. Instead, they argued that knowledge is inseparably rooted in material life and arises in the concrete activity of human beings as they engage with the world.
For Marx and Engels, the decisive fact about knowledge is that human beings come to understand reality by transforming it. In the act of labor, they do not merely observe nature; they alter it, harness its forces, and shape it to their purposes. In this transformative process, human beings also change themselves, expanding their capacities, deepening their awareness, and creating new forms of social life. Knowledge, therefore, is born not in pure thought but in praxis—in the unity of labor, social relations, and revolutionary struggle. Marx described this movement in precise terms: “From living perception to abstract thought, and from abstract thought to practice.” This was not just a formula but the very rhythm of Marxist epistemology: perception gives rise to abstraction, abstraction returns to practice, and practice produces new perceptions. The dialectic of knowledge is thus an open-ended cycle of activity, reflection, and transformation.
Yet, profound as these insights were, the intellectual universe inhabited by Marx and Engels was still at the dawn of modern science. They had no way of anticipating the revolutionary discoveries that would overturn classical assumptions in the centuries to follow: Einstein’s relativity, which shattered the Newtonian notions of absolute space and time; quantum physics, which revealed the indeterminacy and probabilistic nature of matter; molecular biology, which uncovered the genetic code and the molecular machinery of life; neuroscience, which began to map the brain as a dynamic network of electrochemical processes; complexity theory, which showed how order emerges from chaos through self-organization; and artificial intelligence, which now raises the possibility that cognitive capacities are not unique to humans but a potential of organized matter itself. Each of these breakthroughs has profoundly transformed our understanding of matter, mind, and society.
If Marxism is to remain what it always claimed to be—a living science of history and society, rather than a closed doctrine or historical relic—it must integrate these advances into its philosophical foundations. To remain relevant, its theory of knowledge must be rearticulated in the language of contemporary science, without sacrificing its dialectical essence. What emerges from this task is not a rejection of Marx and Engels, but a development of their insights into a new framework. This framework, which I call Quantum Dialectics, preserves the revolutionary materialist spirit of Marxist epistemology while reinterpreting it in light of modern discoveries. It brings Marxism into coherence with the contemporary scientific worldview, showing that knowledge is not only a social and historical process but also a quantum-dialectical unfolding of reality itself.
At the heart of Marx’s contribution to the theory of knowledge lies a profound reorientation of philosophy. For him, knowledge is not a passive reflection of reality but an active process of praxis—the living, transformative engagement with the world. Human beings do not stand outside nature as detached observers. They are part of it, bound to it through a continuous metabolic exchange in which they draw sustenance, reshape their environment, and, in turn, are reshaped by the conditions they create. In labor, the most fundamental form of praxis, humanity intervenes in the processes of nature, bending them to social purposes, altering the conditions of existence, and in the same movement altering human consciousness itself. Knowledge, in this sense, is not an abstract picture of the world painted in the mind, but a dialectical loop in which transformation of the object and transformation of the subject are inseparably intertwined.
This view was nothing short of revolutionary for its time. Against the contemplative epistemologies of German idealism, which treated knowledge as the unfolding of pure spirit, and against the mechanical determinism of vulgar materialism, which reduced thought to passive impressions stamped on the mind, Marx set forth an understanding of knowledge as dynamic, historical, and practical. Thought does not merely mirror reality—it participates in it, mediates it, and is itself conditioned by the changing material relations of social life. Human cognition is born out of struggle, practice, and production; it is a weapon in the battle with necessity and a means of creating new possibilities. This was a decisive break with static philosophies of knowledge and a foundation for a truly materialist epistemology.
Yet, while the dialectical essence of this insight remains valid, Marx and Engels were still children of their scientific age. Their epistemology was formulated within a horizon dominated by the Newtonian worldview of a clockwork universe, where determinism reigned supreme and all processes were thought to unfold according to strict mechanical causality. They sometimes described thought as a “reflection” of reality, which, though dialectically nuanced, risked being interpreted in a linear or passive sense. Moreover, their understanding of emergence—how new properties arise from complex organizations of matter—was only embryonic, given that the sciences of complexity, probability, and self-organization had not yet matured.
