The Primacy of Praxis
The Primacy of Praxis is a principle for human systems which states that what we do, more than what we say or think, is what defines and shapes our reality. This relates strongly to The Model Problem: that human perception and conceptualization can only deal with models and abstractions of reality, not reality itself. Therefore, it is possible for human systems to be completely constrained or defined by models that vary considerably from reality. Thus, when trying to figure out what’s “real” or “really going on”, performance analysis is generally more concrete and accurate than evaluations based on or subject to mental models of ourselves and our institutions.
What we do also generally has more impact on others than what we say — which can be disregarded as “marketing” or “propaganda”, especially if dissonant to how we are observed or perceived. While this is common-sense, it’s helpful to know that even in an age of much more access to broadcast technology and celebrity through social media, research has shown that opinion-makers who are seen as on-the-ground practitioners are more respected than those who offer insights remotely.1
What you do speaks so loudly that I cannot hear what you say
— Ralph Waldo Emerson2
In Scripture
Similar principles are central in the Bible and many other sources of wisdom literature. For example:
“What do you think? A man had two sons. And he went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work in the vineyard today.’ And he answered, ‘I will not,’ but afterward he changed his mind and went. And he went to the other son and said the same. And he answered, ‘I go, sir,’ but did not go. Which of the two did the will of his father?” — Jesus [Matthew 21:28-31 ESV]
What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.
But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. –James [2:14-18 ESV]
“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’
— Jesus [Matthew 7:21-23]
“Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.” — Jesus [Matthew 7:24-27 ESV]
References & Notes
- See for example: Shiraz Maher. “The primacy of praxis: Clerical authority in the Syrian conflict” MEI@75 / Middle East Institute, October 24, 2018. https://www.mei.edu/publications/primacy-praxis-clerical-authority-syrian-conflict (Accessed 2/26/2022).
- Likey a modern paraphrase of a quote from Emerson’s essay “The Over-Soul”. See: https://quoteinvestigator.com/2011/01/27/what-you-do-speaks/.