La dimensión tácita

"We can know more than we can say." The polymath and scholar Michael Polanyi used his experiences and discoveries in the natural sciences, enriched by the contributions of the social sciences, to develop an original theory of knowledge that synthesizes his conception of scientific endeavor. First published in 1966, The Unspoken Dimension is based on the Terry Lectures that Polanyi delivered four years earlier at Yale University. In it he argues that "tacit knowledge" (tradition, inherited practices, implicit values and prejudices) is a crucial part of scientific knowledge, although it cannot be explicitly formalized or expressed in exact words. His theory - which is actually a response to the paradox of knowledge posed by Plato in the Meno - argues that knowing more than we can articulate supports the conclusion that much of our knowledge comes from the past, therefore implicit means. For example, starting from learning, observing a teacher and then practicing under the guidance of the instructor. We have assumed that skepticism is the basis of science, but thanks to this volume, a new generation of students and scholars will gain the tools to challenge this assumption and discover that it is established belief that lies at the heart of scientific discovery.