On Polanyi's Thought Of Tacit Knowing

It was Michael Polanyi, the English philosopher, who first put forward the conception of "tacit knowing". This thesis studies Polanyi's thought of tacit knowing, and systematically discusses its theoretical source, main content, theoretical position, practical significance, and its enlightenment on the development of contemporary Chinese Marxism epistemology.The thesis reviews the study concerning tacit knowing in the history of Western philosophy; points out the particular theoretical background of Polanyi's thought of tacit knowing which is constituted together by the trend of irrationism, the emphasis on Man, and the argument about imageless thinking in modern philosophy; and reveals the theoretical source of Polanyi's thought of tacit knowing which includes the theory of Gestalt psychology, genetic epistemology, existentialism, and so on. To Polanyi, tacit knowing differs from mysterious experience, irrational knowledge, and unconsciousness though it also has the characteristics such as individuality, internality, ineffability and etc. Polanyi described the dynamic structure of tacit knowing and viewed that all knowing is either tacit or rooted in tacit knowing. Polanyi's thought of tacit knowing plays an important role in his whole philosophical thought: it is the core of his epistemology and the theoretical starting point of his thought of philosophy of science. This thought brings a great change in the history of Western epistemology, and has great influences on the research in other subjects and social practice. We should not ignore that Polanyi's thought of tacit knowing shows certain coincidences with Chinese traditional philosophy and Marxism epistemology. And based on these, the study on Polanyi's thought of tacit knowing can be helpful in furthering the development of contemporary Chinese Marxism epistemology.