ABSTRACT
Dreyfu's view of skill development runs directly counter to the rationalist view of what generalizing from specifics amounts to: on the rationalist account, generalization proceeds from particular cases to the abstract rules or essential characteristics that these cases all share in common. As Dreyfus says, We must be prepared to abandon the traditional view that a beginner starts with specific cases and, as he becomes more proficient, abstracts and interiorize more and more sophisticated rules. It might turn out that skill acquisition moves in just the opposite direction: from abstract rules to particular cases. The two most crucial elements of Dreyfus's phenomenological description of skill development are the concession to deliberate rule-following along the lines of the rationalist assumption as a starting condition, and the necessity of moving beyond such behavior at a certain point. The means by which this moving-beyond occurs concerns emotional involvement with an outcome and the assumption of responsibility for it.
