Machiavelli’s political writing embodies an original philosophy of praxis rather than utopia

Evidence

Machiavelli wrote books of “immediate political action”, and not Utopias-which express the longing for a ready-made State, with all its functions and elements ready-made too. In his treatment, in his critique of the present, he expressed general concepts-presented, however, in aphoristic rather than in systematic form-and an original conception of the world. This conception of the world too could be called “philosophy of praxis”, or “neo-humanism”, in as much as it does not recognise transcendent or immanent (in the metaphysical sense) elements, but bases itself entirely on the concrete action of man, who, impelled by historical necessity, works and transforms reality. — Antonio Gramsci, Selections from the Prison Notebooks, 931

Categorization

• DEFINE: Defines ‘philosophy of praxis’ against ‘utopia’: not longing for a ready-made state with ready-made functions/elements, but theory grounded in critique of the present, expressed aphoristically — a foundational Gramscian concept concept for the scaffolding toolkit.
• XREF: The category ‘philosophy of praxis’ is Gramsci’s coded term for Marxism used throughout the Prison Notebooks; also connects to how later Islamophobia critique distinguishes engaged analysis from utopianism. — connects to: Machiavelli’s political concepts were worldly intuitions, not metaphysics — Antonio Gramsci, Selections from the Prison Notebooks, 1471; Reading Machiavelli as timeless political science distorts his situated meaning — Antonio Gramsci, Selections from the Prison Notebooks, 637; Machiavelli sought willing follower loyalty to a leader despite ideological clash — Antonio Gramsci, Selections from the Prison Notebooks, 622