My readings in philosophy this week is The Tacit Dimension by Michael Polanyi. I'm still digesting it. There's a lot of stuff packed into a small book. Begins with the question, do you ever realize that you know more than you can explain? In practice, we see this in manufacturing with the engineer or technician who has such extensive knowledge and experience that they can tell what's wrong with a machine or process just by the sound it makes or the vibraion they feel.
But the book is much deeper than that. If you are philosophically inclined, you'll appreciate his formidable attack on positivism. I've really been disgusted by the way positivism has captured English departments American academe. It seems an untenable argument, and Polanyi mounts a powerful rebuttal.
The next book on my list, "Deep Smarts," refers to tacit knowledge. Although the authors don't note anything from Polanyi, they owe him a debt for his analysis.
3:49:53 PM 
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