M. ポランニー哲学の教育学的意義

Abstract

In Japan, several cognitive scientists have refered partly to M. Polanyi's epistemology but most people have failed to grasp the significance of his philosophy. In this paper I will try to clearify the importance of his philosophy that has not been fully recognized in the science of education. Polanyi said that the fundamental of knowing is the skill of integrating details in meaning. This skill is tacit and bodily, so thinking that the knowledge is impartable is not right, and this is the same for linguistic knowledge. In communication with language, a linguistic sign doesn't carry meaning in itself, but the recipient understands its meaning by applying his experience to the sign. So communication in language cannot succeed if the sender and recipient don't possess the resemble use of language. And the bodily skill is fundamental to the use of language. If people want to acquire such skills, they must obey the authority of tradition, which has a risk of falling into indoctrination. Polanyi's epistemology teaches us many important things for education. But the epistemological approach has a limit in that it cannot show the way to conquer the indoctrination taking root in the body. It is necessary to connect his epistemology with his ontology, which lets us find the special value of "knowing by indwelling".