Criticism, Contact With Reality and Truth

Abstract

Partly in reply to D. Cannon’s critique of his analytical reconstruction (1988) of Polanyi’s post-critical theory of tacit knowledge, the author argues that there are good reasons for not appropriating Polanyi’s programme of self-identication and the confessional rhetoric which may be derived from it. Arguing that “post-critical” should not be identified with an uncritical dogmatism, the author attempts to show that the theory of tacit knowing had best be elaborated by employing certain insights of John Searle. The notion of “contact with reality” is explicated in order to highlight the Polanyian criteria of truth.