praxis (from Greek prasso, ‘doing’, ‘acting’), in Aristotle, the sphere of thought and action that comprises the ethical and political life of man, contrasted with the theoretical designs of logic and epistemology (theoria). It was thus that ‘praxis’ acquired its general definition of ‘practice’ through a contrastive comparison with ‘theory’.
Throughout the history of Western philosophy the concept of praxis found a place in a variety of philosophical vocabularies. Marx and the neo- Marxists linked the concept with a production paradigm in the interests of historical explanation. Within such a scheme of things the activities constituting the relations of production and exchange are seen as the dominant features of the socioeconomic history of humankind. Significations of ‘praxis’ are also discernible in the root meaning of pragma (deed, affair), which informed the development of American pragmatism. In more recent times the notion of praxis has played a prominent role in the formation of the school of critical theory, in which the performatives of praxis are seen to be more directly associated with the entwined phenomena of discourse, communication, and social practices.
The central philosophical issues addressed in the current literature on praxis have to do with the theory–practice relationship and the problems associated with a value-free science. The general thrust is that of undermining or subverting the traditional bifurcation of theory and practice via a recognition of praxis-oriented endeavors that antedate both theory construction and the construal of practice as a mere application of theory. Both the project of ‘pure theory,’ which makes claims for a value-neutral standpoint, and the purely instrumentalist understanding of practice, as itself shorn of discernment and insight, are jettisoned. The consequent philosophical task becomes that of understanding human thought and action against the backdrop of the everyday communicative endeavors, habits, and skills, and social practices that make up our inheritance in the world. See also CRITICAL THEORY, MARX, MARX- IS. C.O.S.