TACIT KNOWLEDGE LO20409

Thomas Struck (t.struck@bham.ac.uk)
Mon, 18 Jan 1999 10:50:05 -0000

Replying to LO20399 --

dear orglearners:
Patrick Sue wrote:

>It's generally accepted in the literature that the "explicit" vs. "tacit"
>refer to the articulated vs. the internalized & unexpressed, as opposed to
>meaning "understanding WITH conscious reasoning" vs. intuited
>("understanding without conscious reasoning" - Oxford dictionary).

I think it was Michael Polanyi who coined the term tacit knowledge,
althoug he much prefered to speak about "tacit knowing". Polanyi also
emphasised that all knowledge is either tacit knowledge or rooted in tacit
knowledge. Articulated knowledge is rather the tip of the iceberg. This
idea is very much supported by action theorists of work psychology (e.g.
Winfried Hacker), or cognitive engineers (Jens Rasmussen).

On that account it can be quite misleading to talk of "explicit" vs.
"tacit".

All the best
Thomas Struck
t.struck@bham.ac.uk

-- 

"Thomas Struck" <t.struck@bham.ac.uk>

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