This paper unpacks how Spinoza’s theory of knowledge (Spinoza, 1996) (Wilson, 1996) potentially solves the often-seen gulf in education between theory and practice. Spinoza’s philosophy was dubbed ‘practical philosophy’ by Gilles Deleuze (1988), especially to highlight this practical dimension in his philosophy, and in many ways Spinoza’s ‘practical’ work of crafting lenses (Nadler,2018) are visible in his approach to knowledge formation and the role of human practice. Through case examples from Danish contemporary vocational education, I highlight the inherent problematic regarding the relationship between the subject knowledge taught in vocational schools (with the corresponding workshops and didactically organized practical work) and the knowledge the pupils acquire in their practical training programs in the various workplaces there are sent to. This dichotomy is frustrating for the pupils, and studies point towards this being one of the main reasons for drop-out.  This institutional and educational exchange-system between vocational schoolwork and real workplace and business practice and training is used widely in both European countries and internationally (Böhn & Deutcher, 2023). The general issue of linking and connection of knowledge, particularly theory with practice, is thus a returning issue for education and one which have historically plagued vocational education, and one could say education as a whole. Spinoza’s theory of knowledge has the potential to absolve this dichotomy. Furthermore, I highlight instances where historically there have been examples where Spinoza’s theories and general oeuvre have had a greater impact overall on an educational system, particularly in former Soviet educational practices and the cultural historical school and approach to psychology and pedagogy. Lev. S. Vygotsky picked up Spinoza’s work to solve issues regarding learning and the emotions (Vygotsky, 1999), and thus in a way imported Spinoza’s concept of knowledge into cultural historical psychology. I argue here that Vygotsky’s theory of knowledge rests not only of Karl Marx’s notions as forwarded in the Capital and his dialectical materialism (Marx & Engels, 2010), but similarly draw from Spinoza’s conceptualization, especially since Spinoza’s conceptualization of the emotions / affects are directly connected to learning and knowledge ‘formation’. Other Soviet pedagogical and didactical thinkers like Blonskij (1921) and Davydov (1988) have used Vygotsky’s conceptualization of knowledge in their pedagogical and didactical work and practices. In other words, in many of the historical instances of Soviet pedagogy there is an important actualization of Spinoza’s theory of knowledge and practical knowledge, which could be fertile to draw attention to, especially regarding vocational education.

I use a methodology dubbed dramatization by Gilles Deleuze (2004), where you unpack and follow an idea or problem through its various actualizations, here I follow the issues between theory and practice and how Spinoza’s solution is actualized historically through various pedagogical practices. Additionally, I unpack and situate Spinoza’s concept of knowledge, especially how we can understand his specific form of ‘practical knowledge’ and how this can help us overcome issues regarding knowledge and the theory / practice divide. Spinoza’s main work Ethics (1996) conceptualizes degrees of knowledge, and how it is linked with ‘desire’ / appetite and with ‘human practice’. Linking Spinoza theory of knowledge and concept of practice with the contemporary problematic in vocational education is the main contribution of this paper, using the historical cases from cultural historical psychology and the Danish contemporary vocational exchange-system, as examples of actualizations and concrete practices.

Through the dramatization used in this paper I show how contemporary issues regarding drop-out are linked to old 'embedded' issues in education concerning the theory-practice problematic. Spinoza's philosophy absolves these difficulties and many of the pedagogical practices stemming from the cultural historial school hold valuable empirical examples of how to demolish and overcome this gulf in education.

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