Yugoslav Praxis Philosophy Study Guide

Compiled by Ralph Dumain


General sources with links on this site

Crocker, David A. Praxis and Democratic Socialism: The Critical Social Theory of Marković and Stojanović. Atlantic Highlands, NJ: Humanities Press; Brighton, Sussex: Harvester Press, 1983.

Fromm, Erich, ed. Socialist Humanism: An International Symposium. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1965. (See contents for other links.)

Freedom and Polydeterminism in Cultural Criticism” by Rudi Supek

Gruenwald, Oskar. The Yugoslav Search for Man: Marxist Humanism in Contemporary Yugoslavia. South Hadley, MA: J. F. Bergin, 1983.

Humanist Ethics: Dialogue on Basics, edited by Morris B. Storer. Buffalo, NY: Prometheus Books, 1980. Book available online for Questia subscribers.

See esp. “Does Humanism Have an Ethic of Responsibility?”: Comments by Kai Nielsen & Mihailo Marković, & Responses by Paul Kurtz.
    Comment by Kai Nielsen on Kurtz Article [“Does Humanism Have an Ethic of Responsibility?”], pp. 27-28.
    Reply by Paul Kurtz to Nielsen, pp. 29-30.
    Comment by Mihailo Marković on Kurtz [“Does Humanism Have an Ethic of Responsibility?”], pp. 31-33.
    Reply by Paul Kurtz to Marković, pp. 33-35.
Historical Praxis as the Ground of Morality” by Mihailo Marković, pp. 36-50.
    Comment by Paul Kurtz on Marković Article, pp. 51-54.
    Reply by Marković, pp. 54-57.

Marković, Mihailo; Cohen, Robert S. Yugoslavia: The Rise and Fall of Socialist Humanism: A History of the Praxis Group. Nottingham: Bertrand Russell Peace Foundation for Spokesman Books, 1975.

Marxist Humanism and Praxis, edited, with translations, by Gerson S. Sher. Buffalo, NY: Prometheus Books, 1978. iv, 183 pp.

Introduction
Reason and Historical Praxis” by Mihailo Marković
Ideology as a Form and Mode of Human Existence” by Milan Kangrga

Praxis: Yugoslav Essays in the Philosophy and Methodology of the Social Sciences, translated by Joan Coddington, David Rougé, [et al.]; edited by Mihailo Marković and Gajo Petrović. Dordrecht, Holland; Boston: D. Reidel Publishing Company, 1979. (Boston Studies in the Philosophy of Science; v. 36, Synthese Library; v. 134) Selections from the Praxis Jugoslavensko izdanje 1965-1974 by the Praxis group.

Satterwhite, James H. Varieties of Marxist Humanism: Philosophical Revision in Postwar Eastern Europe. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1992. (Series in Russian and East European Studies; no. 17)

Sher, Gerson S. Praxis: Marxist Criticism and Dissent in Socialist Yugoslavia. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1977.

Tolerance and Revolution: A Marxist-non-Marxist Humanist Dialogue, edited by Paul Kurtz and Svetozar Stojanović. Beograd: Philosophical Society of Serbia, 1970. See esp.:

Revolutionary Teleology and Ethics” by Svetozar Stojanović
Perspectives and Contradictions in the Contemporary Development of Man” by Niculae Bellu and Alex. Tanase; Commentary by Andre Niel
Human Nature and Present Day Possibilities of Social Development” by Mihailo Marković, Commentary by Mathilde Niel
Participation, Bureaucracy, and the Limits of Tolerance: Concluding Dialogue with Paul Kurtz, Mihailo Marković, J. P. Van Praag, Niculae Bellu (pp. 153-165)

See also Paul Kurtz and Marxist Humanism @ Reason & Society.

