Claim · Seed idea · last reconsidered September 8, 2026
Knowing-in-action
Schön's finding that expertise in hard cases is a conversation with a situation, not the application of a rule.
In cases their training did not cover, competent practitioners do not select a rule and apply it. They frame the confusing situation, act experimentally, and let it answer back — the thinking happens inside the doing and cannot be extracted from it.
Donald SchönPragmatism / studies of professional practice1983
Connected ideas
derived from
- The Reflective PractitionerSource
The book's central account.
related to
- ExpertiseConcept
It is an account of what expertise consists of.
responds to
- Where will future expertise come from?Question
If expertise is formed in hard cases, removing the hard cases removes the formation.
is supported by
- Cheap answers do not make questions cheapClaim
If judgment is formed in the doing, removing the doing is not a neutral efficiency.
supports
- We know more than we can tellClaim
Schön's fieldwork is the practitioner-level evidence for Polanyi's claim.