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ERIC Number: EJ807523
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2008-Sep
Pages: 12
Abstractor: As Provided
Reference Count: 34
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0013-1857
Tacit Teaching
Burbules, Nicholas C.
Educational Philosophy and Theory, v40 n5 p666-677 Sep 2008
This essay reflects upon certain aspects of Wittgenstein's own practices as a teacher. "Doing" philosophy always took priority for Wittgenstein, whether this was in oral or written form: it was important to show the deep puzzles in our language (and our culture and thinking) as a step toward dissolving them. In this respect, one can teach only as a guide; it is a matter of showing more than saying. Wittgenstein's approach suggests a model that I will call "tacit teaching". Tacit teaching refers to the many forms of informal instruction--some intentional, some unintentional, and some difficult to categorize simply as one or the other--by which skills, capacities, and dispositions are passed along within a domain of practice. Wittgenstein repeatedly uses the language of signposts, of wandering through a city, of being lost and finding one's way, of needing a guide, of learning how to go on by one's self, to refer to the complex web of knowledge and understanding that allows successful autonomous practice in some discipline: most pertinently, in the context of Wittgenstein's own teaching and writing, the discipline of doing philosophy, but with clear reference to teaching and learning in other complex and ill-structured domains as well.
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: N/A
Audience: Teachers
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers: N/A