Tacit Knowledge in Socionics

Tacit knowledge - or poorly verbalizable, experience-based knowledge - is an essential part of socionics and other fields that do not fully qualify as "sciences." For better or for worse, this is the way things are, and it does not look like they are going to change any time soon.

Often in my typings of famous people I make what appears to be an unexplained leap from direct observations to type identification. Why, for example, is a "cold, logical stare" related to being a Logical Intuitive Introtim (LII)?

I am well aware that I have not laid out all the links in the logical chain of thought that leads me from observation to type identification. Some links in the chain may be difficult at first to substantiate, yet it is the job of the conscientious socionist to explain himself as much as possible. I plan to attempt to do this in upcoming posts.

The importance of experience and proper perspective is one of the inherent limitations of socionics and contrasts sharply with the exact sciences, where a much higher percentage of information can be conveyed using the exact, unambiguous language of numbers, quantities, and mathematics. However, if we limited ourselves to the language of exact science when studying human phenomena, today we would know extremely little about people, relationships, and society.