Interconnection

Relations of interdependence, interaction, reciprocal conditioning and transformation into each other among things and phenomena and the elements within things. Universal interconnection is the mode of being and inherent attribute of the material world. The point view of interconnection is one of the basic features of materialist dialectics. Engels said: “When we consider and reflect upon Nature at large, or the history of mankind, or our own intellectual activity, at first we see the picture of an endless entanglement of relations and reactions, permutations and combinations, in which nothing remains what, where and as it was, but everything moves, changes, comes into being and passes away.” Engels called dialectics “the science of interconnections, in contrast to metaphysics.”

Interconnections exist objectively and universally. Everything or every phenomenon in the world is interconnected with other things or phenomena, and nothing exists in absolute isolation. The entire world is a whole consisting of the interconnections of innumerable things or processes. All the parts and aspects within things are also interconnected. Interconnection is the inherent relation of interaction of things themselves, independent of man’s will, and one can neither deny the interconnections of things nor impose subjectively fabricated interconnections on them. Interconnections are diverse and complex. Interconnections are both universal and particular. The interconnection of different things, of their different aspects, and of the different stages in their development have their own characteristics. The diverse interconnections of things can be divided into internal and external, essential and non-essential, necessary and accidental, principal and secondary, direct and indirect, horizontal and vertical, etc. It is the interconnection that constitutes the motion and development of things. Laws are essential and necessary connections in the motion of things. Such interconnections determine the tendency of the motion and development of things. From the point of view of the unity of opposites, interconnection is the connection and struggle between the two aspects of a contradiction.

Whether the world is viewed from the point of view of interconnection or of isolation is one of the main manifestations of the antithesis between materialist dialectics and metaphysics. Materialist dialectics emphasizes that interconnections presuppose the acknowledgement of differences between things. Denying interconnection or difference runs counter to dialectics. Upholding the dialectical materialist conception of the universality of interconnections is an indispensable methodological principle for the correct knowledge and reshaping of the world. Only by examining the interdependence and interaction between things and phenomena and studying the interconnections between things from various aspects can we scientifically explain the motion, change and development of things and grasp their essence and laws of development. Materialist dialectics requires people to grasp things, recognize and deal with problems from the real interconnections of objective things themselves. When we analyze concrete problems, we must pay attention to the interconnections between things and other surrounding things and concretely analyze the mutual influence and reciprocal conditioning among things. We must pay attention to the historical interconnections of things and analyze their historical process of development. We must grasp the interconnections of things comprehensively, not only focus on the whole and look at the overall situation but also pay attention to the separate parts.

The development of human practice and science has constantly proved the materialist dialectical point of view of universal interconnection and constantly pushed forward the development of the materialist dialectical point of view of universal interconnection. In the fields of natural science, social science and the science of thinking in modern times, since the objects of inquiry or the methods of inquiry of different disciplines are interconnected, a large number of new scientific branches and scientific achievements have emerged. Systems theory, cybernetics and information theory, which arose in the 20th century, are all new disciplines that study the universal interconnections between things and phenomena. The idea of universal interconnections is one of the important theoretical sources of the idea of systems connection. A large number of interdisciplinary fields that appeared as a result of the high degree of differentiation and integration of systems science and modern science and technology reflects the deepening of human knowledge of the universal interconnections of objective things and phenomena.