The law of unity and struggle of opposites is the essence of any dialectical process

Even Heraclitus said that everything in the world determines the law of the struggle of opposites. Any phenomenon or process testifies to this. Acting simultaneously, opposites create a certain state of tension. He determines what is called the inner harmony of things. The Greek philosopher explains this thesis with an example of a bow. The bowstring pulls the ends of this weapon, not allowing them to disperse. Thus, mutual tension generates a higher integrity. This is how the law of unity and opposition works. He, according to Heraclitus, is universal, constitutes the core of true justice and is a condition for the existence of an ordered Cosmos.

The philosophy of dialectics believes that the law of unity and struggle of opposites is the fundamental basis of reality. That is, all objects, things and phenomena have some contradictions within themselves. These can be trends, some forces that struggle with each other and simultaneously interact. Dialectical philosophy proposes to clarify this principle to consider the categories that make it concrete. First of all, this is identity, that is, the equality of a thing or phenomenon to itself. There are two varieties of this category. The first is the identity of one thing, and the second is the whole of their group. The law of unity and struggle of opposites is manifested here in the fact that objects are a symbiosis of equality and difference. They interact, giving rise to movement. In any particular phenomenon, identity and difference are opposites, which cause each other. Hegel defined this philosophically, calling their interaction a contradiction.

Our very notions of the source of development come from the recognition that everything that exists is not wholeness. It is self-contradictory. The law of unity and struggle of opposites is thus manifested as such an interaction. Thus, Hegel's dialectical philosophy sees the source of movement and development in thought, and the materialistic followers of the German theorist have found it in nature, and, of course, in society. Quite often in the literature on this topic, you can find two definitions. This is the "driving force" and "source of development". They are accepted to be distinguished from each other. If we are talking about immediate, internal contradictions, they are called the source of development. If we are talking about external, secondary causes, then we mean the driving forces.

The law of unity and struggle of opposites also reflects the instability of the existing balance. Everything that exists, changes and experiences various processes. In the course of this development, it acquires a special specificity. Therefore, the contradictions are also unstable. In the philosophical literature, it is customary to distinguish four of their basic forms. Identity is a distinction as an embryonic form of any contradiction. Then comes the time of change. Then the difference begins to form as something more expressive. Further, it becomes an essential modification. And, finally, it becomes the opposite of what started the process - non-identity. From the point of view of dialectical philosophy, such forms of contradictions are characteristic of any development process.