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