Relatednesses Between Lukács’ Concept of Nature and His Concept of Science

Abstract

In the History and Class Consciousness, Lukács explicitly rejected the applicability of the dialectical method to the scientific knowledge of nature. Later however, he identified his own earlier position as one of the most significant flaws in the work and changed his mind: it is possible and necessary to understand nature dialectically, to the extent that it must be a fundamental component of Marxist ontology. The Ontology of Social Being was written in this spirit. Thus, Lukács’s conception of nature changed considerably in the decades between the two works. At the same time, this change was not independent of the change in Lukács’s conception of science. In this paper, we would like to shed light on the mutual development of Lukács’s concept of nature and his concept of science.