Based on Marx's Theses ad Feuerbach and German Ideology, and on views of Peirce, James and Dewey, the paper critically examines the notions of practice and practical materialism in Marx, in relation to their convergence but also difference with classical North-American pragmatism, On one side, it highlights the virtues of Marxian notion of practice and reality as sensuous activity, for a renewed understanding of notions such as reality, objectivity and knowledge, and, on the other, calls attention to possible essentialist and 'transcendentalizing' elements in Marx's thought that may have marked negatively his whole mature theory.
Practical materialism; Pragmatism; Sensuous activity; Reality; Knowledge