ABSTRACT
This sociological critique of the ‘philosophy of praxis’ looks at the importance of the concept in the social theory of leading influential Western Marxists such as Lukács, Gramsci, Korsch, Horkheimer, Marcuse and Adorno in the inter-war period. It offers a detailed critique of Marx and Hegel, and explores the validity and implications for sociology of two of Marx’s ideas which the later theorists made the centre piece of their social theory: first, that true theory is authenticated by praxis, and second, its corollary that certain major social transformations should and would in practice render sociology redundant.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
part one|22 pages
Marx's theory of praxis
chapter 1|5 pages
A starting point
chapter 2|15 pages
Praxis and practice in Hegel and Marx
part two|83 pages
Georg Lukács: theoretician of praxis
chapter 3|19 pages
Lukács in context
chapter 4|9 pages
Subject and object in bourgeois philosophy
chapter 5|24 pages
From Lukács to Hegel and back
chapter 6|10 pages
Towards conscious mediations
chapter 7|19 pages
Sociology and mythology in Lukács
part three|76 pages
Antonio Gramsci: practical theoretician
chapter 8|19 pages
Gramsci in context
chapter 9|13 pages
Hegemony and civil society
chapter 10|16 pages
Analysing the historical bloc
chapter 11|9 pages
Towards the ethical State
chapter 12|7 pages
The unity of common sense and philosophy
chapter 13|10 pages
Inequality and the unity of mankind
part four|87 pages
Early critical theory: the sociology of praxis