Abstract
This paper analyses the philosophical backdrop to the exclusion from academic exchange of situated, embodied and tacit modes of knowing, whereby conceptual/propositional knowledge is presented as the gold standard against which these other types of knowledge are measured and found wanting. By way of counterbalance this paper questions the premise that these forms of knowledge are best understood as belonging to a completely separate epistemological category to that of conceptual/propositional knowledge. The lack of parity of esteem afforded multi-modal formats of dissemination is, it is argued, ultimately rooted in these disparities. Disparities, which moreover underpin what James Elkins has described as “the incommensurability of studio art production and university life” (Elkins, 2009: 128). The paper presents a number of theories that posit a sub-structural relationship of practical and tacit knowledge to conceptual/propositional knowledge. These include the work of Michael Polanyi as well as recent work by Alva Noë, Mark Johnson and George Lakoff and Vittorio Gallese. The paper focuses on the legitimacy of descriptive drawing as a knowledge producing activity with particular reference to Noë’s work.
Keywords
Tacit Knowing, Situated Cognition, Drawing, Perception, Epistemology
DOI
https://doi.org/10.21606/eksig2011.101
Citation
McGuirk, T.(2011) Drawing and Intellectualism: Contested Paradigms of Knowledge, in Niedderer, K., Mey, K., Roworth-Stokes, S. (eds.), EKSIG 2011: Skin Deep - Experiential Knowledge & Multi-sensory Communication, 23–24 June 2011, Farnham, United Kingdom. https://doi.org/10.21606/eksig2011.101
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Drawing and Intellectualism: Contested Paradigms of Knowledge
This paper analyses the philosophical backdrop to the exclusion from academic exchange of situated, embodied and tacit modes of knowing, whereby conceptual/propositional knowledge is presented as the gold standard against which these other types of knowledge are measured and found wanting. By way of counterbalance this paper questions the premise that these forms of knowledge are best understood as belonging to a completely separate epistemological category to that of conceptual/propositional knowledge. The lack of parity of esteem afforded multi-modal formats of dissemination is, it is argued, ultimately rooted in these disparities. Disparities, which moreover underpin what James Elkins has described as “the incommensurability of studio art production and university life” (Elkins, 2009: 128). The paper presents a number of theories that posit a sub-structural relationship of practical and tacit knowledge to conceptual/propositional knowledge. These include the work of Michael Polanyi as well as recent work by Alva Noë, Mark Johnson and George Lakoff and Vittorio Gallese. The paper focuses on the legitimacy of descriptive drawing as a knowledge producing activity with particular reference to Noë’s work.