shijian-renshilun

R — Original Text (Reading)

"If you want knowledge, you must take part in the practice of changing reality. If you want to know the taste of a pear, you must change the pear by eating it yourself. If you want to know the structure and properties of the atom, you must make physical and chemical experiments. If you want to know the theory and methods of revolution, you must take part in revolution. All genuine knowledge originates in direct experience." — "On Practice" (July 1937)

I — Methodological Skeleton (Interpretation)

Cognition comes from practice, not from books, theory, or imagination. Without eating a pear yourself, it is impossible to truly know the taste of a pear.
The cognitive process has two leaps: the first leap is from perceptual cognition (surface-level, one-sided, phenomenon-level) to rational cognition (essential, comprehensive, law-level). This does not happen automatically; it requires the active processing of "discarding the dross and selecting the essence."
The second leap is from rational cognition back to practice—this is the "more important" one. Theory that is not verified by practice is empty talk. "Practice is the sole criterion for testing truth."
The whole is a spiral ascent rather than linear progress: practice -> cognition -> practice again -> cognition again, with each cycle getting closer to the truth than the last.
Two common mistakes: (1) Stopping at the perceptual stage—acting but not summarizing, always doing things by feel (empiricism); (2) Stopping at the rational stage—studying a lot but not acting, armchair strategy (dogmatism).
"Reading is learning, and using is also learning, and it is even more important learning"—it is not about learning well first and then doing, but about starting to do and then learning.

A1 — Application in the Book (Past Application)

Application 1: The writing motivation of On Practice — opposing two kinds of mistakes

Problem: In 1937 there were two erroneous tendencies within the Party—dogmatists copied Soviet experience without looking at China's reality, while empiricists relied only on partial experience and rejected theoretical elevation.
Method use: Mao Zedong wrote On Practice not for pure philosophy, but to correct these epistemological errors in the two kinds of practice. He used "an outsider coming to Yan'an for an inspection" as an example: first seeing the terrain and streets (perceptual) -> after collecting materials, "thinking it over" -> reaching a rational judgment -> returning to practice to verify it.
Conclusion: The correct path of cognition is the infinite cycle of "practice-cognition-practice again-cognition again," not something completed in one go.
Result: On Practice and On Contradiction are together listed as the two major cornerstones of Mao Zedong's philosophical thought, providing the epistemological foundation for all subsequent methodologies.

Application 2: Learning war from war — the growth path of commanders

Problem: The Red Army was extremely short of experienced military commanders, and it was impossible to first send them to military academies for study and then to the battlefield.
Method use: Mao Zedong proposed "learning war from war"—first start doing it, accumulate perceptual cognition in actual combat, then summarize and distill it into tactical principles (rational cognition), and then verify and revise them in the next battle.
Conclusion: "It is often not a matter of first learning well and then doing, but rather of doing and then learning; doing is learning."
Result: The Red Army summarized a complete set of unique tactical systems from guerrilla warfare (the sixteen-character formula, concentration of forces, etc.). These were not learned from books, but distilled from practice.

A2 — Trigger Scenarios (Future Trigger)

Analysis paralysis/over-preparation: The team spends a lot of time doing research, writing proposals, and making plans, but delays taking action. Users will say: "I still need more data to decide," "Let's study it more," "Let's first do a complete market analysis."
Blind execution/no summarization: The team keeps doing but never reviews, repeatedly makes the same mistakes, and experience does not accumulate. Users will say: "We've done a lot but it seems like there's no progress," "It's the same problem every time," "Busy but don't know what we're busy with."
Entering a new field: About to enter an industry where one has no experience or do something one has never done before. Users will say: "I don't understand this industry, I don't dare to start," "Can I do it without experience?"
Theory and practice disconnected: Having learned many methodologies but with poor implementation results, or practice is very effective but cannot be systematized. Users will say: "I understand the theory but don't know how to use it," "It's done well but I can't explain why it's good."
Iteration stagnation: The product/business has gone through many versions but each version has no essential improvement. Users will say: "We've been iterating but there's no breakthrough," "Every change is only superficial."

Language signals: When users mention words such as "learn well before doing," "learn while doing," "review," "iterate," "MVP," "validate assumptions," "unity of knowledge and action," etc., this skill should be activated.

