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praxis

 
Dictionary: prax·is   (prăk'sĭs) pronunciation
 
n., pl. prax·es (prăk'sēz').
  1. Practical application or exercise of a branch of learning.
  2. Habitual or established practice; custom.

[Medieval Latin prāxis, from Greek prāxis, from prāssein, prāg-, to do.]


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A term in use since Aristotle, to whom praxis is one of the three basic activities of human beings (the others being theoria, or theory, and poiēsis, or skilful manufacture). Praxis in Aristotle includes voluntary or goal-directed action, although it sometimes also includes the condition that the action is itself part of the end, an action done for its own sake. In Kant, praxis is the application of a theory to cases encountered in experience, but is also ethically significant thought, or practical reason, that is, reasoning about what there should be as opposed to what there is. Kant's placing of the practical above the theoretical influenced the subsequent thought of Fichte, Schelling, and Hegel. But it is in Marx that the concept becomes central to the new philosophical ideal of transforming the world through revolutionary activity. The subordination of theory to practice is connected with the inability of reason to solve contradictions, which are instead removed by the dialectical progress of history. Praxis is also connected with genuinely free, self-conscious, authentic activity as opposed to the alienated labour demanded under capitalism. See also false consciousness.

 
Obscure Words: praxis
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exercise or practice of an art, science, or skill; customary practice or conduct
 
Wikipedia: Praxis
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Praxis may refer to:

In education:

In entertainment:

  • Praxis effect, the name given to a particular special effect, named after the above

In religion and mythology:

Other uses:

  • Praxis (process), the process of putting theoretical knowledge into practice
  • Praxis (journal), a journal of philosophy of the University of Manchester
  • Praxis High Integrity Systems, a British software company
  • Praxis Publications, a British publishing company, allied to Springer
  • Praxis Care, a social care charity based in Belfast, Northern Ireland
  • Praxis, a genus of moth in the subfamily Calpinae
  • Praxis intervention, in social work, a methodology for intervention within communities
  • Praxis Automation Technology, a Dutch automation company

See also


 
 
Learn More
parapraxis
August Von Cieszkowski (philosophy)
1984 (1997 Album by Praxis)

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Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2007. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.  Read more
Thesaurus. Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary Copyright © 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.  Read more
Philosophy Dictionary. The Oxford Dictionary of Philosophy. Copyright © 1994, 1996, 2005 by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved.  Read more
Obscure Words. © 2008 by Michael A. Fischer http://home.comcast.net/~wwftd Read more
Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Praxis" Read more

 

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