Dialectical Simplicity is a living philosophy for turbulent times.
It teaches that to change the world, we must ask better questions, listen deeply, act boldly, and live simply.
It is as at home in a workers’ assembly as it is on a mountain path.
Its practice is conversation, meditation, and mutual aid.
Its aim: a just, aware, and beautiful world.
Foundational Influences
- Socratic Method – Critical dialogue, questioning assumptions, intellectual humility, ethics rooted in self-knowledge and dialogue.
- Marx – Historical materialism, class analysis, critique of capitalism, praxis (thought + action), alienation, human flourishing through meaningful labour.
- Zen – Non-dualism, presence, wordless insight, simplicity, experiential wisdom, the transience of all things (impermanence), distrust of fixed concepts.
- E.F. Schumacher – Small is Beautiful, Buddhist economics, localism, human-scale technologies, environmental and spiritual sustainability.
- Keynes – Pragmatic macroeconomics, role of state in managing aggregate demand, “animal spirits” (psychological-economic behavior), investment in the future, not just profit.
Core Tenets of Dialectical Simplicity
- Truth Emerges Through Dialogue and Praxis
- Like Socrates and Marx, truth isn’t static—it unfolds in the process of questioning, reflection, and real-world engagement.
- Knowledge must be lived, not merely stated; meditation and debate serve different parts of the same pursuit.
- Economic Life Should Serve Human Flourishing
- From Marx and Schumacher: people must not be alienated from their labour, their community, or nature.
- From Keynes: rational intervention can be justified to promote dignity and full employment.
- Simplicity Over Accumulation
- Schumacher’s Buddhist economics + Zen’s minimalist aesthetic: sufficiency, not scarcity, is the baseline.
- The system should discourage both waste and spiritual vacuity.
- Consciousness and Conditions Co-Evolve
- Marx: social being determines consciousness.
- Zen: consciousness also creates your reality through presence.
- Together: conditions matter, but you must also cultivate awareness within and beyond them.
- Local Wisdom, Global Ethics
- Schumacher’s emphasis on local knowledge + Zen’s lived ethics + Socratic citizenship.
- Ethical systems must be cultivated from the ground up but always with an eye to justice and solidarity.
- Socratic Zen: The art of asking radical questions without needing a verbal answer.
- Sometimes the right question opens awareness more than any theory can.
Relevance Today
In 2025, this philosophy might speak powerfully to:
- Burnt-out activists seeking a fusion of material engagement and inner clarity.
- Post-capitalist thinkers reimagining work and value (e.g., UBI, degrowth, cooperative economies).
- Climate ethics, where limits, community and regeneration are central.
- Labour movements, where dignity, not GDP, is the metric of success.
- Education and dialogue, reframing learning as a mutual, evolving process—not transmission.
It offers a counter to both:
- Neoliberal hyper-individualism (via community, justice, ethics of sufficiency)
- Deterministic materialism (via presence, mindfulness, and spiritual wisdom)
It is not about faith, it’s not about having all the right answers – it is about making ourselves and the world we want to see.
A final word: we do not believe that dialectical simplicity is some wonderous new philosophy or ideology – it is a concept that has help us – in movement.social – frame our ideas and actions. You are welcome to take or leave from it what you will.