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Schön challenges the “technical rationality” model in which professionals merely apply general scientific knowledge to well-defined problems. In architecture, psychotherapy, engineering, planning, and management, important situations are uncertain, unstable, unique, and marked by value conflict; deciding what the problem is becomes part of solving it.
Competent practitioners rely on knowing-in-action—tacit recognition and skill embedded in performance. When an unexpected result disrupts routine, they may reflect-in-action: notice the surprise, surface an implicit understanding, frame the situation anew, try an intervention, and learn from the situation’s response. Schön describes this as a reflective conversation with materials and circumstances rather than detached analysis. Reflection-on-action later reconstructs what occurred and can improve future practice.
The book does not reject research or technique, but argues they cannot determine action without professional judgement. Education for practice should therefore include coached inquiry into authentic, ambiguous situations where learners can experiment, receive feedback, and examine their frames.
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