Definition:

In classical rhetoric, the realm of human action--in particular, the practice or application of rhetoric, the art of civic discourse. Plural: praxes.

In the Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle says that the realm of human action (praxis) is not illuminated by either science or art: "practical wisdom (phronesis) is concerned with action."

In philosophy in the 1960s and 1970s, says Richard De George, praxis "characterized the approach of east European (especially Yugoslav) Marxists (known as the Praxis Group), whose central concern was to study and influence the role of free creative activity in changing and shaping ethical, social, political, and economic life along humanistic socialist lines" (The Oxford Companion to Philosophy, 1995).


See also:

• Doxa
• Episteme
• Oratory
• Rhetoric
• Techne

Etymology:
From the Greek, "activity, practice"

Examples and Observations:

• Aristotle on Praxis
  - "For the Athenian statesperson, moral action occurred within a teleologically based moral tradition in which each act contributed to the cumulative narrative history of an individual's character as well as to the tradition in which the act was embedded. Against this backdrop, the central practice for honing practical reason and personal character to a moral sharpness was rhetoric."
  (Thomas S. Frentz, "Rhetorical Conversation, Time, and Moral Action." Contemporary Rhetorical Theory: A Reader, ed. by J.L. Lucaites, C.M. Condit, and S. Caudill. Guilford Press, 1999)
  
  - "We are . . . confronted with the fact that pathos, ethos, and reason are intimately united in praxis. In rhetoric which prepares for praxis we should expect to find them closely united, particularly in the enthymeme which for Aristotle is the heart of the rhetorical process. Deliberation occupies itself with matters within our power and of consequence to us. In rhetorical discourse the audience must be brought not only to knowledge of the subject but knowledge as relevant and significant for they are either indifferent, opposed, or in partial agreement."
  (William M.A. Grimaldi, "Studies in the Philosophy of Aristotle's Rhetoric." Landmark Essays on Aristotelian Rhetoric, ed. by Richard Leo Enos and Lois Peters Agnew. Lawrence Erlbaum, 1998)

• Cicero on Praxis
  - "The contempt that a certain philosophical tradition used to show for eclecticism came from a choice, whether conscious or not, that favored the theoretical over the pragmatic moment. To be sure, Cicero is one of the most fervent and consistent advocates of praxis at all times."
  (Renato Barilli, Rhetoric. Trans. by Giuliana Menozzi. University of Minnesota Press, 1989)
  
  - "An example of the centrality of praxis in later classical rhetorical theory can be found in Cicero's De Oratore. In Book 1, Crassus argues that the orator is superior to the philosopher on the grounds that the orator has an understanding of praxis. While philosophers are concerned with intellectual matters, they are not able to contribute to the common good, argues Crassus. If one wants to make full 'light' of the matter, one is obliged to turn to the orator, who has the power to explain to the populace what the philosopher can only communicate to other technical experts. The philosopher may have knowledge (theoria) but not have an understanding of praxis to translate the truth into phronesis, or practical wisdom, which takes place through the techne or art of rhetoric. Cicero emphasizes that praxis lies in the realm of oratory and involves both knowledge of the subject matter, knowledge of the human psyche, and a political awareness."
  (Omar Swartz, "Praxis." Encyclopedia of Rhetoric and Composition: Communication From Ancient Times to the Information Age, ed. by Theresa Enos. Taylor & Francis, 1996)
• Technical Communication: Techne and Praxis
  "Carolyn Miller (1989) notes that technical communication has historically been taught as a skill or art, which, borrowing from Aristotle, she labels techne. Miller calls for technical communication education to be based on more than just techne; it must be built on the concept of praxis: technical communication must become a practice geared toward the social ends, the social impact of the communicators' work. Techne implies work to produce a well-crafted document, a necessary and important ability. Praxis implies work to produce a social good."
  (Stephen Doheny-Farina, Rhetoric, Innovation, Technology: Case Studies of Technical Communication in Technology Transfers. The MIT Press, 1992)
• Composition Studies and Praxis
  - "By 1800, America was producing a small number of genuine scholars, but old habits die hard and Britain continued to dominate American language instruction long after she had ceased to dominate America politically. English grammar teaching in America was utterly shaped by Lindley Murray's English Grammar of 1795, and American rhetoric was for more than fifty years completely in thrall to the ideas of Hugh Blair. Blairian rhetoric not only predominated theoretically, it also introduced a new pedagogy that was to lead to the novel mixture of theory and praxis that was Early American composition-rhetoric."
  (Robert J. Connors, Composition-Rhetoric: Backgrounds, Theory, and Pedagogy. University of Pittsburgh Press, 1997)
  
  - "Studies of rhetoric as a social praxis became common in the 1990s with the proliferating research on the rhetorical practices of women, people of color, and the working classes. Critical pedagogy provided part of the framing theories for research on rhetoric as a sociohistorical mode of collective action. That research is now feeding back into efforts to fill in the curricular chasm that was left between first-year courses and the graduate programs that grew up over them."
  (Thomas P. Miller and Jillian Skeffington, "Recollecting and Recomposing Composition." Renewing Rhetoric's Relation to Composition: Essays in Honor of Theresa Jarnagin Enos, ed. by Shane Borrowman, Stuart C. Brown, and Thomas P. Miller. Routledge, 2009)

Pronunciation: PRAK-sis