The distinction between poiesis and praxis originates in ancient Greek philosophy, especially in Aristotle, and has been taken up in different ways by later thinkers (e.g., Heidegger, Arendt, Agamben). At root, it’s a distinction between two fundamentally different types of action or activity.
Aristotle’s Definitions
Poiesis (ποίησις)
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Meaning: Making or producing
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Goal: The action aims at producing something external to the activity itself.
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Example: Building a house, writing a poem, crafting a table.
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Key trait: The value lies in the result—the product made.
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Instrumentality: It is instrumental—the action is a means to an end.
Praxis (πρᾶξις)
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Meaning: Doing or acting
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Goal: The activity is an end in itself, not aimed at making a product.
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Example: Political action, ethical decision-making, friendship.
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Key trait: The value lies in the doing itself.
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Self-sufficiency: It is autotelic—the action and its purpose are not separable.
Comparison Table
| Poiesis | Praxis | |
|---|---|---|
| Translation | "Making" | "Doing" |
| Goal | To produce an external object | To enact a meaningful internal action |
| Value lies in | The finished product | The activity itself |
| Means–Ends | Means to an end | End in itself |
| Examples | Building, composing, engineering | Political action, ethical life |
| Domain | Techne (craft/skill) | Ethics and politics |
Heidegger’s Take (esp. in The Question Concerning Technology)
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Heidegger retrieves poiesis as a form of bringing-forth (Her-vor-bringen)—a revealing of truth or being, especially in the Greek sense of aletheia. For him, poiesis isn’t merely technical production but a disclosive, ontological act.
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Praxis is less central in Heidegger, but still present in how he sees dwelling or authentic being-in-the-world as a kind of non-instrumental, situated activity.
Hannah Arendt (esp. in The Human Condition)
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Arendt distinguishes labor, work, and action:
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Labor = biological necessity (akin to base repetition)
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Work = productive, making objects (akin to poiesis)
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Action = political life, speech, relation (akin to praxis)
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Praxis (action) is the highest form, as it expresses freedom and natality (the capacity to begin anew).
Giorgio Agamben’s Contribution
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Agamben explores how poiesis and praxis relate to inoperativity—the suspension of action’s instrumental function.
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For Agamben, human life (especially bare life) is caught in a tension between being a means (poiesis) and being an end (praxis). True freedom or form-of-life emerges when life is rendered inoperative, i.e., freed from both productive and teleological constraints.
In Short
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Poiesis is about creating something—the act is instrumental and productive.
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Praxis is about living something—the act is expressive, ethical, and non-instrumental.
Both matter, but they differ in orientation toward the world:
Poiesis transforms the world, while praxis inhabits it.
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