KNOWLEDGE IN PRACTICE
Authors: Zenker Ilona 
Published: September 2019

Knowledge is an understanding of someone or something, such as facts, information, descriptions or skills, which is acquired by individuals through education, learning, experience or by discovering. We have to distinguish two forms of knowledge, which is on the one hand “explicit knowledge” and on the other hand “tacit knowledge”. Explicit knowledge is not a homogenous resource, but it can be qualified as factual knowledge, which is verbalized, codified, systematic and formal. Persons have easy access to explicit knowledge and it can be easily transmitted to others. It is transferred through written or verbal media.Tacit knowledge can be defined as skills, procedure and ideas and is learned mostly through experience over time. Tacit knowledge is a personal type of knowledge that cannot be shared simply through written or verbal communication, because it is not codified. Tacit knowledge can be seen as the knowledge practitioners have in their minds. To put theoretical knowledge into practice means to create tacit knowledge. Knowledge in general is an accumulation of education and experience – a mixture of explicit and tacit knowledge. Both forms of knowledge together make the difference between a novice and an expert. An efficient tool transferring collective knowledge into practice is called “Knowledge Management” (KM). Strategies and processes to gather, identify, structure, value, and share intellectual assets of companies. As a kind of “map of knowledge” it is considered as a useful tool to distribute knowledge and is seen as a help to settle in the world of “Practice” more quickly. A “community of practice” (CoP) is a group of people who share a common interest or create a platform with the goal of gaining knowledge related to a specific topic. The members of the group learn from each other by sharing information and experience within the group. The path becoming a lawyer can be a long process in Germany. The university education is marked by the idea, that a lawyer has to understand all branches of law und its system. The German system of studying law followed two predominant ideas, which is Comprehensive Knowledge and a dual education system. A jurist has to understand and to know every branch of law and was prepared with comprehensive knowledge for the next step – walking in the field of daily business matters. Specialization for a certain field of law is a personal and individual matter and doesn`t influence the university education. Comprehensive knowledge should enable the candidate to handle various challenges and to apply their knowledge in practice without being limited on a special kind of theoretical knowledge. Transferring explicit knowledge into tacit knowledge starts with using common sense, empathy and active listing skills. Transferring knowledge into practice needs first at all common sense. Common sense is practical judgement or a basic ability to perceive, understand and judge daily situations without special knowledge and without specialized training or deliberative thoughts. What distinguishes the humanities from the natural sciences is the mode of approach to any question. Knowledge in relation to Humanity means a structured way of thinking, which is a process of putting a framework to an unstructured problem. Knowledge means also critical thinking, which is the objective analysis of facts to form a judgement. Solving legal problems needs a rational, skeptical and unbiased analysis and the evaluation of factual evidence. Efficient transferring knowledge into practice needs structured thinking in both matters and is the only successful way to connect knowledge and practice.