To move forward, therefore, requires a renewal. The task is not to discard the Marxian foundations but to sublate them—retaining their dialectical core while incorporating the advances of modern science. Today, the universe is no longer conceived as a deterministic machine but as a dynamic field of nonlinear interactions, probabilistic patterns, and emergent structures. Relativity, quantum mechanics, molecular biology, neuroscience, and systems theory have shown us that matter itself is more fluid, contradictory, and self-organizing than the nineteenth century could imagine. In this light, Marx’s theory of knowledge must be expanded: praxis is still its foundation, but praxis must now be understood as unfolding across quantum layers of matter and mind, where coherence and contradiction are not accidents but constitutive features of reality.
When we turn back to the epistemological framework developed by Marx and Engels, we find that, while groundbreaking for its time, it was inevitably shaped by the scientific worldview of the nineteenth century. Three particular limitations stand out with clarity.
The first limitation lies in its mechanistic physical background. Engels, in his ambitious but unfinished Dialectics of Nature, sought to demonstrate that natural processes themselves unfolded in dialectical fashion. His attempt was pioneering, yet the conceptual resources available to him were still rooted in Newtonian mechanics. Matter was generally conceived as inert “stuff” occupying space, space itself was regarded as a passive container, and motion was thought of primarily in terms of external forces acting upon bodies. The Newtonian paradigm emphasized regularity, predictability, and determinism, leaving little room for indeterminacy, probability, or self-organization. As a result, while Engels successfully defended the principle of contradiction in nature, he could not escape the mechanistic scaffolding of his scientific inheritance.
The second limitation is found in the language of reflection used to describe cognition. Marx and Engels consistently stressed that human knowledge is active, born of praxis rather than contemplation. Yet Engels’s frequent description of thought as a “reflection” of reality could easily be misinterpreted as a mirror theory of knowledge—a picture of the mind as a passive surface upon which reality imprints itself. To be sure, Engels intended a more dialectical meaning, emphasizing that reflection is mediated by practice, labor, and historical development. Nevertheless, the very word risked inviting simplistic interpretations in which knowledge was treated as a mere reproduction of reality rather than as a historically evolving, transformative relation between subject and object.
The third limitation concerns the problem of emergence. Marx and Engels were acutely aware that new properties arise at higher levels of organization—most notably, that life itself emerges from nonliving matter. Engels even spoke of qualitative leaps, where incremental changes give rise to fundamentally new forms. Yet the scientific language of their time lacked the conceptual tools to describe how such emergent properties arise from complex, dynamic systems. They could point to the phenomenon, but not explain it in detail. The sciences of probability, thermodynamics, complexity theory, and nonlinear dynamics, which today allow us to understand layered emergence in nature—from atoms to molecules, from organisms to ecosystems—were only in their infancy.
It is important to stress that none of these limitations undermine the enduring validity of Marx’s fundamental insights. On the contrary, they highlight the necessity of sublation—that dialectical process of preserving, negating, and transcending. The core of Marxist epistemology, with its emphasis on praxis, contradiction, and historicity, remains indispensable. But it must now be integrated with the advances of contemporary science, which has revealed a universe far more dynamic, indeterminate, and self-organizing than the nineteenth century could imagine. By renewing dialectical materialism in this way, we do not abandon Marx but carry his project forward into the present, where it can speak coherently to the discoveries of modern physics, biology, and cognitive science.
