Action learning, performativity and negative capability

John Edmonstone

Action Learning: Research and Practice, 2016, vol. 13, issue 2, 139-147

Abstract: The paper examines the concept of negative capability as a human capacity for containment and contrasts it with well-valued positive capability as expressed through performativity in organisations and society. It identifies the problem of dispersal -- the complex ways we behave in order to avoid the emotional challenges of living with uncertainty. The action learning set is considered as a ‘container’ -- a holding and enabling framework which temporarily holds the set member’s uncertainty until they can manage it for themselves. Finally, it is suggested that learning arises from working at the edges between knowing (positive capability/performativity) and not-knowing (negative capability) because it offers the possibility of exposure to truth ‘in the moment’ or insight. It involves living with uncertainty, yet still ultimately acting in the world.

Date: 2016
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DOI: 10.1080/14767333.2016.1168735

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