The BA of Sherlock Holmes & Dr. Watson

Elementary, my dear Watson!

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To illustrate the complementary difference between on one side the perception of weak signals produced by serendipity, fuzzy receptivity, tacit know-how, craft experience and intuition, and, on another side, explicit objective information, Noburo Konno makes reference to the tandem Holmes – Watson.

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Sensible, clear-sighted and creative, Sherlock Holmes identifies weak signals, and then processes by induction and combines them to make sense. On the contrary, the deductive Dr Watson analyses, and that is the reason why he finds out later.

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Watson rationalizes like an historian what Holmes presents to him as “elementary!”. These two ways to process are not antagonist but complementary. Dr Watson’s pre-conceptions orient Holmes’s perceptions and even induce his sensibility that lead to identification of relevant signals.

Doing so, Dr. Watson’s rationality frees the imagination of Holmes, making him capable to devote full time and art to his insight activity. It constitutes the backdrop, the previous accessible and explicit knowledge and competences that match creatively with curiosity and no a-priori availability.

Through each investigation, the couple Holmes – Watson creates a strategic knowledge community set up toward the discovery of the truth! They convene partners and all possible indicators that allow them to step ahead to their aim so that they assume their detectives’ commitments.

Read more about that: Le réveil du samouraï. Culture et stratégie japonaises dans la société de la connaissance, Dunod, Paris 2006.

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