a) The Concept of Law

p Necessity exists in the form of the properties and connections of phenomena. Definite necessary connections or relations are called laws. Thus, a law is that which cannot fail to take place under given conditions. The law of value, for instance, which expresses the dependence of a commodity’s price on the amount of socially necessary labour expended on its production, operates inevitably wherever there is commodity production. Or take another example: the known chemical law of constant proportions, that every substance has a strictly definite and constant qualitative and quantitative composition, invariably manifests itself in every substance, since the relations it expresses stem from the very nature of the atoms that make up the molecules of the given substance.

p In saying that a law is a necessary connection, we are not yet revealing all its specific features. The fact is that not all necessary connections are laws. Single (individual) connections, for instance, cannot be laws. Only a general necessary connection, i.e. the one inherent in many phenomena, is a law.

p The law of half-decay, for example, according to which over a certain period of time (specific 216 for each substance) only half the substance decays, whatever the amount, applies not for one specific radioactive process, but for all similar processes and all radioactive substances, i.e. it is a general connection. This is true of any law of nature, society or human thinking.

p Being a general, repeated connection, law is also a stable connection. It exists as long as the corresponding form of the motion of matter (or of a definite stage in its development) or thought exists; it exists as long as the phenomena representing the given form of motion or thought exist. For example, the law of dependence of people’s consciousness on their social being originated together with the emergence of human society, and will exist as long as society exists. Or take another example: the law of value arose during the decay of primitive communal society, it was operative in slave and feudal societies, and is operative under capitalism and socialism. It will cease to exist only after communism has been built and the need for commodity production has completely disappeared.

To sum up, a law is a necessary, general, and stable connection of phenomena or ot their aspects.

b) Dynamic and Statistical Laws

p Being general connections (relations), laws manifest themselves in many phenomena. This manifestation, however, takes different forms. Some laws apply to every phenomenon or 217 material entity representing a certain form of motion or field of reality, while others manifest themselves only in a mass of phenomena. The first type are usually called dynamic laws, the second- statistical laws.

p Ohm’s Law, expressing the dependence of a conductor’s resistance on its composition, crosssection area and length, is an example of a dynamic law. This law embraces a great many different conductors, and is true for each separate conductor among them. Another example is Michael Faraday’s discovery of the connection between the deposition of a substance on electrodes and the electric current passing through the electrolyte. This connection expresses a proportional dependence of the mass of the substance deposited on the electrode on the amount of electricity passing through the electrolyte, which is characteristic of all cases when electricity passes through solutions, and manifests itself in every case.

p The interconnection discovered by Boyle and Mariotte between changes in the pressure of a gas and in its volume at a constant temperature is statistical. This occurs only in a mass of chaotically moving molecules making up a certain volume of gas. A separate molecule, however, is not subject to the law. Colliding with other molecules, each molecule constantly changes its direction and speed. As a result, the force of the impact of each molecule on the walls of the vessel is accidental and depends on a multitude of circumstances. A certain regularity, however, finds its way through this maze of changes in speeds of motion and, 218 correspondingly, in the forces of impact produced on the vessel walls by the various molecules making up the given volume. This regularity is that the pressure of a gas is inversely proportional to its volume.

p The laws of quantum mechanics pertaining to the motion of microparticles are also statistical, inasmuch as they are unable to determine the motion of every single particle, but only of a group or multitude of particles.

p Characteristically, dynamic laws make it possible to foresee fairly accurately the inception of a certain phenomenon and changes in its properties or states. For example, the law of proportional dependence of the mass of a substance deposited on an electrode on the amount of electricity passing through the electrolyte makes it possible to predict accurately the amount of substance deposited in any particular case.

