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Tacit Knowledge

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Definition

Tacit knowledge is knowledge that operates in skill, judgment, perception, and practice but cannot be fully captured as explicit rules.

Background

Michael Polanyi argued that knowing has personal, embodied, and contextual dimensions that cannot be exhaustively made explicit.

Position

It explains what AI summarization, paraphrase, and knowledge management can lose when they flatten expert judgment into explicit text.

Distinctions

  • It is not merely undocumented knowledge; some tacit structure remains even after documentation.
  • The contrast with explicit knowledge matters, but the two also depend on each other.

Primary source-backed reference selected for this concept.

A concept map for Tacit Knowledge.

Page Context

  • Is comprehensive understanding diluted by paraphrasing?
    5.1 Relationship structure The first thing that tends to be lost is the relationship between the clues. Summarization usually eliminates duplication and selects representative e...
    Quote: Is comprehensive understanding diluted by paraphrasing?

    philosophy-knowledge

  • Polanyi, Wittgenstein, and tacit knowledge
    Point of contact between Polanyi's tacit knowledge and Tractatus Logico-Philosophique 1. Executive Summary Both Polanyi and the early Wittgenstein showed that knowledge cannot b...
    Quote: Polanyi, Wittgenstein, and tacit knowledge

    philosophy-knowledge

  • Relationship between tacit knowledge, explicit knowledge, and AI summary
    Relationship between tacit knowledge, explicit knowledge, and AI summary 1. Executive Summary In conclusion, it is appropriate to use generative AI as a "device that compresses ...
    Quote: Relationship between tacit knowledge, explicit knowledge, and AI summary

    ai-systems

  • Tacit knowledge, business theory, and generative AI
    Definition of tacit knowledge, business theory, trends in the generative AI era 1. Executive Summary Although tacit knowledge is "knowledge that cannot be put into words," this ...
    Quote: Tacit knowledge, business theory, and generative AI

    knowledge-systems

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