Essay: On Practice

Overview
"On Practice" (1937) by Mao Tse-Tung presents a sustained argument for the primacy of practice , concrete, social activity such as production, class struggle, and scientific experiment , as the source, test, and refinement of knowledge. Rooted in dialectical materialism, the essay contrasts experiential, practice-grounded cognition with abstract, book-bound learning and insists that revolutionary theory must be constantly verified and corrected through engagement with reality. The aim is both epistemological and political: to show how correct understanding arises and how it must guide effective action.

Epistemological Thesis
Mao articulates a clear epistemology in which practice precedes and validates knowledge. Knowledge originates in sensory contact with the world, is elevated through abstraction and reflection, and then must return to practice for verification and enrichment. Truth is not a static correspondence but a dynamic accomplishment achieved when theory successfully transforms and is transformed by material conditions.

Critique of Abstract Theory
A central polemic of the essay targets "book knowledge" and purely abstract reasoning detached from empirical investigation. Such theorizing, Mao argues, risks becoming empty formalism or dogmatism when it fails to account for concrete, changing circumstances. He insists that correct methods require continual investigation and that blind reliance on texts or preconceived formulas produces errors in both thought and policy.

Method and Stages of Knowledge
Mao outlines a recurrent cycle by which understanding matures: practice produces direct experience; experience is reflected upon and generalized into concepts and principles; those abstractions guide subsequent practice; practice in turn tests, corrects, and deepens the abstractions, leading to higher-level knowledge. Each stage is necessary, but none is sufficient alone. The process is explicitly social and historical, shaped by class relations, production, and struggle, and demands methodological humility and openness to correction.

Political and Revolutionary Implications
Practical consequences follow directly from the epistemology. Revolutionary strategy, mass work, and organizational practice must proceed from careful investigation of concrete conditions and continuous feedback from the masses. Policy is legitimate only insofar as it is tested by practice and adjusted accordingly. Mao links this method to the "mass line": leaders must learn from the people, synthesize experience into general guidance, and return policies to the masses for implementation and further refinement.

Legacy and Significance
"On Practice" became a foundational text for Maoist methodology, emphasizing adaptability, empirical investigation, and the inseparability of theory and practice. Its influence extended through campaigns that prioritized local investigation and iterative problem-solving, while also providing intellectual ammunition against both dogmatism and uncritical empiricism. Critics point to uses of the method that became prescriptive or instrumentalized in political struggles; defenders highlight its insistence that ideas be judged by their concrete efficacy. The essay endures as a concise statement of a practice-centered epistemology and as a guide for politically engaged inquiry.