Definition of doxa - What is it, Meaning and Concept

Doxa is a term that is not part of the dictionary of the Spanish Royal Academy ( RAE ).The concept, from the Greek, refers to a opinion or a point of view .

In the field of philosophy , doxa is understood as knowledge that does not provide absolute certainty .Doxa, therefore, is an apparent knowledge and not an objective fact.In other words: doxa does not constitute a true knowledge of reality.

Several Greek philosophers focused on the issue of the doxa. Parmenides I use the notion to refer to the "way of opinion" , different from the "Via the truth" . Platon , meanwhile, considered that the doxa was a deceptive knowledge developed from the imagination and of the faith .In this way he opposed the episteme , a knowledge that could be justified as truth .

Continuing with the Platonic philosophy, the doxa would be a opinion (sensitive knowledge) product of the imagination and beliefs.The episteme, however, appears as science ( intelligible knowledge) created by intuition and reasoning.That is why the episteme approaches true knowledge, something that the doxa cannot achieve.

Platon called doxoforos to those individuals who sought to ascend socially and profit from false knowledge.The doxa of these subjects only appeared to know , but it was not real knowledge.

The French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu , meanwhile, used the idea of ​​doxa within the framework of his theory of fields .For Bourdieu , a field is a network of social relations that develops in a space of action .Doxa, in this context, are the motivations or ideologies that are presented as inherent to an activity and that, by therefore, they are not subject to questioning.

It is important to note that the original term, in Greek, can be translated as «fame or glory», although in this context it is understood as «opinion», and that is why we speak of a knowledge that does not It is always true but revolves around reality because of its massification.

Returning to the theory of Bourdieu, he defines the doxa as those schemes of daily life that are considered natural and, therefore, are not questioned but are admitted as they are.Doxa is, in other words, the collective habitus that becomes predominant in a given society and time, and does not require reflection.

Before continuing, we must explain the concept of habitus .Generally, the term habit is defined as the acquired predisposition that provides us with a daily activity, or acting in a certain way.It is said that «the behavior determines the habit », precisely because when we repeat it very often it becomes commonplace, but if we internalize the behavior, then the scheme is reversed, since« the habit determines the behavior ».

The word habitus , therefore, may resemble custom , understood as the repetitive practice that tends to be fixed as a result of its frequency.

Returning to the concept of doxa, Bourdieu considers it the thoughtless support of the actions of the subjects who live in society .The doxa can undergo changes, whose speed is intimately linked to the kind of society in the that is contextualized: in a conservative tends to statism, while in a permeable change easily.

Doxa changes take place between two periods, but are linked to milestones, those historical events that mark society and can effectively alter its doxa, even in a negative way (between the most common examples are coup d'etats, periods of repression and wars).