Procedural knowledge: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 07:27, 9 August 2025

Latest revision as of 07:29, 9 August 2025

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{{Short description|Knowledge of how to perform a task}}

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'''Procedural knowledge''' (also known as '''know-how''', '''knowing-how''', and sometimes referred to as '''practical knowledge''', '''imperative knowledge''', or '''performative knowledge''')<ref>{{Cite book|title=The First-Person Point of View|last=Carl|first=Wolfgang|publisher=Walter de Gruyter|year=2014|isbn=9783110362855|pages=147}}</ref> is the knowledge exercised in the performance of some task. Unlike [[descriptive knowledge]] (also known as declarative knowledge, propositional knowledge or "knowing-that"), which involves knowledge of specific facts or propositions (e.g. "I know that snow is white"), in other words facts that can be expressed using [[declarative sentence]]s, procedural knowledge involves one's ability to ''do'' something (e.g. "I know how to change a flat tire"). A person does not need to be able to verbally articulate their procedural knowledge in order for it to count as knowledge, since procedural knowledge requires only knowing how to correctly perform an action or exercise a skill.<ref name=SEP>{{cite web |title=Knowledge How |url=https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/knowledge-how/ |website=Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy |access-date=14 June 2020}}</ref><ref name="Stanley 2001 411–444">{{Cite journal|last1=Stanley|first1=Jason|last2=Williamson|first2=Timothy|date=2001|title=Knowing How|journal=The Journal of Philosophy|volume=98|issue=8|pages=411–444|doi=10.2307/2678403|jstor=2678403}}</ref>

The term ''procedural knowledge'' has narrower but related technical uses in both [[cognitive psychology]] and [[intellectual property|intellectual property law]].