Without a scientifical theory we are heading to disaster. The scientific ideologic basis of socialism is Marxist dialectical materialism. Dialectic materialism is a synthesis of dialectic idealism by Hegel and of mechanical materialism by Feuerbach. In their time these two traditions of science were progressive points of view. Nowadays science has been conquered by positivism.
Positivism is a form of mechanical materialism, a form of regression anyway.
The dialectic materialism represents the top in the developement of scientific philosophy. There is a huge amount of literature of this topic. The Marxist way of thinking has no competitors when looking at the world from the largest point of view. By the concept onthology we mean investigating the deepest problems of existence. Dialectic materialism is the best tool we have in our hands for this kind of evaluations.