Observations about Method, Political Theory and Education in Antonio Gramsci

Abstract

The politician, philosopher and militant Antonio Gramsci presented contributions to Marxist theory by considering the historic elements that permeated Italy in his time, expanding Marxist categories and concepts. The purpose of this essay is to reflect on method in Gramsci’s work. He considered that method was expressed in the conceptualization of the world and in the theory of knowledge. This Gramscian understanding raises the philosophy of praxis above deterministic materialism and goes beyond the speculative idealism that conceives history only abstractly. Therefore, the Gramscian method consists in using the dimensions of subjectivity of modern philosophy, while always focused on the transformation of structures, of consciousness, never separated from social conditionings and class conflicts within the historic process. The methodology of this study involved bibliographic research of Marxist authors who have a Gramscian theoretical support.