On the Duties of Intellectuals to Truth
The Life and Work of Chemist-Philosopher Michael Polanyi
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 14670779 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Stefania Ruzsits Jha (Harvard University, corresponding author) |
| Year | 1998 |
| Volume | 11 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 89-141 |
| Publication date | 1998-01-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Science in Context (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0269-8897 • E-ISSN: 1474-0664 |
| Publisher | Cambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1017/s0269889700002921 |
| OpenAlex | W2020425061 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 43 |
The Argument Michael Polanyi (1891–1976) is placed in the ongoing Enlightenment-reform tradition as one of the first twentieth-century scientists to propose a program to correct the gravest internal conflict of the modern Enlightenment project of radical criticism: scientific detachment and moral nihilism in conflict with humanist values. He held that radical criticism leads not to truth but to destructive doubt. Only the inclusion of the “personal element,” the judicial attitude of reasonable doubt and the acknowledgment of belief in the regulative principle of truth can overcome this end. Freedom — to reason, to criticize the method of doubt, and freedom of scientific thinking — is a precondition to reach truth. His epistemology of nonsubjective personal knowledge has redefined scientific knowing and objectivity as grounded in tacit knowing. Debate is continuing on objectivity and freedom versus the social duty of science. Polanyi's Hungarian correspondence highlights his commitment to truth and the contemporary cultural-political situation of Jewish intellectuals
Criticism · Enlightenment · Epistemology · Humanism · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Law · Philosophy · Philosophy and History of Science · Pragmatism in Philosophy and Education
The logic of liberty
Patterns of discovery.
From being to becoming
The intellectuals and the powers, and other essays
Criticism and the Growth of Knowledge
The principles of psychology.
Conjectures and Refutations
The Tacit Dimension
Patterns of Discovery
The TEA Set
The Logic of Scientific Discovery
Personal Knowledge
The Open Society and Its Enemies
The Life and Work of Karl Polanyi
Science, Faith and Society
The Economic Thought of Karl Polanyi
The Austrian Mind
What Is Enlightenment
The Jews of Vienna in the Age of Franz Joseph
The Structure of Scientific Revolutions
The Kaiser's Chemists
Herbert Spencer
Jewish Nobles and Geniuses in Modern Hungary
A New interpretation of Michael Polanyi's theory of tacit knowing
The Value of the Inexact
Introduction to Russian Realism
Jewish Problems 1
The English and the Continent 1
History of Russian Philosophy
Knowing and Being
Historical Antecedents
Control, Connectionism and Cognition
British Analytical Philosophy
Illustrious Immigrants. The Intellectual Migration from Europe 1930-1941
Meaning, Communication, and Value
On the Law of Nations
Politics and the Community of Science
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |