ABSTRACT
During the 20th century, a strong inequality between theory and practice has dominated scholarly thinking. Abstract knowledge was considered to be of a higher standing and of more value than concrete skills or the tacit knowledge of good performance. Much of the educational research concentrated on theory formation-both descriptive (for explanation) and prescriptive (for behavioral instructions). Consequently, educationalists in different subjects and professions
were confronted with the problem of bridging the gap between theory and practice, which is a task that never seemed to succeed. During the past few decades, this problem has been analyzed in such fields as education (Schön, Fenstermacher), anthropology (Geertz), epistemology (Rorty, Toulmin, Lyotard), and ethics (Nussbaum). In many ways, these scholars developed alternative models of knowledge. For the justification of such alternative models, several authors, especially in the philosophical domain, referred to the classical controversy between Plato’s and Aristotle’s conceptions of rationality (episteme vs. phronesis).
