Michael Polanyi and the discovery of co-catalysis: Discussion of an autobiographical letter from Michael Polanyi, FRS to Peter H. Plesch of 17 December 1963

Michael Polanyi

RECENTLY there fell into my hands by the kindness of its author a book which has revealed to me a new, and I think much better, understanding of the situation we are facing today in consequence of the modern scientific revolution. The author’s name is Josef Pieper, professor of philosophical anthropology at the University of Münster, and his book which so impressed me is entitled Scizolastik. (...

Michael Polanyi and Human Identity

Michael Polanyi and Spontaneous Order , 1941 - 1951

Polanyi , MacIntyre , and the Role of Tradition Michael Polanyi , Alasdair MacIntyre , and the Role of Tradition

Introduction Modernity has reached a dead end. The optimism in which the modern world was conceived and nurtured has been replaced by a thoroughgoing skepticism that denies the possibility of making meaningful truth claims, especially when those claims bear on morality and religion. The irony is that this has occurred as we have become increasingly confident of scientific utterances. Thus, as o...

Michael Polanyi and the Philosophy of Medicine Richard

One of the great contributions of the profession of medicine to the twentieth century is Michael Polanyi’s philosophy of knowing yet the medical contribution of Polanyi is barely noticed. Most authors, including myself, commenting on Polanyi’s polymath character note that Polanyi began his scientific career in medicine but early Polanyi turned to physical chemistry. Except for the interesting h...