The problem of primacy between the objective/material and the subjective/ideal constitutes one of the fundamental points of divergence in the history of philosophy. This study aims to conduct a comparative analysis of the thought systems of G.W.F. Hegel and Karl Marx—who are positioned at the two poles of this distinction—by centering on the concept of 'dialectics,' which both unites and separates them. Dialectical thought, employed by many philosophers from Heraclitus to Plato, was methodologically systematized by Hegel within an idealist framework; Marx, however, broke the idealist shell containing its 'mystification' and transformed it into a revolutionary scientific tool for explicating the laws of motion of material reality and social history.

This article examines this complex legacy between the two thinkers along three main axes: First, the revolutionary and conservative aspects of Hegel's dialectic are elucidated, and an analysis is provided of how Marxists sublated (aufheben) this system. Second, Marx's dialogue with Hegel is scrutinized through his effort to invert the dialectic, setting the system, which was 'standing on its head,' back upon its feet, and through the parallels he established with political economy in this process. Finally, the fundamental distinctions in the two thinkers' analyses of civil society and the state are examined by comparing Hegel's reconciliatory universalism with Marx's class-based conflict theory. Within this framework, the practical implications of the theoretical rupture between the idealist and materialist interpretations of dialectics are demonstrated.