Abstract
In this paper the widespread belief that the right answer to the ecological crisis consists in the exclusive fostering of explicit (in particular: scientific) forms of knowledge is questioned. The commonly postulated tripartition of the human psyche into three levels of consciousness, namely unconscious, practical consciousness and discursive consciousness, serves as a starting point. It is then shown that these levels can be associated with different types of knowledge: The first two with implicit or tacit, the latter with explicit or propositional knowledge. Reference is made to Michael Polanyi’s notion of the indispensability of implicit knowledge and the incompleteness of explicit formulations. The three levels of consciousness can also be paralleled with the evolutionary sequence of instinct, tradition and reason, and the example of agriculture is employed to discuss the significance of traditional practices in a human ecological context. It is argued that only with a suitable combination of scientific with other types of knowledge can we hope to overcome the crisis.
“I shall reconsider human knowledge by starting from the fact that we can know more than we can tell”
Michael Polanyi 1967
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Bätzing W (1988) Ökologische Labilität und Stabilität der alpinen Kulturlandschaft. Bundesamt für Umweltschutz. Fachbeiträge zur Schweizerischen MAB-Information 27, Bern
Bell D (1973) The Coming of Post-Industrial Society. A Venture in Social Forecasting. Basic Books, New York
Berger PL, Luckmann T (1966) The Social Construction of Reality. Doubleday, Garden City, NY
Berman M (1981) The Reenchantment of the World. Cornell University Press, Ithaca, London
Bohm D (1980) Wholeness and the Implicate Order. Routledge & Kegan Paul, London
Bonner TT (1980) The Evolution of Culture in Animals. Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ
Capra F (1983) Wendezeit. Bausteine für ein neues Weltbild. Scherz, Bem, München, Wien
Carello C (1991) Realism and Ecological Units of Analysis. In: Steiner D, Jaeger C, Nauser M (eds) Human Ecology - An Integrative Approach to Environmental Prob-lems. Routledge, London (forthcoming)
Chomsky N (1965) Aspects of the Theory of Syntax. MIT Press, Cambridge, MA
Coulter J (1989) Mind in Action. Humanities Press International, Atlantic Highlands, NJ
Dömer D (1989) Die Logik des Misslingens. Strategisches Denken in komplexen Situationen. Rowohlt, Reinbek b Hamburg
Evers A, Nowotny H (1987) Über den Umgang mit Unsicherheit. Die Entdeckung der Gestaltbarkeit von Gesellschaft. Suhrkamp, Frankfurt a/M
Giddens A (1984) The Constitution of Society. Outline of the Theory of Structuration. University of California Press, Berkeley, Los Angeles
Ginsberg H, Opper S (1975) Piagets Theorie der geistigen Entwicklung. Eine Einführung. Klett, Stuttgart
Gustaysson B (1990) The Effect of Meditation on Two Top Management Teams. Department of Business Administration, University of Stockholm, Stockholm, Studies in Action and Enterprise PP1990. 4
Hagen T (1988) Wege und Irrwege der Entwicklungshilfe. Das Experimentieren an der Dritten Welt. Verlag Neue Zürcher Zeitung, Zürich
Hall P (1980) Great Planning Disasters. Weidenfeld und Nicolson, London
Harré R, Clarke D, de Carlo N (1985) Motives and Mechanisms. An Introduction to the Psychology of Action. Methuen, London, New York
Hayek FA (1988) The Fatal Conceit. The Errors of Socialism. Routledge, London
Hillmann K-H (1989) Wertwandel. Zur Frage soziokultureller Voraussetzungen alternativer Lebensformen. Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, Darmstadt
Josefson I (1988) The Nurse as Engineer–the Theory of Knowledge in Research in the Care Sector. In: Göranzon B, Josefson I (eds.) Knowledge, Skill and Artificial Intelligence, Springer, London et al., 19–30
Josefson I (1991) On Science and Knowledge. In: Steiner D, Jaeger C, Nauser M (eds) Human Ecology - An Integrative Approach to Environmental Problems. Routledge, London (forthcoming)
Kastenholz H (1987) Visuelle Wahrnehmung und hemisphärenspezìfische Verarbeitung von emotionellen und nicht-emotionellen Wörtern. Institut für Verhaltenswissenschaft ETH, Zürich, Diplomarbeit
Keller R (1990) Sprachwandel. Von der unsichtbaren Hand in der Sprache. Francke, Tübingen, UTB 1567
Kirsch G (1989) Prävention und menschliches Handeln. In Glaeser, B. (ed.): Humanökologie. Grundlagen präventiver Umweltpolitik: Westdeutscher Verlag, Opladen, 255–265
Knötig H (1986) Vom Funktionskreis-Schema zum Generellen Inter-Aktions-Schema. folia oecologiae hominis (15), 5–30
Lorenz K (1973) Die Rückseite des Spiegels. Versuch einer Naturgeschichte menschlichen Erkennens. Piper, München, Zürich
Maturana HR, Varela FJ (1985) The Tree of Knowledge. New Science Library, Boston
Messerli P (1989) Mensch und Natur im alpinen Lebensraum. Risiken, Chancen, Perspektiven. Paul Haupt, Bern, Stuttgart
Meyer-Abich KM (1988) Wissenschaft für die Zukunft. Beck, München
Michaels CF, Carello C (1981) Direct Perception. Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliff, NJ
Milbrath LW (1989) Envisioning a Sustainable Society. Learning Our Way Out. State University of New York Press, Albany NY
Montagu A (1962) Man: His First Million Years: A Brief Introduction to Anthropology. New American Library, New York
Müller HM (1987) Evolution, Kognition und Sprache. Die Evolution des Menschen und die biologischen Grundlagen der Sprachfähigkeit. Paul Parey, Berlin, Hamburg
Naveh Z, Liebermann AS (1984) Landscape Ecology. Theory and Application. Springer, New York u. a.
