Praxis ist mehr als Praktiken – Warum moderne ?rzte und spirituelle Heiler im Prinzip das Gleiche tun

摘要

The pragmatist concept of praxis involves more than conventionalisedpractices. It also regards performative dynamics which derive from the factthat practices actually never are enacted in an exemplary manner. Each andevery execution of a practice always bears the chance of success but alsothe risk of failure. Furthermore, the execution of a practice can befractured in many ways. As situations are always unique, a variety ofdifferent dynamics can evolve, each of which might lead to further eventswhich in turn might even result in an alteration of the convention of thepractice. Due to such performative dynamics, individuals might experiencediverse qualities of emotions, insights, and practical skills that are notinherent to the practices. Those individuals who are engaged in practicesthus develop not only an understanding of conventionalised practices(unversalities) but also personal attitudes towards and opinions about thesepractices (singularities). The example of medical practices in Botswana canfunction as a role model to illustrate this notion of praxis. Ajuxtaposition of modern and traditional medicine shows that analysing theway how such fields of practice are epistemologically founded helps us tounderstand why they are incommensurable.