As early as the first line of Plato’s Meno, teaching and knowledge are placed in contrast with practice or experience, emphasizing the distinction between these two operations in both meaning and purpose. In this discussion, Socrates and Meno debate the process in which knowledge is acquired, contemplating whether understanding is obtained through instruction, application, or natural causes, which further stresses the difference between teaching and knowledge, and practice or experience.
At first glance, knowledge and experience look very similar to one another. By definition, knowledge is information and skills acquired through experience or education. Similarly, experience is defined as the knowledge or skill acquired by a period of practical experience of something. Although the two words are used in each other’s definitions and are seemingly very similar, a distinction can be made between knowledge and experience.
Knowledge emphasizes theory and the obtainment of information and ideas. Experience, on the other hand, stresses practice, or the application of knowledge over a prolonged period of time, in order to reinforce understanding of subject matter or a certain task. While further knowledge on a subject or task can be gained through experience, experience cannot be obtained through instruction. Experience comes with time, exposure, and practice. It is based off of practical application rather than supposition. Knowledge, on the other hand, is founded upon the accumulation of information through either experience or education. It can be taught unlike experience. Therefore, here lies the greatest difference between the two. While knowledge is the sum of impressions based off of sensation, experience is the act of exercising or challenging knowledge in order to obtain sensation.
I argue that teaching and knowledge, and experience or practice, though different from each other, are inextricably linked by a mutualistic relationship. While knowledge is defined as the obtainment of information and skill through either instruction or experience, practice is described as the actual application or use of an idea, belief, or method. Additionally, while instruction and the obtainment of knowledge are more theoretical and abstract, the implementation of information and understanding is more concrete, in some cases even generating a physical product. In daily life, people are instructed on how to do certain things, and then later go on to practice them in order to reinforce and strengthen their ability to perform. Therefore, teaching, and the knowledge gained from such instruction, provide the foundation for practice of and later experience in the chosen subject matter or certain tasks.
Furthermore, despite their differences in meaning and purpose, knowledge and experience can both be encapsulated in the word wisdom. Wisdom is the ability to think and act using knowledge, experience, common sense, understanding, and insight. Therefore, this term encloses both knowledge and experience within itself, emphasizing not only the difference between the two words but also their mutualistic relationship.
In conclusion, the dichotomy of teaching and practice emphasizes that while teaching and knowledge, and practice and experience are very different operations, they are inextricably linked in that teaching gives people the knowledge to gain understanding and perform certain activities that are further strengthened through practice and experience.
