| Summary: | In this thesis the component parts of Marx's method are identified and clarified, his use of dialectics and materialism examined, and the scientific standing of his method assessed. It is argued that Marx's method is coherent, valid and scientific, and is based on a dialectical and materialist philosophy. The key themes of Marx's method identified include critique, abstraction, essence and appearance, inversion, and practice. Six theses of Marx's materialism are put forward: the realism thesis, the primacy of matter thesis, the naturalism thesis, the historical materialism thesis, the praxis thesis and the materialist methodology thesis. The core elements of dialectics are identified as change, connection and contradiction, and the outline of a non-Hegelian dialectic is sketched out. It is contended that the interpretations of dialectics and materialism presented constitute the underpinnings of Marx's method. The relations between the component parts of his method, and between them and the dialectical and materialist philosophical foundation are indicated, and the overall coherence of Marx's method asserted. Four conceptions of science - scientific positivism, critical rationalism, conventionalism and scientific realism - are identified and analysed, and Marx's method is compared and contrasted with them. Arguments for Marxism's scientificity are examined and assessed, and it is contended that Marx's method is compatible with the scientific realist conception of science.
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