Theory and Skill
Praxis vs. nomos. Does theory lead to skill or vice versa?
Jerome Bruner, in The Culture of Education (1996) cites both Bacon and Vygotsky and ties together many strains of educational psychology. But one idea rings truest for me - that skill precedes the expression of a theory about it.
A couple of quotes:
First a translation of Bacon: "Neither hand nor intellect by themselves serve you much; tools and aids perfect (or complete) things." (p 152)
And also, on the same page: " Skill, to put it another is not a 'theory' informing action. Skill is a way of dealing with things, not a drivation from theory. Doubtless, skill can be improved with the aid of theory, as when we learn about the inside and outside edges of our skis, but our skiing doesn't improve until we get that knowledge back into the skill of skiing. Knowledge helps only when it descends into habits."