We may distinguish several modalities of knowing that are noncognitive in a pathic sense. We feel that our knowing resides in our actions, situations, relations, and, of course, our bodies. And phenomenologically that is indeed the case. In our daily living we experience our knowing in how and what to do through our actions, through the situations in which we find ourselves, through our relations with others and the world around us, and through our embodied being or corporeal existence:
In actional knowing we feel that our knowledge resides in our actions: knowledge is action. In a sense we discover what we know, in how we act, in what we can do. This actional knowledge is experienced as confidence in acting, as personal style, as practical tact, and also as habituations, routines, kinesthetic memories, and so on.
In situational knowing we feel that our knowledge resides in the context of the things of our world. Indeed, we discover what we know and who we are through the things around us and in the things that belong to us and to which we belong. This situational knowledge is experienced as the way we know ourselves through space, the objects, the contingencies of our daily existences. We experience situations by way of recognition, memory, feeling at home, familiar mood, and so on.
In relational knowing we feel that our knowledge resides in relations. We discover what we know in our relations with others, for example, as relations of shared experience, trust, recognition, intimacy; as relations of dependence, dominance, equality, expertise, and so forth. In some relations, we feel comfortable, sure of ourselves, and in discussions with others we may surprise ourselves with how much we know, what we can say, and so on. It may also happen that in some relational circumstances, we feel uncomfortable, unsure of ourselves, and awkward. Most of us may have experienced teachers with whom we felt bright and knowledgeable, while with other teachers we felt insecure and stupid.
In corporeal knowing we feel that our knowledge resides in our corporeal being. We discover what we know in our immediate corporeal sense of things and others, and as in our gestures, demeanor, and so on. We trust the body in our daily living and our activities. Thanks to our body knowledge and body memories, we can confidently pick up a hot teapot and pour the drink without spilling. Our body knows how to move around in familiar spaces and places, and how to drive the car in routine traffic. Corporeal knowing also expresses itself in the smell of the city in which we live, the particular smell of the autumn leaves under our feet, the familiar smell of supper in our kitchen at home.
All these modalities of noncognitive or pathic knowing intermingle in our everyday existence.