Theory and practice unite through a critical act that accelerates historical transformation.

Evidence

If the problem of the identification of theory and practice is to be raised, it can be done in this sense, that one can construct, on a specific practice, a theory which, by coinciding and identifying itself with the decisive elements of the practice itself, can accelerate the historical process that is going on, rendering practice more homogeneous, more coherent, more efficient in all its elements, and thus, in other words, developing its potential to the maximum: or alternatively, given a certain theoretical position one can organise the practical element which is essential for the theory to be realised. The identification of theory and practice is a critical act, through which practice is demonstrated rational and necessary, and theory realistic and rational. This is why the problem of the identity of theory and practice is raised especially in the so-called transitional moments of history, that is, those moments in which the movement of transformation is at its most rapid. For it is then that the practical forces unleashed really demand justification in order to become more efficient and expansive; and that theoretical programmes multiply in number, and demand in their turn to be realistically justified, to the extent that they prove themselves assimilable into practical movements, thereby making the latter yet more practical and real. — Antonio Gramsci, Selections from the Prison Notebooks, 1299

Categorization

• DEFINE: This is Gramsci’s core definition of the unity of theory and practice — the critical act making practice rational and theory realistic.
• XREF: This is the mechanism the Islamophobia toolkit will rely on: transitional moments demand justifications for practical forces, which is exactly where ideologies crystallize. — connects to: The Institute positioned theory as a tool for society’s progressive forces. — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 538; Critical social theory is inherently a hopeful project of transcending existing society. — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 1903
• DEEPTHINKING: The claim that theory-practice identification is a ‘critical act’ and that it intensifies precisely at transitional historical moments is a genuinely paradigm-shifting formulation of how ideas and action interlock.