Phronesis and tacit knowledge essentially refer to practical wisdom learned through experience and which can be difficult to explain in words. There may be subtle differences and I'd be interested to hear your thoughts. Also, I need to do a literature search about this kind of knowledge and wisdom, in the context of everyday family life/ practices, but I don't know what kind of search terms would be appropriate for this context. I'd be most grateful for any suggestions.
'Tacit knowledge' is an ill-defined term, the usage of which has been separated from its philosophical roots in the work of Polanyi. In fact, I've just written a paper (under review) suggesting that Ryle's 'knowledge how' would be a better term to use. I would say that both terms are wider than 'phronesis', encompassing also 'techne'.
You may gain some insight from Merleau-Ponty's "embodied knowledge." (Phenomenology of Perception 1945/1962).
Another route you may want to take is looking at the work of Michael Jackson and "existential anthropology."
Getting at the everyday is really a part of ethnographic research and the emic approach, so keep anthropology on your radar.
Resonances here also with Anthony Giddens's concept of practical consciousness - which is at least partly accessible to reflection if interrogated, but mostly operates below the level of reflective awareness unless something interrupts life-as-usual to bring it into question.
Wow, researchgate is so good for asking these sorts of questions! Thank you John, Nathan and Liz.
Many terms which are regularly used are ill-defined aren't they? Even in medicine! But I'm interested to know more about the philosophical roots of tacit knowledge so I'll take a look. Your paper sounds interesting, will you be posting it here?
Ah, embodied knowledge, that sounds very relevant indeed, I'll take a look at this and existential anthropology and practical conciousness, this should definately set me on the right track.
Thank you all so much.
Hi Julian
I think we must have been typing at the same time!
These references look great, thanks. I'm not really sure if phronesis has ever been associated with the family, that's why I'm seeking alternative, similar concepts. My PhD research was in the field of medically unexplained symptoms, so I came accross the concept in relation to the work of GPs, particularly where traditional diagnosis of organic pathology is not apparent. It's interesting to see how the. Term is used in relation to other topics and fields.
The Polanyi reference is: (1966) The Tacit Dimension, Routledge & Kegan Paul, London. He sees tacit knowledge as being a dimension of all knowledge (so actually it applies even to episteme). I will post a reference on RG when my paper is published, but it's usually a year after publication before it's possible to release the full text and I haven't even got reviews back yet (they're being very slow).
Hi John, that's great thanks, gosh that is a long time? I guess different journals are set up differently...with Qualitative Inquiry you can post pre-publication here on researchgate :-)
Knowledge will be always embodied in the activities and mediators. Knowledge exist in the continuum of implicit and explicit morphs of life. Hence knowing what is knowledge is equal to reducing the experiential ignorance and a lot of redundancies associated with semantic and semiotic subsystems of our interactions. Hence we need ton focus on the processes rather than hunting for the probable sediments and vestiges of knowledge in the ethnographic materials and mnemonic systems.
Sara
I have just come across your question, which relates to what sounds like a fascinating field. What exactly do you mean by "practical wisdom learned through experience". Are you referring to the skills of social behaviour? From your description it seems as though you are referring to procedural knowledge, and I am beginning to develop an interest in skills transfer, which seems to fit into this general area, although not necessarily in a social context. Am I correct?
Wrt development of social skills, it is possible that social problem solving is hard-wired into the primate brain. An interesting read is "The Descent of madness: evolutionary origins of psychosis and the social brain" by Jonathan Burns, Routledge 2007, in which he makes a case for the evolutionary persistence of psychotic illness being due to the genes responsible for the evolution of the social brain. In this context he refers to Erich Fromm's "Fear of Freedom" and lack of connectedness to others as a pathway to insanity.
My educational origins are very much quantitative and I recognise that any foray I make into the Dark Side of the Force of qualitative thinking is fraught with danger! Nevertheless, movement in either direction can be fruitful.
Best Wishes
Chris
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