Published By: Sreyanshi

Three Factors of the co-existence of knowledge and practice

Nothing has been intertwined like these two – knowledge and practice.

But how do we navigate the parallels that they have drawn? We can do that following the three factors between knowledge and practice – the dilemma, the interdependency, and universalising the learnings.

Factor 1 - Decoding the Dilemma

What comes first, knowledge or practice, is a question as old as time, much like the egg or the chicken dilemma. But we can say for sure that egg and chicken both have their causality majorly mixed up. You never have an egg without a chicken and a chicken, without an egg. The same fate dictates the dichotomy between knowledge and practice too. You can never gain practical knowledge I you are out of touch with the practice. For example, you cannot just theoretically prove an equation of chemistry, you have to put it through a test and come to a conclusion that is universal and is true every time the experiment is conducted. Same goes with sports. One can never learn the true and effective moves to win a match on the ground, unless they practice them beforehand.

Factor 2 – Working with Inter-dependency

Knowledge and practice cannot exist without one another. Unless one has a clear idea about the surroundings, it will be impossible for them to plan ahead any kinds of practical endeavours. So the primary knowledge of the surroundings will always be needed as the first step in order for us to have a practical roadmap to accomplish whatever we set out to, in the first place. Knowledge of the space informs and educates us to get ready with a sound plan. This is the only way any kind of practice can be efficiently achieved. Knowledge of the space where the practice will be executed is of utmost importance. But same goes with the dependency of knowledge upon the practical experiences that we each, and all, individually as well as on a social level, go through. Our respective experiences derived out of our practice will form our perspective which will then be universalised to understand the phenomena of the experiences. So, knowledge depends on its practice as much as practice depends on the knowledge of the land it takes place in.

Factor 3 – Deriving at Universalism

Once we go through the dilemma and understand the interdependency of knowledge and practice, we can surely derive at a universalised idea which will not just be one-sided as a perspective knowledge but it will also inculcate the different facets of the setup where the practice is taking place and, in turn, help in universalising the perceptual knowledge.