An Epistemological Perspective on Knowledge Transfers: From Tacitness to Capability and Reliability

One of the main difficulties in the social sharing of knowledge is attributed to the tacit quality of knowledge while the conditions for a successful transfer of propositional knowledge are overlooked. These require that the sender is capable, i.e. has sufficient incentives for acquiring true beliefs, and reliable, i.e. has sufficient incentives for truthfully communicating her beliefs. Focusing on the incentives in knowledge transfer reveals why some knowledge is more easily shared and what factors facilitate the transfer. Similarly, the reason for why some knowledge resists to be disseminated can in many cases be attributed to the lack of incentives rather than to tacitness.