“Praxis” comes from the Greek word “prattein,” meaning “do.” You’ve likely heard the phrase “actions speak louder than words,” and one usage of “praxis” means essentially just that: turning something from a theory into a lived practice. For centuries, philosophers such as Aristotle, Plato, Immanuel Kant, Karl Marx, and countless others have written about how citizens and governments could implement their ideas into praxis. When the Founding Fathers crafted the U.S. Constitution, they turned to theories on the social contract, notably those from 17th-century English philosophers Thomas Hobbes and John Locke, and 18th-century French philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau. These premises have been put into praxis for centuries since.