The following are discussed: (1) The promissory status of the concept of interest in Marxist social science. (2) We argue that the problematic status of interest arises in part from an attempt to combine theory and practice, which are considered two domains of discourses with distinct justificatory programs pertaining to each. (3) We discuss two contemporary Marxist attempts to overcome some difficulties inherent in the promissory aims of such a social science, and show the shortcomings of each to mediate the actual with the potential, theory and practice.
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