The Epistemology of the Unspoken: On the Concept of Tacit Knowledge in Contemporary Design Research

The author examines theories of tacit knowledge in design research. Tacit knowledge is often linked to characteristic design activities which have in common that they are non-verbal activities such as modelling, sketching, or trying out. To assess practical, experiential knowledge, concepts of design research for tacit knowledge must be used. Michael Polanyi identified expertise and skills as knowledge that may not be able to be verbalised; this coincided with Donald Schön's theories on the work of the 'reflective practitioner' who knows 'more than they can put in words'. Design research should examine the extent to which these two theories include consideration of the effect of social influence or habit; tacit knowledge can be understood not only as internalised knowledge but also collectively perpetuated knowledge as embodied in standards, values and traditions. The author then shows how the habitus concept developed by sociologist Pierre Bourdieu shows points of contact to Polanyi.