Fingerspitzengefühl[ˈfɪŋɐˌʃpɪtsənɡəˌfyːl] is a German term, literally meaning "finger tips feeling" and meaning intuitive flair or instinct, which has been adopted by the English language as a loanword. It describes a great situational awareness, and the ability to respond most appropriately and tactfully. It can also be applied to diplomats, bearers of bad news, or to describe a superior ability to respond to an escalated situation. The term is sometimes used to describe the instinctive play of certain football players.[1]
In social context, Fingerspitzengefühl suggests a combination of "tact, diplomacy and a certain amount of sensitivity to the feelings of others". It is a quality that can enable a person to "negotiate tricky social situations".[2] In literal terms, it means a physical skill appearing to be controlled by the nerves in the extremities, as in a machinist hand lathing steel to micrometer tolerances.
Military context
In military terminology, it is used for the stated ability of some military commanders, such as Field-Marshal Erwin Rommel,[3] to describe "the instinctive and immediate response to battle situations",[3] a quality needed to maintain, with great accuracy and attention to detail, an ever-changing operational and tactical situation by maintaining a mental map of the battlefield. The idiom is intended to evoke a military commander who is in such intimate communication with the battlefield that it is as though he has a fingertip on each critical point. In this sense the term is synonymous with the English expression of "keeping one's finger on the pulse", and was expressed in the 18th and 19th centuries as "having a feel for combat".
The term is only figurative, and cannot in itself give a realistic picture of the ability being described. It is cognitively related to personal possession of multiple intelligences, notably those pertinent to visual and spatial data processing. The term suggests that in addition to any discursive processing of information that the commander may be conducting (such as mentally considering a specific plan), the commander is automatically establishing cognitive relationships between disparate pieces of information as they arrive, and is able to immediately re-synthesise their mental model of the battlefield.
Even though there is no physical connection between the commander and his troops, other than conduits for discursive information such as radio signals, it is as if the commander had their own sensitive presence in each spot.
One of the functions of a static map is to allow a traveler to decide upon a course of action suitable for getting from one point to another. In times of war, the terrain and the troops and weapons deployed upon it can be changed much more rapidly than cartographers can change their maps. A commander with Fingerspitzengefühl would hold such a map in their mind, and adjust it by incorporating any significant information that was received.
The concept may be compared to ideas about intuition and neural net programming. The same phenomenon, but conceptualized in a radically different way, seems to be described by D.T. Suzuki in swordsmanship teaching stories recounted in his Zen and Japanese Culture, and given in analytical detail in Zen Buddhism and Psychoanalysis.[5]
See also
Look up Fingerspitzengefühl in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
fingerspitzengefühl, this, article, needs, additional, citations, verification, please, help, improve, this, article, adding, citations, reliable, sources, unsourced, material, challenged, removed, find, sources, news, newspapers, books, scholar, jstor, septem. This article needs additional citations for verification Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources Unsourced material may be challenged and removed Find sources Fingerspitzengefuhl news newspapers books scholar JSTOR September 2008 Learn how and when to remove this template message Fingerspitzengefuhl ˈfɪŋɐˌʃpɪtsenɡeˌfyːl is a German term literally meaning finger tips feeling and meaning intuitive flair or instinct which has been adopted by the English language as a loanword It describes a great situational awareness and the ability to respond most appropriately and tactfully It can also be applied to diplomats bearers of bad news or to describe a superior ability to respond to an escalated situation The term is sometimes used to describe the instinctive play of certain football players 1 Contents 1 Social context 2 Military context 3 Related concepts 4 See also 5 ReferencesSocial context EditIn social context Fingerspitzengefuhl suggests a combination of tact diplomacy and a certain amount of sensitivity to the feelings of others It is a quality that can enable a person to negotiate tricky social situations 2 In literal terms it means a physical skill appearing to be controlled by the nerves in the extremities as in a machinist hand lathing steel to micrometer tolerances Military context EditIn military terminology it is used for the stated ability of some military commanders such as Field Marshal Erwin Rommel 3 to describe the instinctive and immediate response to battle situations 3 a quality needed to maintain with great accuracy and attention to detail an ever changing operational and tactical situation by maintaining a mental map of the battlefield The idiom is intended to evoke a military commander who is in such intimate communication with the battlefield that it is as though he has a fingertip on each critical point In this sense the term is synonymous with the English expression of keeping one s finger on the pulse and was expressed in the 18th and 19th centuries as having a feel for combat The term is only figurative and cannot in itself give a realistic picture of the ability being described It is cognitively related to personal possession of multiple intelligences notably those pertinent to visual and spatial data processing The term suggests that in addition to any discursive processing of information that the commander may be conducting such as mentally considering a specific plan the commander is automatically establishing cognitive relationships between disparate pieces of information as they arrive and is able to immediately re synthesise their mental model of the battlefield Even though there is no physical connection between the commander and his troops other than conduits for discursive information such as radio signals it is as if the commander had their own sensitive presence in each spot One of the functions of a static map is to allow a traveler to decide upon a course of action suitable for getting from one point to another In times of war the terrain and the troops and weapons deployed upon it can be changed much more rapidly than cartographers can change their maps A commander with Fingerspitzengefuhl would hold such a map in their mind and adjust it by incorporating any significant information that was received Colonel Mehta Basti Ram was said to have Fingerspitzengefuhl 4 Related concepts EditThe concept may be compared to ideas about intuition and neural net programming The same phenomenon but conceptualized in a radically different way seems to be described by D T Suzuki in swordsmanship teaching stories recounted in his Zen and Japanese Culture and given in analytical detail in Zen Buddhism and Psychoanalysis 5 See also Edit Look up Fingerspitzengefuhl in Wiktionary the free dictionary C4ISTAR Command and control military Coup d œil Fog of war Network centric warfareReferences Edit Fingerspitzengefuhl youtube com Danny Davis Retrieved 1 February 2017 Fingerspitzengefuhl Sometimes it s not what you say but how you say it dw com Deutsche Welle Retrieved 1 February 2017 a b Brighton Terry Masters of Battle Monty Patton and Rommel at war Archived from the original on 2016 03 04 Retrieved 2009 08 15 Prologue Bakshi G D 2002 Footprints in the Snow On the Trail of Zorawar Singh Lancer Publishers p 118 ISBN 978 81 7062 292 5 Fromm Suzuki and De Martino Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Fingerspitzengefuhl amp oldid 1076314463, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
