possession and the workshop-possession of knowledge”12. According to Ryle, knowledge emerging from the domain of memory can only deal with facts which he calls the Knowing That, whereas knowledge deriving from experience is able to show the way things are done, in other words, the Knowing How. Although the aforementioned Architecture, Masonry plate seems to transmit knowledge, – which is the primary aim of the Encyclopaedia13 (1765) – it overpasses a third epistemological dimension: the Tacit Knowledge. The Masonry plate tries to transmit knowledge through graphic expressions; yet, by nature, the third dimension of knowledge cannot be expressed through illustrations, words, or any other expression. The philosopher and chemist, Michael Polanyi contends in his book The Tacit Dimension14 (1966) that “we can know more than we can tell”15. The technical knowledge of knowing how to do things can primarily be transmitted by experience and physical trials. The plate fails to communicate all the necessary knowledge in the understanding of what is to build a brick wall and how to build it. The tableau vivant showcases craftsmen working with stone in different ways. For instance, the craftsman situated in the foreground seems to measure stone but one cannot know how to measure the stone, how to use the measuring tool or to which end the stone is measured by examining the visual content (Img.4). Does the drawing illustrate a worker measuring the stone to set dimensions before it being cut, or is he measuring it to verify the dimensions of the block after being cut? Therefore, we can argue that the Architecture, Masonry plate is an impractical apparatus in the transmission of technical knowledge; Img. 4 Engraving by Prévost Fécit (1756) illustrating a craftsman measuring stone - Edited by the author.
betraying the Encyclopaedia’s practical knowledge dissemination aim. Nevertheless, through a deeper reading of the Masonry plate, we can demonstrate its underlying character of being a propagandic object that spreads the Enlightenment ideologies through the tableau vivant.
12. Ryle, Knowing How and Knowing That: The Presidential Address, 16. 13. d’Alembert, Encyclopaedia, or a Systematic Dictionary of the Sciences, Arts, and Crafts. 14. Polanyi, The Tacit Dimension, 3-25. 15. Polanyi, The Tacit Dimension, 4.
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