dialectic

The thesis-antithesis-synthesis process by which Hegel's Geist and later Marx's history develop through opposition.

A conflict or conversation between ideas that produces a new idea while still moving toward truth.

Jiang uses dialectic for the process by which neighboring societies define values and institutions in response to each other's successes and failures.

Historical movement created by an idea, its opposing idea, and a synthesis.

Jiang says the tree of life is sexual in nature because the universe advances by two forces combining to create a third, which he also glosses as thesis, antithesis, and synthesis.

Hegel solves Kant's problems by positing the Geist as an underlying world spirit that creates material reality through ideas and dialectical self-knowledge.

Hegelian dialectic is a line model because conflict between ideas is still understood as progress toward truth.

Jiang defines the dialectic as a historical process where neighboring cultures form practices in response to perceived failings and successes in nearby societies.

Jiang uses Japan/China, Canada/United States, and New Zealand/Australia as examples of neighboring societies defining themselves against one another.

Jiang's central explanation for IVC peace and egalitarianism in this section is that contact with Egypt, Mesopotamia, and other cultures reinforced deep IVC values and compelled the society toward peace and egalitarianism.

Jiang defines historical movement through a Hegelian dialectic: every mythology or idea produces an opposing idea, and history moves toward a synthesis of these living ideas.

Jiang reads the Epic of Gilgamesh as a dialectical answer to the pyramids: pyramidal immortality is an illusion, and the ruler should seek remembrance through the present well-being of his people.