On this Page:
Welcome to visitors. Invitation
and introduction to the website of the Initiative for the philosophy of
praxis and a concrete social science, in short form
PRAXIS-Initiative.
Related Pages:
The author's personal page:
Autor der Website. Listing of his publications:
Publikationen und Downloads. Basic and important literature:
Philosophie der Praxis. Selected
theoretical ressources in English:
Marxismus International.
New and international contibutions to a philosophy of praxis:
Neues Forum Praxisphilosophie.
Das Konzept PRAXIS im 21. Jahrhundert
Konstitutionstheorie der
Praxis / Die Übergangsepoche / Die latente Systemalternative
→
Book
Announcement 
Download PDF
(670 S.)
→
Content
and Preface (8-12)
→
Summary and
Outlook (589-613)
Bookmarks
+
Interview:
We have to cook a new soup [2008]
+ Marxism, Philosophy of Praxis and the Concept of
Praxis [2021]
New Entries
Müller, Horst (2023): The core concept of the philosophy of praxis today. Review of: Wolfdietrich Schmied-Kowarzik, Solidarische Praxis in Allianz mit der Natur. Marx dialektische Praxisphilosophie für das 21. Jahrhundert, Westfälisches Dampfboot, Münster 2022. In: International Review of Social History, July 2023 - see below.
Müller, Horst (2025): Capital and finance economy or a transformative social state economy under sovereign control. 14 slides on political philosophy, economy and praxis - see below.
Müller, Horst (2025): Central issues for the advancement of praxis, Marxism and socialism thinking - see below.
All for what?
This page means to open the door and stimulate your interest about the Initiative für Praxisphilosophie und konkrete Wissenschaft (IPkW). It is the main german website for the so called Philosophy of Practice, Practice Philosophy or Philosophy of Praxis, which roots in Karl Marx. Further on the project is to transcend all this in the sense of the 'concept of praxis', in German 'Praxiskonzept'.
The concept of praxis in this full sense has its offspring in the theory of Karl Marx. It includes not only the whole of social sciences, especially all themes of political economy and world history, but also philosophical reflections about nature and ecology. Also of main importance in the context of this website is the research concerning an alternative economic system, here called 'social economy as system alternative' or, in the final analysis, 'social state economy under sovereign control'.
Citations
All social life is essentially practical. All mysteries which lead theory to mysticism find their rational solution in human practice and in the comprehension of this practice.
Karl Marx: The 8th these on Feuerbach. In: MEW 3: page 7. Onlinetext at marxists.org
Marxist philosophy is different for it is a world theory. Though Germany is the hometown of Marx, Marxist philosophy is a 'world philosophy' instead of being exclusive to Germany. Marx had ever foreseen that such an era would come inevitebly: "philosophy then ceases to be a particular system in relation to the world; it becomes philosophy in general in relation to the world, i.e. the philosophy of the contemporary world." Marxist philosophy itself is such a world philosophy, the product of world history.
Yang Geng: Defense for Marx. A new interpretation of Marxist Philosophy. Canut International Publishers, 2010, S. 39. Extract as Onlinetext by Amazon. Announcement at Leftreader as IPkW-Onlinetext.
The unifying
perspective for social forces lies in a welfare state economy and
associative sociality freed from the pressure of growth. The political
character of this emancipation movement is that of a kick-start for this
impending and more concretely emerging renewal.
Horst Müller: Abstract from Das Konzept PRAXIS im 21. Jahrhundert, 2021.
about the project
Author's studies started in 1968
This website started in 2001, but theoretical work intensified since the 80th, with previous studies in political economy, philosophy, social science, politics and also diverse political engagements in the background. An new developmental stage is reached with the second edition 2021 of the publication 'Das Konzept PRAXIS im 21. Jahrhundert'.
Initiative and website since 2001
The initiative intends to elaborate an up-to-date political philosophy, which refers to the novum of Karl Marx ideas, unites the best items of the critical and utopian inspired theory and puts the traditional philosophy of practice into concrete terms. Therefore I call it a philosophy and science of social practice, or shortly a concrete philosophy of practice. This standpoint or paradigm claims to exceed both the so called critical theory and the mere traditional or dogmatic marxism.To make clear the difference to pragmatism too and assure the roots, I use the term practice in its original, utmost philosophical and scientific meaning as praxis.
