In a message dated 12/15/99 1:54:43 AM Pacific Standard Time,
arnold@originalthinking.com writes:
<< Glen:
There is a big difference between a theory and thinking. I suspect you
meant to say there needs to be a balance between THINKING and DOING. Both
of these activities benefit from strong, healthy theories. In practice,
they may even be pointless at best and impossible at worst in the absence
of a coherent theory. As for people confusing theory with reality,
well...that's another issue.
Cheers, Arnold
-- >>
Hey Arnold...all
Yes Arnold I was referring to the distinction between a thought process,
conscious cognitive activity ABOUT how something works or is constructed,
as opposed to DOING SOMETHING ABOUT what the theory has inspired us to
"know". Action, whether of a conscious behavioral practise, and I
categorize communication and learning as behaviors, or unconscious, is an
activity that is goal oreinted and involve task operations. Theorys are
cognitive processes that are about how things in our world might be
working. Theorys are about how to get to where a plan of practise can be
executed. Theorys are not about practise.
One might theorize about losing weight. They could read books. They could
talk a lot about it, and take courses on it. They could even do 20 years
of scientific research, and at the same time they could be consistently be
gaining weight. Intellectual knowledge doesn't correlate with transition
into behavioral action, practise. One can also be rather ignorant about
how the human body utilizes adipose tissue as an energy source and just DO
a lot of exercise and cut back on calories.
I think that is why the thread title is about "How does our theory become
practise". The become in title infers, at least from the initial author,
the intuitive assumption that they are not one in the same but mutually
exclusive operations that are conjoined in some way in a process.
What I am looking for is more information on the missing middle step from
thought to action, from theory tooooooooo practise. I have a tendency to
believe it is individual and group motivational strategies. That is a
whole other thread.
rbacal@escape.ca writes:
"I think you will find that only a very small percentage of posts have
anything to do with getting things done in a real work environment. Most
are philisophical, metaphoric and often do not map easily onto the world
of the practitioner. (BTW, there's nothing wrong with that, just not my
cup of tea). " (underline from me)
I also want to reiterate, to close the gap of possible mis-understanding
about me, I love philosophy, science, and discussion. I see its benifits.
I write this again because I see responses that follow an observation
about transitioning from theory to practise containing justifications as
to "why" theory is benificial. You would be preaching to the choir in that
case with me, thanks.
I also have a similar observation of this list that conjoins with the
aforementioned qoute.
For me I go through a lot of frustration at times with "theory" making
when the practise is not appearent. So basically what I am saying is, what
I want from Christmas Santa is to hear more from people about what
practises they use in LO that have demonstrated measurable effects.
Just some thoughts on the matter,
Glen Burns
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