Tacit Mechanisms and Heuristic Theorizing: Comments on Ryszard Wójcicki’s Is There Only One Truth? An Introduction to the Pragmatic Theory of Knowledge Acquisition. Filozofia Nauki, 20(1), 2012, 33-44.

Abstract

My aim in this paper is to develop a preliminary typology of subconscious, tacit mechanisms that underlie the conscious exercise of practical skills as well as the formation and functioning of conscious mental representations such as perceptual experiences, mental images, explicitly held beliefs and explanatory hypotheses. With this typology in hand, I consider whether these tacit mechanisms — or at least some of their aspects — can be examined and explicated by what Ryszard Wójcicki calls heuristic theorizing or heuristic reasoning.