I’m reading through some of our literature (namely Socialism, Utopian and Scientific) and I really get the sense that many of our intellectual forebears think that everything important in philosophy happened in Europe. Granted, European philosophy is necessarily of primary relevance in a critique of early capitalism, but when Engels traces the history of these strains of thought (materialism, dialectics, etc.), they all go back to ancient Greece. I find this suspicious.
Is this a consequence of lopsided education, either of the target audience or of Engels himself? Have non-western Marxists grafted dialectical materialism onto Asian or African philosophy? Are there analogous movements within these cultures that dovetail nicely with Dialectical Materialism? Or do they more or less take Engels at his word here? Maybe I’m misinterpreting something.
These guys don’t seem to mind either way.
Seriously though, isn’t the whole point of ‘Socialism With Chinese Characteristics’ that they implement Marx’s ideas in light of the unique socio-economic situation that China is in? And part of the ‘socio-economic situation’ is that China developed with a completely different philosophical heritage which is reflected in the culture.
Going at it the other way: dialectical materialism was developed from Western philosophical thought, but the whole point of it is as a method of finding the material reality of a situation in a way where that historical context is never part of the lens, but potentially part of the elements under scrutiny.