The Relationship Between Linguistic Understanding and Tacit Knowledge in Wittgenstein; Evaluation of the Scandinavian Approach

Later Wittgenstein considers understanding (especially linguistic) in relation to ability. He believes that the grammar of the word "knows" and "understands" is evidently closely related to the grammar of the word "can” and “is able to”. An interpretation of the relationship between understanding and ability can be found in the works of Scandinavian philosophers. Johansen, one of the most prominent figures in this movement, believes that linguistic understanding is a strong form of tacit knowledge. tacit knowledge means that we know things that we cannot, in principle, articulate linguistically. In this article we will show that the interpretation cannot explain this simple phenomenon that we immediately understand when we encounter linguistic words and phrases according to the context and position of the sentence. In addition, the interpretation of tacit knowledge is conceptually ambiguous. Ultimately is unclear that Wittgenstein really agrees with this kind of interpretation of understanding due to the close relationship between the concept of intuition and tacit knowledge.