Michael Polanyi
Michael Polanyi
Michael Polanyi, FRSwas a Hungarian-British polymath, who made important theoretical contributions to physical chemistry, economics, and philosophy. He argued that positivism supplies a false account of knowing, which if taken seriously undermines our highest achievements as human beings...
NationalityHungarian
ProfessionScientist
Date of Birth11 March 1891
example topography principles
We could not, for example, arrive at a principle like that of entropy without introducing some additional principle, such as randomness, to this topography.
knowing principles gathering-data
Personal participation is the universal principle of knowing.
responsibility exercise principles
Human beings exercise responsibilities within a social setting and a framework of obligations which transcend the principle of intelligence.
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I shall suggest, on the contrary, that all communication relies,to a noticeable extent on evoking knowledge that we cannot tell, and that all our knowledge of mental processes, like feelings or conscious intellectual activities, is based on a knowledge which we cannot tell.
common conveying effort experience learner rely teaching tells
Common experience also tells us that in teaching we rely on an intellectual effort of the learner for recognizing that which we are conveying to him.
elicit general imposing inquiry intrinsic large opinion scientific society strong united value
Moreover, only a strong and united scientific opinion imposing the intrinsic value of scientific progress on society at large can elicit the support of scientific inquiry by the general public.
boundary choice conditions controls intelligence powers sets setting
Responsible choice in a convivial setting controls the indeterminate powers of intelligence and sets the boundary conditions for their applications.
communication feelings intellectual
I shall suggest, on the contrary, that all communication relies, to a noticeable extent on evoking knowledge that we cannot tell, and that all our knowledge of mental processes, like feelings or conscious intellectual activities, is based on a knowledge which we cannot tell.
community body way
My title is intended to suggest that the community of scientists is organized in a way which resembles certain features of a body politic and works according to economic principles similar to those by which the production of material goods is regulated.
art may belief
These maxims and the art of interpreting them may be said to constitute the premisses of science but I prefer to call them our scientific beliefs. These premisses or beliefs are embodied in a tradition, the tradition of science.
exercise light agents
But the system of prices ruling the market not only transmits information in the light of which economic agents can mutually adjust their actions, it also provides them with an incentive to exercise economy in terms of money.
men body doe
Admittedly, the body of scientists, as a whole, does uphold the authority of science over the lay public. It controls thereby also the process by which young men are trained to become members of the scientific profession.
body juniors scientist
Admittedly, scientific authority is not distributed evenly throughout the body of scientists; some distinguished members of the profession predominate over others of a more junior standing.
men trying reform
To try to reform all the power structures at once would leave us with no power structure to use in our project. In any case, we will be able to see that absolute moral renewal could be attempted only by an absolute power and that a tyrannous force such as this must destroy the whole moral life of man, not renew it.