Much of what humans know we cannot say. And much of what we do we cannot
describe. For example, how do we know how to ride a bike when we can't
explain how we do it? Abilities like this were called "tacit knowledge"
by physical chemist and philosopher Michael Polanyi, but here Harry
Collins analyzes the term, and the behavior, in much greater detail,
often departing from Polanyi's treatment.
In Tacit and Explicit Knowledge, Collins develops a common conceptual
language to bridge the concept's disparate domains by explaining
explicit knowledge and classifying tacit knowledge. Collins then teases
apart the three very different meanings, which, until now, all fell
under the umbrella of Polanyi's term: relational tacit knowledge (things
we could describe in principle if someone put effort into describing
them), somatic tacit knowledge (things our bodies can do but we cannot
describe how, like balancing on a bike), and collective tacit knowledge
(knowledge we draw that is the property of society, such as the rules
for language). Thus, bicycle riding consists of some somatic tacit
knowledge and some collective tacit knowledge, such as the knowledge
that allows us to navigate in traffic. The intermixing of the three
kinds of tacit knowledge has led to confusion in the past; Collins's
book will at last unravel the complexities of the idea.
Tacit knowledge drives everything from language, science, education, and
management to sport, bicycle riding, art, and our interaction with
technology. In Collins's able hands, it also functions at last as a
framework for understanding human behavior in a range of disciplines.
