Michael Polanyi

We know more than we can tell.

— Michael Polanyi

No inanimate object is ever fully determined by the laws of physics and chemistry.

— Michael Polanyi

Discoveries are made by pursuing possibilities suggested by existing knowledge.

— Michael Polanyi

I shall reconsider human knowledge by starting from the fact that we can know more than we can tell,

— Michael Polanyi

Theories of evolution must provide for the creative acts which brought such theories into existence.

— Michael Polanyi

But even physics cannot be defined from an atomic topography.

— Michael Polanyi

Of course language manifests a belief only if we use its words with the implied acceptance of their appositeness.

— Michael Polanyi

Personal participation is the universal principle of knowing.

— Michael Polanyi

The process of philosophic and scientific enlightenment has shaken the stability of beliefs held explicitly as articles of faith.

— Michael Polanyi

I hold that the propositions embodied in natural science are not derived by any definite rule from the data of experience, and…

— Michael Polanyi

These maxims and the art of interpreting them may be said to constitute the premisses of science but I prefer to call…

— Michael Polanyi

While tacit knowledge can be possessed by itself, explicit knowledge must rely on being tacitly understood and applied. Hence all knowledge is…

— Michael Polanyi

We could not, for example, arrive at a principle like that of entropy without introducing some additional principle, such as randomness, to…

— Michael Polanyi

And the actual achievements of biology are explanations in terms of mechanisms founded on physics and chemistry, which is not the same…

— Michael Polanyi

Human beings exercise responsibilities within a social setting and a framework of obligations which transcend the principle of intelligence.

— Michael Polanyi

Admittedly, the body of scientists, as a whole, does uphold the authority of science over the lay public. It controls thereby also…

— Michael Polanyi

Our reliance on the validity of a scientific conclusion depends ultimately on a judgment of coherence; and as there can exist no…

— Michael Polanyi

I shall suggest, on the contrary, that all communication relies, to a noticeable extent on evoking knowledge that we cannot tell, and…

— Michael Polanyi

We cannot ultimately specify the grounds (either metaphysical or logical or empirical) upon which we hold that our knowledge is true. Being…

— Michael Polanyi

To try to reform all the power structures at once would leave us with no power structure to use in our project.…

— Michael Polanyi

We do not accept a religion because it offers us certain rewards. The only thing that a religion can offer us is…

— Michael Polanyi

“Sartre puts it, value arises simply from our choices. What we choose, we value simply because we have chosen it (and apparently…

— Michael Polanyi

My title is intended to suggest that the community of scientists is organized in a way which resembles certain features of a…

— Michael Polanyi

“as human beings, we must inevitably see the universe from a centre lying within ourselves and speak about it in terms of…

— Michael Polanyi

“The downfall of liberty which in every case followed the success of these attacks demonstrates in hard facts what we said before:…

— Michael Polanyi

“So far as we know, the tiny fragments of the universe embodied in man are the only centers of thought and responsibility…

— Michael Polanyi

“A steady recognition that the evils which prevent the fullness of moral development are precisely the elements which are also the source…

— Michael Polanyi

“It was the merit of Gestalt psychology to make us aware of the remarkable performance involved in perceiving shapes. Take, for example,…

— Michael Polanyi

Admittedly, scientific authority is not distributed evenly throughout the body of scientists; some distinguished members of the profession predominate over others of…

— Michael Polanyi

The first thing to make clear is that scientists, freely making their own choice of problems and pursuing them in the light…

— Michael Polanyi

So long as we use a certain language, all questions that we can ask will have to be formulated in it and…

— Michael Polanyi

The information in DNA could no more be reduced to the chemical than could the ideas in a book be reduced to…

— Michael Polanyi

But the system of prices ruling the market not only transmits information in the light of which economic agents can mutually adjust…

— Michael Polanyi

Moreover, only a strong and united scientific opinion imposing the intrinsic value of scientific progress on society at large can elicit the…

— Michael Polanyi

“Christianity sedulously fosters, and in a sense permanently satisfies, man's craving for mental dissatisfaction by offering him the comfort of a crucified…

— Michael Polanyi

A free society is regarded as one that does not engage, on principle, in attempting to control what people find meaningful, and…

— Michael Polanyi

The amount of knowledge which we can justify from evidence directly available to us can never be large. The overwhelming proportion of…

— Michael Polanyi