Resumo:
The objective of this thesis, based on the study of the starting point, is to disclose the
exposition method employed by Karl Marx in his major work, Capital. Raising the
issue of the starting point is to unravel the scientifically correct method applied by
him. Therefore, it analyses the main categories mentioned in the first chapter, where
Marx begins his exposition, and the way they are presented therein. Thinking about
the starting point also refers to a serious methodological issue between Marx and the
classical economists, that consists in Marx's relationship with the empirical method
applied by them, which calls for clarification on the appearance of the empirical
aspect in Marx and the reason why it is not enough for conceptual construction.
Another methodological aspect discussed in the thesis concerns the Marx-Hegel
relationship, for considering the starting point means to understand the Hegelian
dialectical method demystified and employed by Marx, i.e. for the dialectical method
to be used, it would be necessary to reverse it, and this is what Marx did to demystify
it. Thus, the research should demonstrate the dialectical aspects of the method used
by Marx and its differentiation of both the idealist dialectics of Hegel and the empirical
method used by the classical political economy.
