Polanyi

The idea of tacit knowledge was first promoted by the Michael Polanyi, a chemist turned philosopher of science, who stressed the active process of tacit knowing. He offers two key suggestions about the nature of tacit knowledge. One is a slogan from the beginning of The Tacit Dimension: ‘we know more than we can tell’ [Polanyi 2009: 4].

The other is the idea of personal knowledge as ‘active comprehension of things known, an action that requires skill’ [Polanyi 1958: vii].

The latter idea forms part of Polanyi’s broader criticism that knowledge can aspire towards a degree of objectivity in which the features of the knower drop out. Against that, Polanyi aims to balance objectivity and subjectivity. But the idea of personal knowledge also suggests a balance of what are often taken to be in opposition: theoretical and practical knowledge, since even the acquisition of theoretical knowledge rests on an intellectual but still practical skill. So one approach to tacit knowledge is that it is personal knowledge.

The first slogan is more difficult and even Polanyi admits that ‘it is not easy to say exactly what [this] means’ [Polanyi 2009: 4]. But it suggests that one can approach the nature of tacit knowledge through a form of ‘via negativa’. What is tacit is what is not explicit, under a suitable understanding of ‘explicit’.

In the readings below, does Polanyi explain precisely why tacit knowledge cannot be put into words? What is the sense of tacit in contrast to what sense of ‘explicit’?

Reading

• • Polanyi, M. (1958) Personal Knowledge. Chicago: University of Chicago Press chapter 1

  • Polanyi, M. (2009) The Tacit Dimension. With a new foreword by Amartya Sen. Chicago: University of Chicago Press chapter 4

Reflections on Polanyi.

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