As distinct from dynamic laws, statistical laws do not allow scientists to make accurate predictions of the occurrence or non-occurrence of a particular phenomenon, or the direction and nature of changes in its properties. Statistical laws allow them to determine only the probability of the emergence or change of a certain phenomenon.

c) General and Particular Laws

p Although all the laws are general connections (relations), they apply to different groups of phenomena. Some of them embrace a bigger group, some—a smaller.

p The laws applying to a larger group of phenomena are general laws in relation to those applying to the smaller, which are called particular or specific laws.

p The law of conformity of the relations of production to the level of development of the productive forces, for instance, is a general law in relation to the law of average profit, inasmuch as it operates in all socio-economic systems. The law of average profit, on the other hand, is a particular law in relation to the former, because it operates only within the framework of bourgeois society.

p The concepts of a general and a particular law are relative. One and the same law may be both general and particular, depending on the relation. It will be particular in relation to a law embracing a wider range of phenomena and general as regards a law operating in a narrower field. The law of value, for instance, is particular as regards the law of conformity of the relations of production to the level of development of the productive forces, since it does not operate in all societies (as the latter does), but only in those where there is commodity production. It is, however, general in relation to the law of surplus value, inasmuch as the latter manifests itself in a narrower field of phenomena, operating only in capitalist production and not extending to all commodity production.

Besides those laws that can act either as general or as particular laws depending on concrete relations, there are also laws that are general in 220 all relations. These are called universal laws. They apply to any field of reality. All other laws are particular in relation to them, in so far as they only pertain to some specific fields of reality. Universal laws are studied by philosophy, whereas laws connected with a specific form of the motion of matter are dealt with by the special sciences.

d) The Interconnection Between
General and Particular Laws

p General laws may operate independently or through particular laws, in which case both relate to one and the same connection. When, however, a general and a particular law relate to different connections, they co-exist and co-operate separately from each other.

p For instance, the general chemical law of constant proportions and particular laws indicating which chemical elements in what proportion make up certain compounds concern the same relationthe composition of chemical elements. It is not accidental that in our example the general law manifests itself through particular, specific laws.

p The situation is quite different as regards the correlation of the law of conformity of the relations of production to the level of development of the productive forces (a general law) and the basic economic law of socialism, which is aimed at ensuring the fullest satisfaction of the material and cultural requirements of people through developing socialist production on the basis of 221 advanced technology (a particular law). The first law characterises the connection between the level of development of the productive forces and of production relations, while the second applies to the connection between continuous growth of production and the requirements of people. The content of the first law shows the necessity of changing the relations of production as the productive forces develop, whereas the content of the second law indicates the aim of production and the ways and means of attaining it. These laws concern different connections and relations and cannot operate one through the other; they operate quite independently, alongside each other. Though they exist independently, they are closely linked, not isolated from each other. This interconnection, however, differs radically from the interconnection where one law manifests itself through another.

p The independent existence of general laws is an inevitable effect of the development of reality. Indeed, the transition from one phenomenon to another in the development process involves both the retention of all that is positive in the preceding stages, and the emergence of new properties and connections. In the passage from atom to molecule, for instance, many properties and connections inherent in the atom are retained. The atom is contained, in its sublated, i.e. transformed shape, in the molecule. In addition, however, the molecule acquires a number of new properties conditioned by a new type of interaction, namely, that of atoms. The retention of the positive 222 content of the stages passed and the emergence of new properties and connections can be easily traced in the development of a living organism, as well as human society.

p The retention of certain properties and connections characteristic of past stages in a new stage of development of a higher order reveals old laws in new phenomena. The inception of new properties and connections, on the other hand, causes new laws to appear, which are particular in relation to the old laws that have passed into the new phenomena together with the retained connections. They operate only in phenomena representing a new stage of development, whereas the old laws operate both here and in phenomena representing a lower stage of development. Being particular, specific to the new stage of development, these laws cannot be the form through which the old laws manifest themselves, inasmuch as they are connected with different interactions and express different relations. Laws specific to a molecule, for instance, are connected with the interaction of atoms, while the old laws relate to the interaction of the “ elementary” particles making up the atoms.

We have discussed here the correlation between the general and specific laws studied by the special sciences. But what is the relationship between the laws of dialectics and those of the special sciences? The former express the universal connections and relations of reality. But these connections and relations do not exist independently-they take on the form of the concrete connections and relations that make up the content 223 of the corresponding concrete (general and specific) laws which are the object of study for the special sciences. Universal connections and relations constitute certain repeated aspects of the content of all similar concrete connections and relations. As a result, the laws of dialectics cannot operate in a pure form-they exist and manifest themselves only through the other general and specific laws studied by the special sciences.