The Philosophy of Praxis

Starred review from August 4, 2014
In this book of elucidating scholarship, seasoned author Feenberg revises the assertions of his first book, Lukács, Marx and the Sources of Critical Theory (1981). The book's insight derives from the fruit of over three decades of rumination on these ideas. Feenberg traces a history of praxis from the early work of Marx through Lukács to its later formulation by the Frankfurt School. Broadly speaking, "philosophy of praxis" designates these theorists' accounts of the intertwining of theory and concrete cultural, historical, and lived reality. Feenberg reads this in Marx's and Lukács avowal that philosophy is grounded in the concrete and historical and that philosophy should aim to transform the world through political reform and revolutionary action. In the aftermath of failed political resistance, the Frankfurt School reappraised the possibility and telos of a philosophy of praxis. Here, Feenberg focuses on the work of Adorno and Marcuse, and he closes with reflections on the contemporary applicability of a philosophy of praxis especially as it pertains to the political potential of the internet. Feenberg's clear, nuanced, and exceptionally useful exegesis, fleshes out complex ideas with a measured analysis and is a critical resource for understanding the historical shift in the relationship between theory and practice from Marx to Marcuse.