Polanyi aims to show that science must be understood as a community of inquirers held together by a common faith; science, he argues, is not the use of 'scientific methods' but rather consists in a discipline imposed by scientists on themselves in the interest of discovering an objective, impersonal truth.

In this work the distinguished physical chemist and philosopher, Michael Polanyi, demonstrates that the scientist's personal participation in his knowledge, in both its discovery and its validation, is an indispensable part of science itself. Even in the exact sciences, "knowing" is an art, of which the skill of the knower, guided by his personal committment and his passionate sense of increasing contact with reality, is a logically necessary part. In the biological and social sciences this becomes even more evident. The tendency to make knowledge impersonal in our culture has split fact from value, science from humanity. Polanyi wishes to substitute for the objective, impersonal ideal of scientific detachment an alternative ideal which gives attention to the personal involvement of the knower in all acts of understanding. His book should help to restore science to its rightful place in an integrated culture, as part of the whole person's continuing endeavor to make sense of the totality of his experience. In honor of this work and his The Study of Man Polanyi was presented with the Lecomte de Noüy Award for 1959.

"Knowing and Being: Essays by Michael Polanyi," edited by Marjorie Grene, is a collection of fourteen essays that showcase the evolution of Polanyi's theory of knowledge. The first part addresses the tension between the pursuit of truth and the nature of truth itself, advocating for a redefined epistemology that acknowledges the inherent 'groping' involved in problem recognition. The second section critiques the incompatibility of centralization with scientific practice and examines the roles of tradition and authority in science. The third part delves into the concept of tacit knowing, emphasizing its fundamental role in all intelligent behavior. The final section explores the relationship between mind and living organisms, proposing a theory that bridges the gap between internal clues and external evidence. This compilation reflects Polanyi's significant contributions to philosophy, particularly in epistemology and the philosophy of science.

A chemist and member of a family renowned for its learning in several disciplines, Michael Polanyi experienced first-hand the horrors of totalitarian government and worldwide war. He argued that centrally planned 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 (1891-1976) was an internationally renowned scientist, philosopher, and professor whose other works include Personal Knowledge and The Tacit Dimension. Stuart D. Warner is Associate Professor of Philosophy at Roosevelt University, Chicago, Illinois.

Published very shortly before his death in February 1976, Meaning is the culmination of Michael Polanyi's philosophic endeavors. With the assistance of Harry Prosch, Polanyi goes beyond his earlier critique of scientific "objectivity" to investigate meaning as founded upon the imaginative and creative faculties. Establishing that science is an inherently normative form of knowledge and that society gives meaning to science instead of being given the "truth" by science, Polanyi contends here that the foundation of meaning is the creative imagination. Largely through metaphorical expression in poetry, art, myth, and religion, the imagination is used to synthesize the otherwise chaotic and disparate elements of life. To Polanyi these integrations stand with those of science as equally valid modes of knowledge. He hopes this view of the foundation of meaning will restore validity to the traditional ideas that were undercut by modern science. Polanyi also outlines the general conditions of a free society that encourage varied approaches to truth, and includes an illuminating discussion of how to restore, to modern minds, the possibility for the acceptance of religion.

Michael Polanyi's The Contempt of Freedom quite plausibly helped to steel Friedrich Hayek to write The Road to Serfdom. In a 1941 review of Polanyi's book, Hayek wrote: The four essays [of the present book] were...written during the five years between 1935 and I940 when the ideas of liberty "were left almost uncultivated" and "the progressive minds were so fascinated by the prospects of the revolution in Russia that they had little interest left for the fate of the traditional liberties." [Polanyi's] analysis...in the essay on the "Rights and Duties of Science " is perhaps the most illuminating discussion yet attempted of the psychological propensities which so frequently turn the man of science into an ardent advocate of central planning, and of the inconsistencies which this attitude involves. While Professor Polanyi has no doubt that "the major force behind this attitude is the passionate desire to put science into the consciously organised service of human welfare", he is convinced that a consistent policy of "organising" all scientific research..."would actually stop the development of science altogether". Discover here an early work of the man who coined the term "spontaneous order" and wrote Science, Faith and Society (1946), The Logic of Liberty (1951), Personal Knowledge (1958), The Study of Man (1959), and The Tacit Dimension (1959).