The role of experience

One of the crucial aspects of professional practice is the ability to make sound judgements which rely to a considerable extent on the practitioner's own experiences and values. To make judgements a practitioner has to draw from his or her previous experiences, his or her knowledge and values. However, as Schon (1983) in his book The Reflective Practitioner argues, the thinking of professionals in these circumstances is distinctive. The practitioner has built up a repertoire of examples, images, understandings, and actions to draw upon. To make a judgement about a new case a practitioner does not go to a scientifically established body of objective knowledge but instead goes back to his or her previous experience. The practitioner has to compare the new case with other cases he or she has dealt with in the past, to think about how similar or dissimilar the new case is. The purpose of such reflection is not to establish general theoretical principles to be applied objectively. Instead the subjective experience of a practitioner working as a professional is the means of making diagnosis or deciding on particular courses of action. Therefore, we must recognise the importance of subjectivity in professional practice. Habermas sees the subjective having another vital role to play in the development of knowledge.

Stryker (2000:223) makes a cogent point:

“Habermas' critics argue that there is no detached, objective standpoint from which any given argument can be criticised or justified independently of social contexts, collective identities, and historical traditions. There are only specific arguments embedded in particular social lifeworlds. What, then, makes it possible for social actors to step outside of the horizon of their particular lifeworlds? What allows them to question the validity of norms which they ordinarily take for granted?”

These are key questions that Habermas has not successfully tackled. It may be the case that Carola Conle's (2001:28), view of narrative is more successful in coping with the issue of subjectivity, and has potential to be applied to any reflection on a communicative situation:

"I see narrative, more than other types of communicative action, as highlighting an inner world of subjectivity".

Perhaps in our reflection on action or on professional contexts we can only deal with our own subjective world. Would that render professional reflection useless since it might not enable us to reach a state of critical objectivity? Perhaps there is usefulness in the narratives and stories we create about our everyday experiences of professional practice.