Michael Polanyi – författare

Den grundläggande insikt som bär upp "Den tysta dimensionen" är tanken att vi ?kan veta mer än vi kan säga?. Vi kan till exempel känna igen ett ansikte tydligt nog utan att vara i stånd att säga exakt vilka drag i ansiktet som ledde till igenkännandet. Detta fenomen hänför sig till gestaltpsykologin, som pekar på det förhållandet att vi kan integrera delarna i ett ansikte utan att mer precist kunna identifiera dem. Polanyi visar att ?tyst kunskap? som inte enkelt kan formaliseras och uttryckas i exakta ord är ett centralt inslag i vår kunskap om världen. "Den tysta dimensionen" publicerades första gången 1966. Den baserar sig på föreläsningar som hölls fyra år tidigare vid Yale University. Boken har väckt uppmärksamhet inom många olika forskningsområden och givit upphov till en stor litteratur. Michael Polanyi startade sin vetenskapliga karriär inom fysisk kemi. År 1933, när han lämnade sin akademiska post vid Kaiser Wilhelm-institutet i Tyskland (som en reaktion på den nya nazipolitiken) för att tillträda en professur vid universitetet i Manchester, var han en internationellt väl etablerad naturvetare. I Manchester drogs emellertid hans intressen i riktning ekonomi och samhällsvetenskap. Han skrev en kritisk bok om det sovjetiska planeringssystemet som senare följdes av en serie böcker som försvarar liberala idéer, inte minst forskningens frihet. Boken är är försedd med ett förord av Amartya Sen.

'I shall reconsider human knowledge by starting from the fact that we can know more than we can tell', writes Michael Polanyi, whose work paved the way for the likes of Thomas Kuhn and Karl Popper. "The Tacit Dimension", originally published in 1967, argues that such tacit knowledge - tradition, inherited practices, implied values, and prejudgments - is a crucial part of scientific knowledge. Back in print for a new generation of students and scholars, this volume challenges the assumption that skepticism, rather than established belief, lies at the heart of scientific discovery.

This is Volume XI of eighteen in the Political Sociology Series and looks at the rejections and rejoinders of the logic of liberty, originally published in 1951.

This is Volume XI of eighteen in the Political Sociology Series and looks at the rejections and rejoinders of the logic of liberty, originally published in 1951.

Michael Polanyi (1891-1976) was an eminent theorist across the fields of philosophy, physical chemistry and economics. Elected to the Royal Society and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, his contributions to research in the social sciences, and his theories on positivism and knowledge, are of critical academic importance. The three lectures included in this comprehensive volume, first published in 1959, argue for Polanyi’s principle of ‘tacit knowing’ as a fundamental component of knowledge. They were intended to accompany Polanyi’s earlier work, Personal Knowledge, and as a tribute to the philosophical and educational work of Lord A. D. Lindsay.

Michael Polanyi (1891-1976) was an eminent theorist across the fields of philosophy, physical chemistry and economics. Elected to the Royal Society and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, his contributions to research in the social sciences, and his theories on positivism and knowledge, are of critical academic importance. The three lectures included in this comprehensive volume, first published in 1959, argue for Polanyi’s principle of ‘tacit knowing’ as a fundamental component of knowledge. They were intended to accompany Polanyi’s earlier work, Personal Knowledge, and as a tribute to the philosophical and educational work of Lord A. D. Lindsay.

In this text, the author argues that organizations - or governments - based solely on the methods of science threaten to foreclose a full human knowledge of the mysteries of existence and therefore pose a direct threat not only to academic freedom but also to social and political liberty.

Michael Polanyi was a polymath who primarily studied medicine and chemistry. Precisely because of Polanyi's work in the physical sciences, his writings have a unique dimension not found in other advocates of the market and too infrequently found even in philosophers of science. Society, Economics, and Philosophy represents the full range of his interests outside of his scientific work: economics, politics, society, philosophy of science, religion and positivist obstacles to it, and art.Polanyi was a powerful critic of totalitarianism and of the deficiencies of the usual defences of freedom which helped to prepare the way for it. Freedom, he argued, can be based only upon truth and dedication to transcendent ideals, not upon scepticism, utilitarianism, and the liberty of doing merely as one pleases. More radically than even von Mises and Hayek, Polanyi showed that an industrial economy can operate only "polycentrically," that central planning is logically impossible, and that what was called by that name in the Soviet Union was in reality no such thing. Likewise, scientific research can proceed, not by a central plan, but only by the spontaneous self-adjustment of separate initiatives to discover a common reality.

Society, Economics and Philosophy represents the full range of Polanyi's interests outside of his scientific work: economics, politics, society, philosophy of science, religion and positivist obstacles to it, and art. Polanyi's principal ideas are contained in three essays: on the scientific revolution, the creative imagination and the mind-body relation. Precisely because of Polanyi's work in the physical sciences, his writings have a unique dimension not found in other advocates of the market and too infrequently found even in philosophers of science.Polanyi was a powerful critic of totalitarianism and of the deficiencies of the usual defenses of freedom which helped to prepare the way for it. Freedom, he argued, can be based only upon truth and dedication to transcendent ideals, not upon skepticism, utilitarianism and the liberty of doing merely as one pleases. At a time when easy slogans about socialism were dominant in intellectual circles, epitomized by Sidney and Beatrice Webb, and when calls for the central planning of scientific research were made by such as J.D. Bernal, Polanyi exposed their errors and showed that science can flourish only in a free society.More radically than even von Mises and Hayek, Polanyi showed that an industrial economy can operate only "polycentrically", that central planning is logically impossible, and that what was called by that name in the Soviet Union was in reality no such thing. Likewise, scientific research can proceed, not by a central plan, but only by the spontaneous self-adjustment of separate initiatives to discover a common reality. Against the positivism dominant within philosophy of science, he argued that the notion of reality must be restored and made central. Yet physical sciences, he also argued, are only one branch of science, and the sciences of life and mind are logically richer and more complex and cannot be reduced to the former, nor mind to body or to computers, nor art to its physical bases.This volume makes accessible the most important of those of Polanyi's published articles which were not incorporated into any of his books. It also includes a full bibliography and brief summaries of the articles which were not included, both prepared by the editor, both prepared by the editor, Dr. R.T. Allen, editor of Appraisal, a journal inspired by Polanyi, who has published books and articles on Polanyi, both at home in Britain and abroad.