Quantum Dialectics offers the conceptual scaffolding necessary for renewing Marxian epistemology in the light of modern science. At its core lies a simple yet far-reaching principle: reality, at every level of organization, is shaped by the ceaseless interplay of cohesive and decohesive forces. Cohesion acts to bind, stabilize, and sustain structures—whether those structures are atoms held together by electromagnetic forces, organisms maintained through biochemical regulation, or societies organized through institutions and traditions. Decoherence, by contrast, introduces instability, rupture, and contradiction. It loosens established patterns, opens space for novelty, and pushes systems toward transformation. Reality itself is never static; it is a dynamic equilibrium of stabilization and disruption.
Knowledge, from this standpoint, is not an exception but a manifestation of this same dialectical rhythm. Human cognition is not a mirror held up to the world but an emergent phenomenon that develops out of material processes and is structured by the same tensions that shape matter itself. Just as molecules self-organize into living cells and social systems evolve through conflict, so too does thought emerge through the constant oscillation of coherence and contradiction. The act of knowing is therefore not a passive reception but a living process, continuously restructured by practice, contradiction, and transformation.
This perspective illuminates the layered nature of cognition. At the level of the brain, neural systems operate through dynamic interactions between excitation and inhibition, forming patterns that both stabilize memory and allow for flexibility. At the level of symbolic thought, language enables coherence in meaning while simultaneously carrying ambiguities and contradictions that drive interpretation and debate. At the level of collective culture, traditions and institutions provide cohesion, while struggles, crises, and revolutions introduce decohesion, forcing the emergence of new forms. Across all these levels, knowledge grows not despite contradiction but precisely through it, as tensions are negotiated, ruptures open, and higher forms of coherence are achieved.
The analogy with quantum physics is instructive. Just as quantum systems oscillate between coherence and decoherence—between ordered states and probabilistic dispersal—so too does knowledge evolve through phases of stability and disruption. And just as societies progress not by erasing conflict but by passing through it, human cognition deepens not by avoiding contradiction but by wrestling with it. In both nature and thought, contradiction is not a flaw but the very engine of development. Quantum Dialectics, therefore, allows us to see knowledge as a material process of emergence, inseparable from the universal dynamics that govern matter, life, and society.
The discoveries of modern science provide a powerful impetus to expand and deepen Marxian epistemology, revealing layers of reality that Marx and Engels could only anticipate in outline. The first and perhaps most decisive breakthrough comes from quantum physics, which has dismantled the classical illusion of a perfectly determined universe. The Newtonian picture of a predictable, mechanical cosmos gave way to a vision of reality governed by uncertainty, probability, and entanglement. At the most fundamental level, particles do not possess fixed properties until they are measured; instead, they exist in states of potentiality, suspended between contradictory possibilities. This revelation does not undermine Marx’s dialectics but rather confirms its essence: contradiction, indeterminacy, and the open-ended nature of becoming are woven into the fabric of matter itself. Knowledge, therefore, cannot be conceived as final, static, or absolute. It must be understood as inherently probabilistic, evolving, and historical, reflecting the ongoing dialectic of reality rather than a closed system of truths.
A second great advance comes from neuroscience, which has illuminated the biological basis of consciousness. Modern research shows that subjective awareness arises from the interactions of billions of neurons operating in patterns of dynamic equilibrium. These neural networks are constantly forming, dissolving, and reconfiguring, producing cognition as an emergent phenomenon. Consciousness is not reducible to molecular mechanics or the firing of individual neurons, yet it is inseparable from the material substrate of the brain. This aligns perfectly with Marx’s materialist thesis that mind is the product of matter organized in a particular way. What neuroscience adds is a finer understanding of how this organization works: through plasticity, feedback loops, and self-organization. The dialectical relation between structure and function in the brain mirrors the broader dialectics of nature—stability coexisting with fluid transformation, coherence arising from contradiction.
Equally transformative are the insights of systems theory and ecology, which demonstrate that knowledge is not confined to the brain alone but emerges within larger networks of interaction. Biological systems are interdependent, social systems are deeply relational, and ecological systems are interconnected webs of life. Cognition, when viewed through this lens, is not a private act of an isolated mind but a distributed process that spans individuals, societies, and environments. Here Marx’s famous definition of the human being as “the ensemble of social relations” acquires new resonance. Knowledge is not merely individual property but a collective, embedded, and systemic phenomenon. It is shaped by language, culture, institutions, and ecosystems, all of which form the material ground of thought.
