What is Philosophy?

The question of philosophy is not an academic or intellectual question. When Marx said in his celebrated Theses on Feuerbach The philosophers hitherto have interpreted the world in different ways the question however is to change it he intended to convey the real mission of philosophy. The real philosophy can only be the philosophy of praxis i.e. the philosophy of subversive action. This subversive action can be realized only when philosophy is demystified and becomes a weapon in the hands of the masses. This book by one of the leading Marxist philosophers of his time attempts to understand the real meaning and function of philosophy through a historical analysis of its development and attempts to develop a Marxist theory of philosophy. This is not a book on Marxist philosophy. Rather this a Marxist book on philosophy. To borrow from Althusser it is not a discourse in philosophy but a discourse on philosophy.