Abstract (eng)
The Philosophy of Praxis (Praxis-Philosophie) was a very important philosophical school of thought in the 1960s and 1970s in Yugoslavia as well as in the world. Its influence on the development of Yugoslavia, but also its relentless criticism, have led to a bigger range of possibilities which could be carried out in this country’s socialist revolution, in comparison to the other socialist countries.
Thus, the first part of this paper is dedicated to the formation context of the Praxis group („Praxis-Gruppe“), in which it is dealt with the magazine „Praxis“, the Summer School in Korčula and the relationship to the student movement of 1968. Especially, the three pillars of this school of thought have played a crucial role: Practice (Praxis), alienation, and the thought of revolution. Starting from the explanation of these approaches, this paper is trying to raise awareness of their importance in today’s social and developmental research. These approaches indicate a change in direction, which can be brought into connection with the current international development as a discipline and a field of research.
The main focus of analysis in the second part is above all the understanding of the human as a being of practice, but also his alienated form in reference to the capitalistic relations. Through its line of thought and actions the Praxis group has shown that the practice and alienation are connected in the idea of revolution, i.e. that every practice is followed by its alienation. The thought of development is contained in the idea that revolution should be reconsidered in social criticism that focuses on alienation, with the task of demonstrating the contemporary „Praxis“. The philosophical thinking of the Praxis group has not been understood and taken into consideration in this paper as an orthodox Marxist ideology, but rather the opposite, as a ruthless criticism of everything, that follows the traces of Marx. In the research of development there is a lack of solutions, which could move the inglorious history of „development“ in another direction. At least with the post-development approaches it became clear that „development“ can be understood neither in one-sided nor in a universal way. For that reason, the call for the developmental alternatives is actually a call for a basic examination of the existing ideas. Moreover, the orientation on the intercultural philosophy has been considered, which has advocated different methods and understanding of philosophies, in the presumption that no philosophy is above other philosophies. Praxis group has also demonstrated this, in which it has taken free creative development of each individual as a basic principal of a truly human society.
In the third and fourth part the idea of „Development“ itself is analysed and in addition it is discussed about its philosophical dimension. It is a question of essence of development, which this paper, at least partly, is trying to answer. If the capitalistic relations and the „Praxis“ are allowed today, is not of main concern here. It is rather about an effort to change something, which is present in each pre-revolutionary phase, in order to find a possibility for the unfolding of something new. While the „development“ runs the danger of losing itself, its own identity and direction by blending in with the other disciplines, the philosophy i.e. the thought of the revolution of the Praxis group manages to create a sharp-witted artefact for the possibility of really human „development“. The question if we can learn from the experience of the Yugoslav „alternative for development“, or if there is another perspective of the “development” that could be possible, remains in the end a rhetorical question.