Finally, the development of artificial intelligence offers striking confirmation of the materialist view of knowledge. Machines constructed from silicon circuits and algorithmic architectures are now capable of generating knowledge-like processes: learning patterns, solving problems, even producing creative outputs. They do not achieve consciousness in the human sense, yet their functioning demonstrates that cognition is not bound to the biological brain alone. Rather, it is a property of organized matter when it reaches sufficient levels of complexity and feedback. This challenges anthropocentric assumptions about thought as uniquely human, while simultaneously affirming a Marxian principle: cognition is material, historical, and transformative. It emerges wherever matter is organized into systems capable of processing contradiction and adapting to change.
Taken together, these scientific advances do not diminish the Marxian framework but enrich it. They show that dialectical materialism, when renewed through Quantum Dialectics, can serve as a philosophy adequate to modern science: a worldview in which contradiction, emergence, and transformation are not exceptions but the very principles of reality.
When the insights of modern science are woven together with the foundations of Marxian thought, knowledge itself can be reconceived in a more expansive and dynamic form—as Quantum Dialectical Praxis. This formulation captures three dimensions that are inseparable. It is quantum because knowledge operates across probabilistic, layered, and entangled structures. Just as quantum systems cannot be reduced to fixed, isolated particles, knowledge cannot be reduced to static ideas in isolated minds. It exists in networks, probabilities, and relational dynamics that stretch from neurons to societies and even to planetary systems. It is dialectical because its development is driven by contradiction, rupture, and synthesis. Knowledge advances not in a smooth linear progression but in leaps, crises, and transformations, where contradictions are confronted and sublated into higher forms of coherence. And it is praxis because it is never a merely contemplative activity but always bound to human practice, labor, and social transformation. Knowledge is forged in the crucible of engagement with the world and tested through our capacity to reshape it.
From this perspective, the meaning of truth also shifts. Truth can no longer be understood as a static correspondence between thought and an external reality—as though concepts were simple reflections of objects. Instead, truth becomes a measure of dialectical adequacy: the extent to which knowledge allows us to intervene effectively in the world, to navigate and resolve contradictions, and to open up new horizons of collective existence. A theory is true not because it passively mirrors the world but because it participates in its transformation, enabling deeper coherence and greater possibilities of emancipation. Truth, therefore, is inherently practical, historical, and transformative.
Knowledge in this sense is doubly grounded. On the one hand, it is ontologically rooted in the structure of matter itself, which is organized through layers of coherence and contradiction that give rise to emergent properties. Human thought is one such emergent property, arising from the dialectics of neural, social, and ecological systems. On the other hand, knowledge is historically conditioned by social relations. It bears the imprint of the mode of production, the struggles of classes, and the material conditions of society. What counts as knowledge, how it is organized, and to what ends it is directed are inseparable from history. Quantum Dialectical Praxis thus bridges ontology and history, matter and society, nature and human activity. It allows us to see knowledge as neither purely subjective nor purely objective, but as a dynamic, emergent, and practical process embedded in both the universal rhythms of matter and the specific contradictions of historical life.
Recasting Marxian epistemology through the lens of Quantum Dialectics is not merely an academic exercise; it carries profound revolutionary implications for how we understand both science and social transformation. Science itself can no longer be treated as a neutral or disinterested accumulation of facts, as if it stood above society in a realm of pure objectivity. Every scientific practice is shaped by historical forces—by the demands of capital, the weight of ideology, and the structures of class power. The sciences of industry, agriculture, and technology have often been directed toward exploitation and domination. Yet, within science itself, there persists a dialectical force of emancipation: the capacity to uncover contradictions, expand human freedom, and open new forms of collective life. When understood as praxis, science is revealed as a field of struggle, a terrain where competing social projects contest the meaning and direction of knowledge.
