Originally published: London ; New York : Verso, 1993.

Includes bibliographical references (p. 386-391) and index.

Introduction: Critical realism, Hegelian dialectic and the problems of philosophy--preliminary considerations -- Objectives of the book -- 'Dialectic' : an initial orientation -- Negation -- Four degrees of critical realism -- Prima facie objections to critical realism -- On the sources and general character of the Hegelian dialectic -- On the immanent critique and limitations of the Hegelian dialectic -- The fine structure of the Hegelian dialectic -- Epistemological dialectic and the problems of philosophy -- Dialectic : the logic of absence, arguments, themes, perspectives, configurations -- Absence -- Emergence -- Contradiction I : Hegel and Marx -- Contradiction II : misunderstandings -- On the materialist diffraction of dialectic -- Dialectical arguments and the unholy trinity -- Dialectical motifs : tina formations, mediation, concrete universality, etc -- On the generalized theory of the dialectical remark, the failure of detachment and the presence of the past -- Dialectical critical naturalism -- Towards a real definition of dialectic -- Dialectical critical realism and the dialectic of freedom -- Ontology -- The dialectic of truth -- On the emergence and derivability of dialecticized transcendental realism -- 1M realism : non-identity -- 2E realism : negativity -- Space, time and tense -- Social science, explanatory critique, emancipatory axiology -- 3L realism : totality -- 4D realism : agency -- The dialectic of desire to freedom -- Dialectical critical realism and the dialectics of critical realism -- Metacritical dialectics : irrealism and its consequences -- Irrealism -- The problems of philosophy and their resolution -- Contradictions of the critical philosophy -- Dilemmas of the beautiful soul and the unhappy consciousness -- Master and slave : from dialectics of reconciliation to dialectics of liberation -- The metacritique of the Hegelian dialectic -- Marxian dialectic I: the rational kernel in the mystical shell -- Marxian dialectic II: the mystical shell in the rational kernel -- Metacritical dialectics : philosophical ideologies, their sublation and explanation -- The consequences of irrealism -- Diffracted and retotalized dialectics -- Dialectic as the pulse of freedom.