' Aristotle had already introduced the distinction between the making of
things, or production, and social interaction. The first activity,
'poiesis', had as its object things made; the second 'praxis', had as its
object other persons or social interaction. What remains undeveloped in
Aristotle, because of the separation in his theory between practical
production and social or civic life [which is hardly surprising in a slave
society] is the social nature of production itself. The human making of
things, in its fundamental historical forms, involves social interaction. It
is a social practice....'
'Marx had an insight into this relation between production and social
interaction, between making and doing. In his conception of this integral
process of human activity, he characterised it as 'praxis' (combining the
senses of both terms, 'poiesis' and 'praxis' in this broader conception, but
retaining the emphasis on social interaction which the original term had in
Aristotle's usage).'
I don't think this is a complete description of Marx's concept: there is
also the idea that in changing the world we necessarily change ourselves
through the interaction; that praxis requires some prior conceptualisation /
goal.
Gramsci, struggling with the prison censor, described Marxism as 'the
philosophy of praxis.'
Bruce Robinson
--