Praxis is the process by which a theory, lesson,
or skill is enacted, embodied, or realised.
"Praxis" may also refer to the act of engaging,
applying, exercising, realizing, or practicing
ideas.
This has been a recurrent topic in the field
of philosophy, discussed in the writings of
Plato, Aristotle, St. Augustine, Immanuel
Kant, Søren Kierkegaard, Karl Marx, Martin
Heidegger, Hannah Arendt, Paulo Freire, Ludwig
von Mises, and many others.
It has meaning in the political, educational,
and spiritual realms.
Origins
In Ancient Greek the word praxis referred
to activity engaged in by free men.
Aristotle held that there were three basic
activities of man: theoria, poiesis and praxis.
There corresponded to these kinds of activity
three types of knowledge: theoretical, to
which the end goal was truth; poietical, to
which the end goal was production; and practical,
to which the end goal was action.
Aristotle further divided practical knowledge
into ethics, economics and politics.
He also distinguished between eupraxia and
dyspraxia.
Hannah Arendt
In The Human Condition, Hannah Arendt argues
that Western philosophy too often has focused
on the contemplative life and has neglected
the active life.
This has led humanity to frequently miss much
of the everyday relevance of philosophical
ideas to real life.
Arendt calls “praxis” the highest and
most important level of the active life.
Thus, she argues that more philosophers need
to engage in everyday political action or
praxis, which she sees as the true realization
of human freedom.
According to Arendt, our capacity to analyze
ideas, wrestle with them, and engage in active
praxis is what makes us uniquely human.
"Arendt's theory of action and her revival
of the ancient notion of praxis represent
one of the most original contributions to
twentieth century political thought."
"Moreover, by viewing action as a mode of
human togetherness, Arendt is able to develop
a conception of participatory democracy which
stands in direct contrast to the bureaucratized
and elitist forms of politics so characteristic
of the modern epoch."
Education
Praxis is used by educators to describe a
recurring passage through a cyclical process
of experiential learning, such as the cycle
described and popularised by David A. Kolb.
Paulo Freire defines praxis in Pedagogy of
the Oppressed as "reflection and action upon
the world in order to transform it."
Through praxis, oppressed people can acquire
a critical awareness of their own condition,
and, with their allies, struggle for liberation.
In the Channel 4 television documentary "New
Order: Play At Home", Factory Records owner
Tony Wilson describes praxis as "doing something,
and then only afterwards, finding out why
you did it".
Praxis is also used in schools of community
education, basically, practice and reflection.
Spirituality
Praxis is also key in meditation and spirituality,
where emphasis is placed on gaining first-hand
experience of concepts and certain areas,
such as union with the Divine, which can only
be explored through praxis due to the inability
of the finite mind to comprehend or express
the infinite.
In an interview for YES!
Magazine, Matthew Fox explained it this way:
Wisdom is always taste—in both Latin and
Hebrew, the word for wisdom comes from the
word for taste—so it's something to taste,
not something to theorize about.
"Taste and see that God is good," the psalm
says; and that's wisdom: tasting life.
No one can do it for us.
The mystical tradition is very much a Sophia
tradition.
It is about tasting and trusting experience,
before institution or dogma.
According to Strong's Hebrew dictionary, the
Hebrew word, ta‛am, is; properly a taste,
that is, perception; by implication intelligence;
transitively a mandate: advice, behaviour,
decree, discretion, judgment, reason, taste,
understanding.
Organizations
While praxis usually refers to the process
of putting theoretical knowledge into practice,
the strategic and organizational usage of
the word emphasizes the need for a constant
cycle of conceptualizing the meanings of what
can be learned from experience in order to
reframe strategic and operational models.
See also
Praxis
Christian theological praxis
Lex artis
Anathem
Praxis Discussion Series
Praxis intervention
Praxis school
Praxeology
Practice
Orthopraxy
Notes
Further reading
Paulo Freire, Pedagogy of the Oppressed, Continuum
International Publishing Group.
External links
The dictionary definition of praxis at Wiktionary
Entry for "praxis" at the Encyclopaedia of
Informal Education
Der Begriff Praxis
