nikos dimitrakas - Knowledge Management (*78) spring 2005 - Learning

Understanding the process of learning

The process of learning

Knowing that vs. Knowing how

Gilbert Ryle classifies knowing into two categories: Knowing that and Knowing how. Knowing that can be seen as the plain remembering of facts, while Knowing how implies an ability to use this knowledge in the form of a skill. Ryle's theories have been presented in his book The Concept of Mind (1949), and have met their share of criticism. Here are two external links that cover the theories and the criticism.

Some may have heard or read about the the concepts of single-loop and double-loop learning. These may be confused to be mapped to learning how and learning that, but I don't see any evidence that would suggest that such a mapping exists. Perhaps a better mapping exists between Learning what and Learning how and the second and third loop of the triple-loop learning process. I am still a bit sceptical if this mapping is indeed correct, but I will let you draw your own conclusions.