The dialectic is the marrow of historiography and political science, not formal logic.

Evidence

But if the question is framed in this way, one can no longer understand the importance and significance of the dialectic, which is relegated from its position as a doctrine of knowledge and the very marrow of historiography and the science of politics, to the level of a sub-species of formal logic and elementary scholastics. The true fundamental function and significance of the dialectic can only be grasped if the philosophy of praxis is conceived as an integral and original philosophy which opens up a new phase of history and a new phase in the development of world thought. It does this to the extent that it goes beyond both traditional idealism and traditional materialism, philosophies which are expressions of past societies, while retaining their vital elements. If the philosophy of praxis is not considered except in subordination to another philosophy, then it is not possible to grasp the new dialectic, through which the transcending of old philosophies is effected and expressed. — Antonio Gramsci, Selections from the Prison Notebooks, 1548

Categorization

• DEFINE: Gramsci’s definition of the dialectic as integral to an original philosophy transcending both idealism and mechanical materialism.
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Antonio Gramsci, Selections from the Prison Notebooks, 1548
• XREF: connects to: Lukacs’s dialectic is historically monist, not dualist between nature and humanity; Scientific theories are superstructures explained by history, not causes of it. — Antonio Gramsci, Selections from the Prison Notebooks, 1652; History is neither purely objective nor purely subjective, being pervaded by a dialectical anti-dialectic — Fredric Jameson, Marxism and Form, 420

Broader Connections

• Scientific theories are superstructures explained by history, not causes of it. #exemplifies (0.85) — Antonio Gramsci, Selections from the Prison Notebooks, 1652
• Lukacs’s dialectic is historically monist, not dualist between nature and humanity #expands (0.75)