Tacit knowledge in philosophy of science of Thomas Kuhn

Abstract

The article focuses on a fundamental piece of the theoretical framework where the work ofThomas Kuhn develops, tacit knowledge. The importance of such a kind of knowledge, that is notpossible (nor necessary) to reduce into rules and definitions, and that is not acquired with exclusiverecourse to logic is essential for Kuhn within Science. The article investigates the origins of this idea inkuhnian work, searching for influences exerted by Gestalt psychology and the second Wittgenstein. Itexamines the relation between this idea and Kuhn’s most known and important philosophicalcontributions, the concept of paradigm (exemplar) and the incommensurability of scientific theories;confirming that without the utilization of a kind of knowledge of this nature such ideas would not havehad the necessary support to be stated. At the end of the article, the importance of tacit knowledgethrough the use of metaphor and thought experiments is revised, as vehicles through which the scientistcan put himself in touch with this dimension of knowledge.