Works by (& about) Mihailo Marković (1923-2010) linked on this site

Dialectical Theory of Meaning: Part One (Extracts) (1961 / 1984)

Dialectical Theory of Meaning: Part Two: Linguistic Meaning (Extract) (1961 / 1984)

Dialectical Theory of Meaning: Part Three: General Definition of Meaning: The Interrelationships of the Individual Dimensions of Meaning (1961 / 1984)

Marx and Critical Scientific Thought” (1968 / 1970)

Human Nature and Present Day Possibilities of Social Development” by Mihailo Marković, Commentary by Mathilde Niel (1969 / 1970)

Participation, Bureaucracy, and the Limits of Tolerance: Concluding Dialogue with Paul Kurtz, Mihailo Marković, J. P. Van Praag, Niculae Bellu (1969 / 1970)

Marxist Humanism and Ethics” by Mihailo Marković (1974)

Is Systematic Philosophy Possible Today?” (1975 / 1977)

Mihailo Marković on systematic philosophy in 1975 by R. Dumain

Reason and Historical Praxis” by Mihailo Marković (1978)

“Does Humanism Have an Ethic of Responsibility?”: Comments by Kai Nielsen & Mihailo Marković, & Responses by Paul Kurtz (1980)

Historical Praxis as the Ground of Morality” by Mihailo Marković (1980)

The Concept of Critique in Social Science” (1988)

Works by Gajo Petrović linked on this site

The Philosophical and Sociological Relevance of Marx’s Concept of Alienation” (1966 / 1967)

 Comment by Marx W. Wartofsky

History and Class Consciousness (1975 / 1977)

Reification (1983)

Philosophy and Revolution: Twenty Sheaves of Questions” (1988)

Works by Svetozar Stojanović linked on this site

Marx’s Theory of Ethics” (1966 / 1967)

Revolutionary Teleology and Ethics” (1969 / 1970)

The State of Humanity and the Transition from Communism to Capitalism

Other influences

Black Folk and the Struggle in ‘Philosophy’ ” by Lucius T. Outlaw (1976)

Bibliographies & study guides on this site

The Philosophy of Theory and Practice: Selected Bibliography

Secular Humanism—Ideology, Philosophy, Politics, History: Bibliography in Progress

Historical Surveys of Atheism, Freethought, Rationalism, Skepticism, and Materialism: Selected Works

Atheism / Freethought / Humanism / Rationalism / Skepticism / Unbelief / Secularism / Church-State Separation Web Links

Positivism vs Life Philosophy (Lebensphilosophie) Study Guide

Salvaging Soviet Philosophy (1)

Marx and Marxism Web Guide

Dumain blogs

Praxis @ Reason & Society 

Paul Kurtz and Marxist Humanism @ Reason & Society

Praxis School web pages on other sites

Marxists Internet.Archive: Subject Section: Yugoslavia: The Praxis Group (includes the following & more)

Marković Archive
Supek Archive
Petrović Archive

Praxis Issue No. 1, 1965

Why Praxis? – Editorial by Gajo Petrović
On the problem of Practice by Pedrag Vranicki
Practice and Dogma by Danko Grlić
Review “Philosophy and Myth in Karl Marx”, by Gajo Petrović

Praxis International Issue No. 1, 1981: Editorial

Praxis International 1965-1973: Complete Issues

Praxis International 1981-1993 [register for open access]

Digitalni arhiv Praxisa i Korčulanske ljetne škole [in Serbo-Croatian: Digital Archive Praxis and Korčula Summer School]

Works by Mihailo Marković on other sites

The Social Role of a University Professor,” May 6, 1968. Paper presented at the 12th International Seminar, “University Today,” Dubrovnik, July 20-30, 1967. Published by Canadian Union of Students / Union canadienne des étudiants (Ottawa).

The Idea of Critique in Social Theory” (1983).

Works about the Praxis School on other sites

Demjanski, Aleksej. Restless Youth: The CIA, Socialist Humanism, and Yugoslavia’s 1968 Student Protests, Not Even Past, October 17, 2016.

Falk, Barbara J. Citizen Intellectuals and Philosopher-Kings: The Dilemmas of Dissidence in East-Central Europe 1968-1989. PhD thesis, Political Science, York University, Toronto, Ontario, May 1999.