Distinguish from adjacent skills：

vs. the seek-truth-from-facts information processing method: this skill = the overall framework of the cognitive cycle; the latter = the specific processing technique of "perceptual -> rational" within a single cycle
vs. the investigation and research method: this skill focuses on the cyclical improvement of "action-cognition"; the latter focuses on "how to correctly collect first-hand information"
vs. the principle of the particularity of contradictions: this skill solves "how to obtain correct understanding"; the latter solves "what method should be used for different objects of understanding"

E — Executable Steps (Execution)

Step 1: Determine the current stage

Determine where the user/team currently is in the cycle: (A) Lacking perceptual knowledge (haven't started doing yet)? (B) Having perceptual knowledge but not yet distilled (have done but not summarized)? (C) Having rational knowledge but not yet verified (have theory but haven't practiced it)? (D) Have already gone through one cycle and need to enter the next cycle?
Completion standard: Clearly state "currently at the ___ stage, the next step should be ___."

Step 2: Drive the leap (execute key actions)

If at (A): Design a minimum viable practice (MVP/rapid experiment) to obtain the first batch of perceptual knowledge. Do not pursue perfection; first "taste it yourself."
If at (B): Arrange a review meeting and use the "four-step seek-truth-from-facts method" to distill patterns from experience. Ask: What was done? Why was it effective/ineffective? What is the underlying pattern?
If at (C): Formulate a verification plan and take the theory into practice for testing. Set clear verification standards: if the ___ phenomenon appears, it indicates the theory is correct; if ___ appears, it indicates revision is needed.
Stopping point: If perceptual knowledge is severely insufficient (even the basic facts are not clear), do not rush to distill patterns—first supplement practice.

Step 3: Spiral into the next round

After completing one cycle, clearly mark "new cognition of this round" (what new things you know compared with the previous round), and then design the practice plan for the next round.
Check whether new contradictions or new cognitive blind spots have appeared. If so, enter the next cycle.
Completion standard: Write "Summary of round N cycle: We previously thought ___, practice proved ___, the new cognition is ___, and in the next round we will verify ___."

B — Boundary

Scenarios not to use

High-risk one-time decisions: Some decisions have only one chance (such as major investments or mergers and acquisitions) and cannot be handled by "trying first and then iterating"; they must be fully prepared and done well in one go.
Fields with established mature methodologies: In standardized operations that have already been fully verified (such as basic programming or financial bookkeeping), directly learning mature methods is far more efficient than starting from zero to "gain true knowledge through practice."
Purely theoretical/academic research: Some cognitive activities are themselves rational-level work (mathematical proofs, logical reasoning) and do not need to return to practice for verification every time.

Failure modes (from counterexamples)

Dogmatism (ce01): Starting from reason but not returning to practice—learning many theories but never verifying them, or still insisting on theory when faced with facts that contradict it. In essence, there is only the second leap and no first.
Empiricism (ce02): Always remaining at the perceptual stage—doing many things but not summarizing or distilling them, saying "I succeeded by doing it this way before" without analyzing why. In essence, there is only the first leap and no second.
Blind activism (ce10): Rushing in without even the perceptual cognition stage—acting without analyzing subjective and objective conditions, "only wanting to go all out, full of fantasies." In essence, forcing a start without even the starting point of the cycle.

Author's blind spot

Mao Zedong emphasized that "practice is the criterion for testing truth," but in certain periods (such as the Great Leap Forward) he did not respect feedback from practice—when the results of practice contradicted theory, he chose to modify the data rather than revise the theory. Lesson: The effectiveness of practice-based epistemology depends on whether you are truly willing to accept the negative conclusions of practice.

Related skills

Contradiction analysis method (composes-with): Practice-based epistemology provides the overall framework of the cognitive cycle, and the contradiction analysis method is the core analytical tool in this cycle—discovering problems in practice, diagnosing them with contradiction analysis, and then returning to practice to verify.
Seeking truth from facts information processing method (composes-with): The four steps of seeking truth from facts (discard the coarse and select the essential, discard the false and retain the true, proceed from one to another, and from the surface to the interior) are the specific operational techniques for the leap from "perceptual cognition to rational cognition" in practice-based epistemology.
Learning war in war (composes-with): "Learning war in war" is the specific operational principle of practice-based epistemology in the contradiction between "action vs. learning"—not first learning well and then doing, but doing and then learning.