Learn by Doing

‘For things we have to learn before we can do, we learn by doing’ - Aristotle

In ‘Nicomachean Ethics’, Aristotle’s makes the distinction between capacities acquired by nature and those acquired through exercise. Natural capacities are those in which ‘we first acquire the potentiality and later exhibit the activity’ such as hearing or seeing. According to Aristotle, we do not develop our capacity to hear sounds and see colours through repetition or practice. Rather, we simply see and hear if we possess functioning eyes and ears.

In contrast, some of our capacities, such as distinguishing musical themes in a symphony or spotting a fracture in an x-ray, are skills acquired through exercise. He writes that just as ‘men become builders by building and lyre-players by playing the lyre; so too we become just by doing just acts, temperate by doing temperate acts, brave by doing brave acts’. He further mentions that ‘it is from playing the lyre that both, good and bad lyre-players are produced’ and that ‘men will be good or bad builders as a result of building well or badly’.

So often, we insist that there are things we cannot do because we have not learned them. Aristotle’s assertion makes it obvious that both, arts and virtues are such skills learned through practice. We acquire competencies by conscious and consistent actions. Just consider how we learned to walk as toddlers... we learnt by doing it, again and again.

However, it is also pertinent to note that just practice will not make us perfect. In fact, practice can make us better or worse. We must ensure that the focus is on doing things right... practicing the right way. Again, not everyone who learns to walk walks well! To be better at developing skills we must learn them by doing the right things in the right way...

Do not wait endlessly to learn before doing
we must BE BETTER at learning by doing!

- Pravin K. Sabnis

Goa, India.