HOW TO THINK WORK AND PRACTICE

Text topic: Studies

Text author: Željko Senković

Contemporary approaches to the terms of labour and praxis have multiple layers. This paper begins from the Aristotelian relation to labour in Hannah Arendt’s work and her insistence on truly human action, separate from instrumental relations. Despite her thoughts on labour, which she reduced to the necessity to maintain life, it is the overall understanding of praxis as a space for diversion, possibility and freedom which is important in Arendt’s work. One of Arendt’s puzzling theses is her critique of Marx’s understanding of labour. Differentiation between labour and work, in the spirit of Marx, is exquisitely developed in Vanja Sutlić’s work. His texts show that the true work (as productio) is, in fact, revelation of a being hiding behind alienation. Hence, the fundamental moment of devising the world is the contemporary understanding of a man as a creative being.