With the IPkW-Website ist intended to construct an internet platform, which samples and presents theoretical resources, offers a forum for practice-centered works and interests and also chances to contact. In this way the rich inheritance of the European thinking line of a philosophy of practice can be vitalised and worked out as a modern paradigm of social sciences. The resource spectrum extends from Feuerbach, Hegel und Karl Marx over Antonio Gramsci, Herbert Marcuse up to Ernst Bloch, the Yugoslavian Praxis Group, the French philosopher Henri Lefebvre and reaches into current political philosophy, including not at least classical authors as G.H. Mead and modern thinkers as Pierre Bourdieu and Immanuel Wallerstein. Outgoing from this the concrete philosophy of practice tries to elaborate the epistemological and methodological basics for concrete analysis and research of social practice and may start projects on this.
The main point in present time is to take up again creative research on political economy, the unfinished project of Marx'capital theory, but now with primary interest about a positive concept of a new mode of reproduction and social association. In the quite new concept of a social economy formation as system alternative, so the actual hypothesis, can be found the real answer to capital economy and thus the response to the striking problems and the crises of capitalism in the time of neoliberal globalization.
The failure of the so called real-socialism experiments grounds substantially in the fact, that it reached neither theoretically nor practically a real new coast. On the other side, the modern social movements do not know a trustworthy alternative to the challenges and destruction forces of the dominating capitalistic formation and its globalization tendency. In this situation the concrete philosophy of practice ought to contribute for well grounded economic and social politics in the perspective of a social transformation, to support peoples struggle for a better life.
Get acquainted
Müller, Horst: Basic positions and research issues of a philosophy of practice. As IPkW-Onlinetext.
Müller, Horst: We have to cook a new soup.
Interview with German social scientist Horst Müller
[ Translated from German into English and published on TLAXCALA am
9.12.2008 ] As
IPkW-Onlinetext.
Müller, Horst (2025): Central issues for the advancement of praxis, Marxism and socialism thinking. Nuremberg, September 2025. As IPkW-Onlinetext.
Main publication
Das Konzept PRAXIS im 21. Jahrhundert.
Karl Marx und die Praxisdenker, das Praxiskonzept in der Übergangsperiode und die latent existierende Systemalternative.
Print edition.
BoD-Verlag Norderstedt,
April 2021, ISBN 978-3-7534-9705-1
Das Konzept PRAXIS im 21. Jahrhundert.
Available as
OpenAccess Publikation via KOBRA
Kasseler OnlineBibliothek, Repository und Archiv, the document
server of the university of Kassel.
Also
OpenAccess as
PDF via praxisphilosophie.de.
The Concept of Praxis. Special Print Content and Preface. As IPkW-Onlinetext.
The Concept of Praxis. Special Print Summary and Outlook.As IPkW-Onlinetext.
papers and interests
Overview and insight
Müller, Horst (2024): The Concept of Praxis, the Situation of Marxism and Socialistic Perspectives.
Slide concerning the situation of political philosophy and research
assignments. As
IPkW-Onlinetext.
Müller, Horst (2023): The core concept of the philosophy of praxis today. Review of: Wolfdietrich Schmied-Kowarzik, Solidarische Praxis in Allianz mit der Natur. Marx dialektische Praxisphilosophie für das 21. Jahrhundert, Westfälisches Dampfboot, Münster 2022. In: International Review of Social History, July 2023. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0020859023000263
Müller, Horst (2025):
Capital and finance economy or a
transformative social state economy under sovereign control.
14 slides on political philosophy, economy and praxis
as
IPkW-Onlinetext.
Selected papers
Müller, Horst (2014): Best of Karl Marx. Excerpts from the manuscripts Grundrisse der Kritik der politischen Ökonomie. Als IPkW-Onlinetext. [ Special selection from MEW 42. More than 100 citations, which concern the best and most far-reaching ideas of Karl Marx as an analyst and forward thinker of socio-historical transformation ]
Müller, Horst (2016): The fiscal hub to transform democratic capitalism. Proposal, Nürnberg 2016. Als IPkW-Onlinetext
Müller, Horst (2018): Arguments for an Utopistic Turn of Marxist Theory. Commentary to Sean Sayers: On Karl Marx's Two-hundredth Anniversary. Nürnberg, im März 2018. Bei academia.edu und als IPkW-Onlinetext.
Müller, Horst (2022):
On the further development of Marxism as
a political philosophy of practical and dialectical realism and humanism. Nürnberg, Mai 2022. As
IPkW-Onlinetext.
Müller, Horst (2023): Theses on Wolfgang Streeck’s plea for the national state, a democratic-Keynesian social formation and multipolar world reordering. Als IPkW-Onlinetext, February 2023
please contact
address and online presence
Dr. Horst Müller
Meuschelstr. 30
D - 90408 Nürnberg
Fon ++49 (0) 911 337781
dr.horst.mueller@t-online.de
online presence
website
https://www.praxisphilosophie.de
academia.edu
https://independent.academia.edu/M%C3%BCllerHorst
wikipedia
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horst_Müller_(Philosoph)