thinking about aristotle
 for marx as it is for aristotle, praxis is non-instrumental, non-predictive, and non-explanatory knowledge: a form of prudence, guiding one to act in concrete moral, ethical and historical situations according to principles that are both universal and concrete. revolutionary action is seen not as deterministic, but as an open ended creation of a future free from all intellectual and material alienation, it rejects the dictates either of a detached science (episteme) or instrumental technology (techne) it provides us with the simple beginnings of a theory of social practice orientated to the future as something ʻnot yetʻ- in a state of becoming – rather than as the unfolding of an immanent principle in the logic of the past.
for aristotle, praxis is guided by a moral disposition to act truly and rightly; a concern to further human well being and the good life. this is what the ancients called phronesis and requires an understanding of other people.
phronesis – practical wisdom, involves moving between the particular and the general.
// the mark of a prudent man [is] to be able to deliberate rightly about what is good and what is advantageous for himself; not in particular respects, e.g. what is good for health or physical strength, but what is conducive to the good life generally.// (aristotle 2004: 209)
in praxis there can be no prior knowledge of the right means by which we realize the end in a particular situation. for the end itself is only specified in deliberating about the means appropriate to a particular situation.
poiesis is about acting upon, doing to: it is about working with things. praxis, however, is creative: it is other-seeking and dialogic.
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