Quantum Dialectics provides a meta-method for navigating these contradictions. It reminds us that the generative power of contradiction is universal—active in physics as in politics, in biology as in history. Just as ecosystems evolve through crises of stability and disruption, or quantum systems oscillate between coherence and decoherence, so too does human society advance through conflicts and ruptures. Science, therefore, must be reclaimed not as a tool of domination but as a revolutionary praxis oriented toward human liberation. This requires a dialectical method capable of discerning the emancipatory potential hidden within the very contradictions that appear as obstacles.
At the same time, the revolutionary subject of knowledge itself has expanded. In the nineteenth century, Marx identified the industrial proletariat as the central agent of historical transformation, since it embodied the contradiction between labor and capital. While the working class remains decisive, the conditions of the twenty-first century have broadened the field of revolutionary agency. Today, the subject of knowledge includes humanity as a whole, entangled with machines, ecosystems, and planetary crises. The contradictions that shape our era—climate change, ecological collapse, technological alienation, and deepening inequality—are global in scope and cannot be resolved within national or class boundaries alone. They demand a planetary subject, a collective capable of recognizing itself as part of a wider system of life and matter.
Knowledge, in this expanded sense, becomes not only a weapon in the class struggle but also a means of planetary survival. To know dialectically today is to fight for coherence in the face of fragmentation, to defend life against forces of commodification and destruction, and to orient science and technology toward emancipatory rather than exploitative ends. In an age where the very conditions of life on Earth are threatened, dialectical knowledge is revolutionary because it insists that no crisis is final, no contradiction insurmountable. It teaches that every rupture contains the seeds of a higher synthesis, and that humanity, if it acts consciously, can transform its current trajectory into one of planetary coherence and renewal.
The Marxian theory of knowledge, with its foundations in praxis and dialectics, remains one of the most profound contributions to philosophy and science. It broke decisively with both idealism, which treated thought as the unfolding of pure spirit, and mechanical materialism, which reduced knowledge to passive impressions. By insisting that knowledge arises through human labor, social relations, and the transformative activity of praxis, Marx and Engels provided a framework that continues to guide critical thought and revolutionary action. Yet, precisely because it is dialectical, this framework cannot remain frozen in the categories of the nineteenth century. To remain faithful to its own spirit, it must evolve alongside the development of science and society.
Today, the advances of modern physics, molecular biology, neuroscience, systems theory, and artificial intelligence compel us to rethink and expand Marxist epistemology. These sciences have revealed a universe that is not deterministic but probabilistic, not static but emergent, not mechanical but self-organizing. They confirm that contradiction, instability, and transformation are woven into the very fabric of matter. By entering into dialogue with these discoveries, Quantum Dialectics offers a renewed materialist philosophy of knowledge—one that sublates the Marxian foundations into a higher and more comprehensive form.
In this vision, knowledge is no longer seen as a mirror passively reflecting reality, but as a layered, emergent, and contradictory process, inseparably bound to human practice. It is the ceaseless dialectic of cohesion and decohesion, of stability and rupture, of reflection and transformation. To know is to participate in the unfolding of reality, to intervene in its contradictions, and to help bring about new forms of coherence. Knowledge becomes the consciousness of matter itself, becoming aware through us, and struggling, through us, to transform itself into higher levels of organization and meaning.
Thus, Marx’s materialism is not discarded but carried forward into its quantum phase—a dialectical science of knowledge capable of addressing the crises and possibilities of our planetary age. In a world marked by ecological collapse, technological upheaval, and deepening inequality, such a framework is not only intellectually necessary but politically urgent. Quantum Dialectics allows us to see knowledge as both a product of history and a force for transformation, both grounded in material reality and open to revolutionary possibility. In this way, the Marxian theory of knowledge lives on—not as a relic of the past, but as a guide to the future of science, philosophy, and humanity itself.
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