It certainly seems appropriate to further examine the concept of knowledge (in the context of the current management interest in the topic of knowledge management) from a more philosophical perspective then has hitherto been the case. Furthermore, I would suggest that the topic of knowledge creation (Nonaka and Takeuchi, 1995) seems worth exploring from a philosophical perspective also. The “knowledge economy” To begin with, one may begin uncritically and investigate how such concepts may be of immediate practical utility to the large corporations - an approached implied in statements such as this one by Probst et al.: “The long-predicted 'information society' and 'knowledge economy' are now emerging as tangible realities. Leading management theoreticians argue that it is much more profitable for a company to invest a given sum in its knowledge assets than to spend the same amount on material assets.” (Probst et al., 2000, p. 3) Here, it would seem that knowledge has an entirely a positive connotation - from (what might be termed) an “enlightenment-prosperity” perspective. However, the postructuralist perspective might also be considered with interest. Here it might be argued that the creation of knowledge is interconnected with the concrete operation of power. Knowledge creation -far from being concerned with empowerment - could be seen as just another development in managerial control philosophies.
Lyotard’s suggestions (dating from 1979) concerning the interconnections between science and
economy can make an important bridge between the managerial (and technical) discourses of
knowledge creation and management (Lyotard, 1984). It may prove to be useful to exploit the
wellworked concepts of epistemology and ontology from the analytical perspective on philosophy, as (for
example) several different uses of the term knowledge can already be seen within the topic of
knowledge management. To begin with, one can discern a philosophical confusion between what
No doubt, knowledge (in the form of epistemology) is one of the most researched topics in philosophy. Indeed, Nonaka and Takeuchi include a short discussion of (Western) philosophical approaches to epistemology in their 1995 book. However, there is very little discussion of critical philosophical approaches in their book, or other books / journals that I have encountered in the broad topic area of knowledge management. It may be timely to begin to correct this “oversight”.