In Background & Prospect, the author sets out the aims of this 1946 work which was written in reaction to the persecution of scientists in the Soviet Union. Polanyi felt the need to formulate a philosophy of science that defines the nature of and provides justification for science in light of the Marxist-Leninist denial of the creative power of thought.
Part One: Science & Reality seeks to define the
nature of science. He demonstrates that the propositions embodied in natural science are not derived by definite rules from experiential data. It is rather a process of (a) guessing or intuitive speculation driven by the creative impulse, guided by (b) critical caution or verification by observation. Both the aforementioned are channeled through the scientific conscience. The mind of the scientist transcends both the guessing and verification.
In Part Two: Authority & Conscience, Polanyi distinguishes between General Authority and Specific Authority. The first leaves the decision for interpreting traditional rules in the minds of numerous independent individuals; this type of authority requires freedom. Specific Authority centralizes such decisions at one point; this type requires obedience.
Part Three: Dedication & Servitude, considers how freedom is maintained within science itself. Sovereignty in the scientific realm is divided into fragments represented by individual scientists of whom fairness and tolerance are required. Fairness means that the scientist makes an effort to put her/his case objectively, recognizing the limitations of their own abilities and the existence of personal bias; tolerance requires the capacity to endure the unfair/hostile statements of opponents.
Upholding fairness and tolerance involves the public. Controversies between proponents of ideas are conducted in order to canvass support instead of persuading one another. In a public contest, fairness and tolerance can be maintained only when the audience resists false oratory and values moderation. A discerning public able to perceive insincerity of argument is an essential partner in the process of open debate. Such an audience will prefer moderate claims admitting an element of personal conviction in order to maintain mental balance and as proof of conscientious thinking by those appealing for its support.
Institutions that provide shelter to free discussion in a free society may include houses of parliament, courts of law, churches, the media, local government and various private committees in charge of a multitude of cultural, humanitarian and political organizations. A community which practices free discussion agrees with the fourfold proposition that (i) truth exists (ii) all its members value it (iii) they feel compelled to pursue it (iv) they are capable of doing so.
Thus the sovereignty of a free public opinion is the foundation stone of science since a society committed to truth must grant freedom to science as one form of truth. Even though true propositions cannot be established by any explicit criteria we do assert the universal validity of propositions to which we personally assent. In this way we express our conviction that truth is real; according validity to any great domain of the mind is to affirm a faith that can only be upheld within a community.
Our current
civilizational crisis derives from the idea that freedom does not mean the acceptance of any particular obligations and is incompatible with a prescription of its own limits. In this view, freedom of thought means the rejection of any type of traditional beliefs including those on which freedom itself is based. Polanyi provides a brief outline of the historical process by which the (post)modern crisis has arisen.
In discussing movements like Bolshevism and Fascism he observes that they owed their success entirely to hidden spiritual resources, gaining power on a wave of patriotic or humanitarian passions. As shown by Hoffer in
The True Believer, those who discard the pursuit of truth for the interests of particular groups inevitably attach their aspirations to the struggle for power. All their love & devotion are poured into a residue of reality, the power of the chosen party. This is the root of the fanaticism and the profound moral response even while moral realities are scorned; love of truth & justice is distorted into a love of state power.
The society that spurns transcendent ideals chooses to be subjected to servitude, as so thoroughly explained by Hayek in
The Road to Serfdom. Intolerance returns with a vengeance; the skeptical empiricism which had once broken the shackles of medieval church authority proceeds to destroy the authority of conscience. See also Stephen Hicks' remarkable book
Explaining Postmodernism: Skepticism And Socialism From Rousseau To Foucault.
There is no common ground for argument between the believer in transcendent reality and the
sinisterist but conversion is possible, where the collectivist's beliefs are transferred from the theory of political violence to the spiritual realm. The case of the Romantic nihilist is more difficult according to Polanyi, since the cult of brutality tends to utterly corrupt the very core of humanity.
Polanyi's distinction is crucial: although he denies that truth is demonstrable, he asserts that it is indeed knowable by tradition and by conscience which is mankind's guide to truth. It is impossible - as logical positivism demonstrates - of verifying any universal statements (a fact that exacerbates the crisis caused by skeptical empiricism), but tradition remains the foundation for universal ideals. We ought thus to cultivate to the best of our ability the particular strain of tradition into which we were born.
Polanyi concludes that well-being seems not to be the real purpose of society but secondary to its task of fulfilling aims in the
spiritual field. The knowledge of abiding concerns is reinforced by the free conscience of every generation, adding to our spiritual heritage. We may therefore assume that the source of this inspiration is the same as that which first gave mankind its society-forming knowledge. Knowledge of reality & acceptance of those obligations that guide our consciences will ultimately reveal to us
The Eternal Divine in man and society. This thought-provoking book concludes with three indices: Premises of Science, Significance of New Observations and Correspondence with Observation.
