Tacit Dimensions of Language and Logic

Can everything that we know be made explicit, by language or other means derived from language? Or does all explicit knowledge really depend upon tacit knowledge and understanding that can’t be put into words? The Tacit Dimensions of Language and Logic restores the speaker to what is being spoken, answering these questions by drawing on the ideas of often overlooked thinkers like Michael Polanyi and R. G. Collingwood.Opening with an exploration of the limits of language itself and its many tacit dimensions, this book sets its sights on the perils of ‘logicism’, when formal logic is applied to reality in defiance of experience. With the field of epistemology often dominated by analytic thinkers, these formal logic tendencies can cause us to overlook important aspects of how language functions. By drawing on a range of insights from beyond the analytic tradition, R.T. Allen uncovers the importance of tacit elements of language, truth, and even formal logic itself. While dismantling some of the assumptions that have hampered the philosophy of language, Allen sets out new avenues for epistemological enquiry and welcomes new voices to old debates around how language and understanding function both philosophically and in everyday life.