I want to add only one aditional issue to the ideas developed by Diane. For
Freire, the "praxis" is the dialectic sinthesys of action and reflection.
Inside a liberatory practice (tied to the "political act of critical
self-interrogation" that Diane wrote) there is a circle of influences
between action and reflection: each one motivates, demands the other,
movilizes it. The global process of knowing (collectively) the world
depends on this circle: when it stops the world is petrified for the
opression and the social categories lost their flexibility.=20
Due to his dependence of reflection (as I have mentioned above), the
"praxis" is only a "human praxis". Freire says that the animals are beings
of the action (in some kind, of the practice), but the proper place of the
human being is the "praxis". I think that this idea is very close to the
work of Vygotsky, specially in the context of the diferences between upper
psychological processes and lower psychological proceses. The formers, that
are characteristics of human beings, can be recognized precisely by the
reflective control that the person exercises over them.
I know that this notion of "praxis" is rooted directly in the works of Karl
Marx, but I can't to offer you precise references.
I hope these little notes will be useful.
Christian Sebastian B.
Psychology Department
Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile
P.S.: I beg your pardon for my english. I know it is horrible, but i like
very much the theme of the praxis...
At 06:07 PM 03-05-1999 -0800, you wrote:
>At 17:36 5/4/99, Kwang-Su Cho wrote:
>>Dear XMCA members
>>
>>While I was reading a chapter on activity theory and CSCW(computer
>>mediated collaborate work), I found a word, praxis. The problem is that
>>I don't know the meaning. A English dictionary says Praxis is practice.
>>However, it's not enough for me to understand the word.
>>what is the concept of praxis? is it different from activity?
>>
>>>From Kwang-Su
>
>i understand the word to come out of Paolo Freire' theories on
>liberatory pedagogy (e.g., Pedagogy of the Oppressed, 1977).
>Praxis is supposed to describe strategic educative relations amongst the
>learners and teacher.
>
>Practice is uncritical teaching,
>and praxis is a political engagement that explicitly addresses a need for
>emancipatory and critical work;
>
>It is perhaps the "x" that pretends to signal the political significance;
>The same change was made to the word
>"reflective", which means, "... to be thoughtful or contemplative;"
>
>but to be _reflexive_ is to think politically on one's privilege and power,
>so that, by definition, _reflexivity_ is the political act of critical
>self-interrogation.
>
>Praxis is absolutely different from Activity -
>
>Activity is, like Speech, a general term of reference that requires
>an historical/social relation for meaning.
>
>Praxis, on the other hand, presumes a particular historical context has
>determined the conditions of oppression and inequality
>In other words, if the learning context were successfully organized as
>equitable and emancipatory,
>there would be no need for praxis - Praxis is a method of intervention.
>.
>Now i haven't got a reference
>for any of this so i could be mistaken; however, i know Freire writes about
>praxis as liberatory
>pedagogy.
>
>Praxis is a word that has been overused and under-developed; it may well be
>the case the the author you are reading is equating practice with praxis.
>Certainly overuse is the best way to empty a word of its political
>intention: the same way
>a word like "patriarchy" can still accurately describe systemic domination
>and the forced maintenance of women as a slave labour class,
>the effect of the word has been emptied through repetition, now defused
>enough so that "patriarchal structures of oppression," for example,
>sounds like "...a tale told by an idiot: full of sound and fury, signifying
>nothing."
>
>
>diane
>
>
>""""""""""""""""""""""" """""""""""""""""""""""""""""
> When she walks,
> the revolution's coming.
> In her hips, there's revolution.
> When she talks, I hear revolution.
> In her kiss, I taste the revolution.
> (poem by Kathleen Hanna: Riot Grrl)
>******************************************
> diane celia hodges
> university of british columbia
>centre for the study of curriculum and knowledge
> vancouver, british columbia, canada
>
>
>