The foundations of the materialist theory of knowledge in the early works of Marx and Engels

Abstract

The paper deals with the questions of the theory of knowledge within the framework of dialectical materialism with the aim of presenting the materialistic basis for a theory of knowledge that should show the way for a philosophical fusion with scientific analyzes in order to complete the old idealistic assumptions concerning the possibility of knowledge. The paper presents two phases of the development of this theory in the works of Marx and Engels, the goal of which was to show that knowledge is a mediator between ignorance and knowledge, and that through practical activity the cognitive process is self-proving, and knowledge is perfected through fragmentation, historicity and sociality. Also, the aim of the work is to show the difference between belief, assumption and knowledge, and how the fragmented nature of man's cognition, even through correct analysis, can lead to errors in reasoning, which he corrects in a dialectical relationship with other people and the world and returns to the path of progress. . The possibility of cognition lies in practical action, and the mechanism of cognition is inherent to man as a biological unit, and it is the task of science to study this mechanism.