Labour and Struggle for Recognition: Kosík´s Concept of Praxis

e-mail: landai@seznam.cz, landa@flu.cas.cz

The aim of this paper is to inquire into the principles of Kosík´s social ontology, which he sketched in his book Dialectics of the Concrete. The central question of this book concerns the elementary structure of social reality and the way how it is produced. Although Kosík did not elaborate his social ontology in any detail, he formulated several important principles, from which it could be developed: the idea that man is a praxis, i.e. ontoformative being, and the doctrine of revolutionary praxis. Both of these principles are focal points of Kosík´s concept of praxis. At first, I explore Kosík´s idea of praxis in connection with Hegel´s model of master and slave. Subsequently, I deal with a distinction between two aspects of praxis: the aspect of labour and the “existential” aspect. Finally, I discuss Kosík´s theory of revolutionary praxis.