Fowkes, Maja & Reuben. “Remains of Utopia: Neo-Marxist Affinities of the East European Neo-avant-garde,” Acta Historiae Artium, vol. 56, no. 1, 2015, pp. 333-342.

Žabić., Sarah D. Praxis, Student Protest, and Purposive Social Action: the Humanist Marxist Critique of The League of Communists of Yugoslavia, 1964-1975. M. A dissertation, Kent State University, August 2010.

Works about the disintegration of Yugoslavia & the Praxis School on other sites

Secor, Laura. “Testaments Betrayed,” Jacobin. “How Yugoslavia’s vibrant Marxist humanists morphed into right-wing nationalists.” Adapted from:

Testaments Betrayed: Yugoslavian Intellectuals and the Road to War,” Lingua Franca, 1999.

Books & monographs by Mihailo Marković (offline)

The Contemporary Marx: Essays on Humanist Communism. Nottingham: Spokesman Books, 1974.

Democratic Socialism: Theory and Practice. New York: St. Martins Press, 1982.

From Affluence to Praxis: Philosophy and Social Criticism. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1974.

On the Legal Institutions of Socialist Democracy. Nottingham: Bertrand Russell Peace Foundation for The Spokesman, 1976. 23 pp.

Self-governing Socialism: a Reader, 2 vols., edited by Branko Horvat, Mihailo Marković, Rudi Supek. White Plains, NY: International Arts and Sciences Press, 1975.

Yugoslavia: The Rise and Fall of Socialist Humanism: A History of the Praxis Group, by Mihailo Marković and Robert S. Cohen. Nottingham: Bertrand Russell Peace Foundation for Spokesman Books, 1975.

Other essays by Mihailo Marković

“Radical Democracy: A Radical Reconstruction,” in Science and Ethics, edited by Keith Lehrer (Amsterdam: Rodopi, 1987), pp. 121-138.

Books by Gajo Petrović

Marx in the Mid-Twentieth Century: A Yugoslav Philosopher Considers Karl Marx's Writings. Garden City, NY: Anchor Books, 1967.

Books by Svetozar Stojanović

Between Ideals And Reality: A Critique of Socialism and Its Future, translated by Gerson S. Sher. New York: Oxford University Press, 1973.

In Search of Democracy in Socialism: History and Party Consciousness, translated by Gerson S. Sher. Buffalo, NY: Prometheus Books, 1981.

Perestroika: From Marxism and Bolshevism to Gorbachev. Buffalo, NY: Prometheus Books, 1988.

The fall of Yugoslavia

The Crisis of the Yugoslav System, by Zagorka Golubović and Svetozar Stojanović. Köln: Index, 1986.

The Fall of Yugoslavia: Why Communism Failed. Amherst, NY: Prometheus Books, 1997.

Serbia: The Democratic Revolution. Amherst, NY: Humanity Books, 2003.

Books & articles on the Praxis School & the disintegration of Yugoslavia

Gruenwald, Oskar. “Praxis and Democratization in Yugoslavia: From Critical Marxism to Democratic Socialism?” in The Road to Disillusion: From Critical Marxism to Post-communism in Eastern Europe, edited by Raymond Taras (Armonk, NY: M. E. Sharpe, 1992), pp. 175-195.

McBride, William L. From Yugoslav Praxis to Global Pathos: Anti-Hegemonic Post-Post-Marxist Essays. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2001.  See esp. Chapter 16, “The Globalization of Philosophy,” pp. 221-236.

_______________. Philosophical Reflections on the Changes in Eastern Europe. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 1999.

Tismaneanu, Vladimir; Shapiro Judith; eds. Debates on the Future of Communism. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1991.

2 Sources of Strength and Stress / Mihailo Marković 10-18
14 The Emerging Civil Society / Zagorka Golubovic 106-115
16 Dissent in Yugoslavia / Aleksa Djilas 129-134


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