Perrow C (1988) Normal Accidents. Living with High-Risk Technologies. Basic Books, New York
Piaget J, Inhelder B (1969) The Psychology of the Child. Basic Books, New York
Polanyi M (1962) Personal Knowledge. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago
Polanyi M (1967) The Tacit Dimension. Doubleday, Garden City, New York
Polanyi M (1974) Knowing and Being. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago
Polanyi M, Prosch H (1975) Meaning. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago, London
Polanyi M (1985) Implizites Wissen. Suhrkamp, Frankfurt a/M
Pratt J (1989) Towards an `Ecology of Knowing’. Institute for Human Ecology, Sonoma, CA. Draft, submitted to “Advances in Human Ecology” (ed. by Lee Freese )
Pribram KH (1971) Languages of the Brain. Experimental Paradoxes and Principles in Neuropsychology. Brooks/Cole, Monterey, CA
Raffestin C, Lawrence R (1990) Human ecology and environmental policies: prospects for politics and planning. Editiorial comment in Political Geography Quarterly 9 (2), 103–107
Richards P (1986) Evolutionary Fallacies and Ecological Change: Rice Cultivation in West Africa. In: Steiner D, Wisner B (eds) Human Ecology and Geography, Zürcher Geographische Schriften 28, 183–195
Riedl R (1981) Biologie der Erkenntnis. Die stammesgeschichtlichen Grundlagen der Vernunft. Paul Parey, Berlin, Hamburg
Roszak T (1986) Der Verlust des Denkens. Über die Mythen des Computer-Zeitalters. Droemer Knaur, München
Sayer A (1984) Methods in Social Science. A Realist Approach. Hutchinson, London u. a.
Schmidt R (ed) (1979) Grundriss der Neurophysiologie. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Schwäbisch L, Siem M (1981) Selbstentfaltung durch Meditation. Eine praktische Anleitung. Rowohlt, Reinbek b Hamburg
Sheldrake R (1981) A New Science of Life. Blond & Briggs, London
Springer SP, Deutsch G (1985) Left Brain, Right Brain. W.H.Freeman and Co., New York
Steiner D (1989) Zur autopoietischen Systemtheorie. In: Braun G, Schwarz R (eds): Theorie und Quantitative Methodik in der Geographie, Geographisches Institut, Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin (METAR 14 ), 133–150
Steiner D, Furger F, Jaeger C (1991) Mechanisms, Forms and Systems in Human Ecology. In: Young G, Sutton D, Borden R, Pratt J (eds): Human Ecology and Decision-Making: An International and Interdisciplinary Collaboration. Society for Human Ecology, Sonoma CA (forthcoming).
Störig HJ (1985) Weltgeschichte der Philosophie. Ex Libris, Zürich
Uexküll J von (1928) Theoretische Biologie. Springer, Berlin
Ulrich H, Probst GJB (1988) Anleitung zum ganzheitlichen Denken und Handeln. Ein Brevier für Führungskräfte. Paul Haupt, Bern, Stuttgart
Vester F (1984) Neuland des Denkens. Vom technokratischen zum kybernetischen Zeitalter. Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt, Stuttgart
Vollmer G (1983) Evolutionäre Erkenntnistheorie. S.Hirzel, Stuttgart
Weichhart P (1989) Ist Prävention möglich? Anmerkungen zu den Thesen von Guy Kirsch. In: Glaeser B (ed) Humanökologie. Grundlagen präventiver Umweltpolitik, Westdeutscher Verlag, Opladen, 266–271
Weizenbaum J (1976) Computer Power and Human Reason. From Judgement to Calculation. W.H.Freeman, San Francisco
Wilson EO (1977) Sociobiology. The New Synthesis. Harvard University Press, Cambridge MA, London
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1991 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
About this paper
Cite this paper
Steiner, D. (1991). The human ecological significance of different types of knowledge. In: Kilchenmann, A., Schwarz, C. (eds) Perspektiven der Humanökologie. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-84553-6_8
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-84553-6_8
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-540-54296-4
Online ISBN: 978-3-642-84553-6
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive