Comparative Studies In Taict Knowledge And Procedural Knowledge

This paper expatiates Polanyi's theory of tacit knowledge, and indicates that "tacit" is composed of "inarticulate" and "ineffable". Based on the brief analysis of the ineffable of tacit knowledge, we introduce knowledge representation and try to understand tacit knowledge further. And then clarify the relationship of procedural knowledge and tacit knowledge.We found that tacitly know the rules of skill is different from explicitly know them in cognitive psychology. The former is procedural knowledge, and the other is declarative. The difference of procedural knowledge and declarative knowledge is not only the result of philosophical analysis but also the experimental work. Tacitly know the meaning of a word is declarative knowledge, while tacitly know a certain skill is procedural. As a kind of declarative knowledge, "cognitive map" is tacit knowledge in Polanyi's theory.Therefore, some crossing points exist between Polanyi's classification and cognitive psychology. Tacit knowledge is not simply same as procedural knowledge. Explicit knowledge is only a part of declarative knowledge in external representation.These two knowledge classification have different classified standards. The difference of declarative and procedural knowledge based on internal representation, and seems more accurate with the evidences of cognitive science.