Facts, skills and intuition: A typology of personal knowledge

This paper introduces a knowledge model in which the types of knowledge are formed according to the nature of knowledge. First we use Ryle’s distinction of “that” and “how” knowledge, to which we add further three types. The five knowledge types are then synthesized using Polanyi’s distinction of focal and subsidiary awareness. The resulting model distinguishes three types of knowledge, the facts, the skills, and the intuition; all three having focal and subsidiary parts. We believe that this knowledge model is comprehensive in the sense that can classify any knowledge and it also has great explanatory power, as it is demonstrated through illustrative examples. Moreover, the model is elegant and easy to use, which facilitates our understanding of the domain of personal knowledge. Therefore we expect our findings to be useful for both researchers and educators in the field of knowledge and knowledge management.