A New Perspective on Knowledge Metaphorical Analysis: Knowledge as a Field

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to present a new perspective on knowledge metaphorical analysis: knowledge as a field. The concept of field is taken from physics, where it is defined as an intangible continuum of forces generated by a specific tangible object. This perspective overcomes the limits of the previous interpretations of knowledge as stuff or flow, especially the limits of substantiality and linearity. In the new perspective knowledge is conceived as a nonsubstantial entity, nonuniform, nonhomogeneous and nonlinear. Thus, we open new opportunities for understanding knowledge and its organizational dynamics.

Keywords

• knowledge
• tacit knowledge
• explicit knowledge
• emotional knowledge
• knowledge field
• knowledge dynamics