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Michael Polanyi

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Michael Polanyi


Born
in Budapest, Hungary
March 11, 1891

Died
February 22, 1976

Genre


Michael Polanyi was a Hungarian-British polymath, who made important theoretical contributions to physical chemistry, economics, and philosophy.

His wide-ranging research in physical science included chemical kinetics, x-ray diffraction, and adsorption of gases.

He argued that positivism supplies a false account of knowing, which if taken seriously undermines humanity's highest achievements.

He pioneered the theory of fibre diffraction analysis in 1921, and the dislocation theory of plastic deformation of ductile metals and other materials in 1934. He emigrated to Germany, in 1926 becoming a chemistry professor at the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute in Berlin, and then in 1933 to England, becoming first a chemistry professor, and then a social scienc
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The Study of Man

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Knowing and Being

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4.22 avg rating — 41 ratings — published 1969 — 6 editions
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The Logic of Liberty

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Society, Economics, and Phi...

3.83 avg rating — 6 ratings — published 1997 — 6 editions
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The Republic of Science: It...

3.60 avg rating — 5 ratings3 editions
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The Contempt of Freedom: Th...

3.50 avg rating — 2 ratings — published 1975 — 3 editions
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More books by Michael Polanyi…
Quotes by Michael Polanyi  (?)
Quotes are added by the Goodreads community and are not verified by Goodreads. (Learn more)

“We do not accept a religion because it offers us certain rewards. The only thing that a religion can offer us is to be just what it, in itself, is: a greater meaning in ourselves, in our lives, and in our grasp of the nature of things...a religion exists for us only if, like a piece of poetry, it carries us away. It is not in any sense a 'hypothesis.”
Michael Polanyi, Meaning

“We know more than we can tell.”
Michael Polanyi

“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.”
Michael Polanyi, Meaning