In theory

[boyofbadgers]

Is praxis just an fancy synonym for practice? Or is it a bit more complicated than that?

Comments

[ergotia.livejournal.com]

My recollection from Aristotle is that praxis means culmination, turning point - the edge where theory becomes practice - and by extension orgasm and the Great Goddess :) But I have not read Aristotle for over twenty years.

I think in fields such as e.g. literary theory the "edge" aspect of praxis distinguishes it from practice - it is the place you cannot identify as a shade but where black becomes white, the date you cannot identify where a word chamges its common usage, the time you cannot identify when orgasm moves from gathering to inevitable. Derrida is keying into this with theories of "jouissance" i.e. the subversive function of language where meaning constantly both is and is not as texts are written and read. But again it is at least twenty years since I dabbled in any kind of theory so this may all be total bollocks.