Admittedly, scientific authority is not distributed evenly throughout the body of scientists; some distinguished members of the profession predominate over others of a more junior standing. Michael Polanyi Read Quote
These maxims and the art of interpreting them may be said to constitute the premisses of science but I prefer to call them our scientific beliefs. These premisses or beliefs are embodied in a tradition, the tradition of science. Michael Polanyi Read Quote
The process of philosophic and scientific enlightenment has shaken the stability of beliefs held explicitly as articles of faith. Michael Polanyi Read Quote
The first thing to make clear is that scientists, freely making their own choice of problems and pursuing them in the light of their own personal judgment, are in fact co-operating as members of a closely knit organization. Michael Polanyi Read Quote
Of course language manifests a belief only if we use its words with the implied acceptance of their appositeness. Michael Polanyi Read Quote
My title is intended to suggest that the community of scientists is organized in a way which resembles certain features of a body politic and works according to economic principles similar to those by which the production of material goods is regulated. Michael Polanyi Read Quote
Moreover, only a strong and united scientific opinion imposing the intrinsic value of scientific progress on society at large can elicit the support of scientific inquiry by the general public. Michael Polanyi Read Quote
I shall suggest, on the contrary, that all communication relies, to a noticeable extent on evoking knowledge that we cannot tell, and that all our knowledge of mental processes, like feelings or conscious intellectual activities, is based on a knowledge which we cannot tell. Michael Polanyi Read Quote
But the system of prices ruling the market not only transmits information in the light of which economic agents can mutually adjust their actions, it also provides them with an incentive to exercise economy in terms of money. Michael Polanyi Read Quote
Theories of evolution must provide for the creative acts which brought such theories into existence. Michael Polanyi Read Quote
