“ So far as we know, the tiny fragments of the universe embodied in man are the only centers of thought and responsibility in the visible world. If that be so, the appearance of the human mind has been so far the ultimate stage in the awakening of the world; and all that has gone before, the striving of myriad centers that have taken the risks of living and believing, seem to have all been pursuing, along rival lines, the aim now achieved by us up to this point. They are all akin to us, for all these centers those which led up to our own existence and the far more numerous others which produced different lines of which many are extinct may be seen engaged in the same endeavor towards ultimate liberation. We may envisage then a cosmic field which called forth all these centers by offering them a shortlived, limited, hazardous opportunity for making some progress of their own towards an unthinkable consummation. And that is also, I believe, how a Christian is placed when worshiping God. ”
- Michael Polanyi- Copy
- 2.7K
“ So far as we know, the tiny fragments of the universe embodied in man are the only centers of thought and responsibility in the visible world. If that be so, the appearance of the human mind has been so far the ultimate stage in the awakening of the world; and all that has gone before, the striving of myriad centers that have taken the risks of living and believing, seem to have all been pursuing, along rival lines, the aim now achieved by us up to this point. They are all akin to us, for all these centers those which led up to our own existence and the far more numerous others which produced different lines of which many are extinct may be seen engaged in the same endeavor towards ultimate liberation. We may envisage then a cosmic field which called forth all these centers by offering them a shortlived, limited, hazardous opportunity for making some progress of their own towards an unthinkable consummation. And that is also, I believe, how a Christian is placed when worshiping God. ”
- Michael Polanyi- Copy
- 2.7K
“ It was the merit of Gestalt psychology to make us aware of the remarkable performance involved in perceiving shapes. Take, for example, a ball or an egg: we can see their shapes at a glance. Yet suppose that instead of the impression made on our eye by an aggregate of white points forming the surface of an egg, we were presented with another, logically equivalent, presentation of these points as given by a list of their spatial coordinate values. It would take years of labour to discover the shape inherent in this aggregate of figures provided it could be guessed at all. The perception of the egg from the list of coordinate values would, in fact, be a feat rather similar in nature and measure of intellectual achievement to the discovery of the Copernican system. ”
- Michael Polanyi- Copy
- 2K
“ So far as we know, the tiny fragments of the universe embodied in man are the only centers of thought and responsibility in the visible world. If that be so, the appearance of the human mind has been so far the ultimate stage in the awakening of the world; and all that has gone before, the striving of myriad centers that have taken the risks of living and believing, seem to have all been pursuing, along rival lines, the aim now achieved by us up to this point. They are all akin to us, for all these centers those which led up to our own existence and the far more numerous others which produced different lines of which many are extinct may be seen engaged in the same endeavor towards ultimate liberation. We may envisage then a cosmic field which called forth all these centers by offering them a shortlived, limited, hazardous opportunity for making some progress of their own towards an unthinkable consummation. And that is also, I believe, how a Christian is placed when worshiping God. ”
- Michael Polanyi- Copy
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“ Common experience also tells us that in teaching we rely on an intellectual effort of the learner for recognizing that which we are conveying to him. ”
- Michael Polanyi- Copy
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“ Of course language manifests a belief only if we use its words with the implied acceptance of their appositeness. ”
- Michael Polanyi- Copy
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“ And the actual achievements of biology are explanations in terms of mechanisms founded on physics and chemistry, which is not the same thing as explanations in terms of physics and chemistry. ”
- Michael Polanyi- Copy
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“ Theories of evolution must provide for the creative acts which brought such theories into existence. ”
- Michael Polanyi- Copy
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“ And the actual achievements of biology are explanations in terms of mechanisms founded on physics and chemistry, which is not the same thing as explanations in terms of physics and chemistry. ”
- Michael Polanyi- Copy
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“ No inanimate object is ever fully determined by the laws of physics and chemistry. ”
- Michael Polanyi- Copy
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“ But even physics cannot be defined from an atomic topography. ”
- Michael Polanyi- Copy
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“ The process of philosophic and scientific enlightenment has shaken the stability of beliefs held explicitly as articles of faith. ”
- Michael Polanyi- Copy
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“ We could not, for example, arrive at a principle like that of entropy without introducing some additional principle, such as randomness, to this topography. ”
- Michael Polanyi- Copy
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“ Take a watch to pieces and examine, however carefully, its separate parts in turn, and you will never come across the principles by which the watch keeps time. ”
- Michael Polanyi- Copy
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“ But even physics cannot be defined from an atomic topography. ”
- Michael Polanyi- Copy
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“ And the actual achievements of biology are explanations in terms of mechanisms founded on physics and chemistry, which is not the same thing as explanations in terms of physics and chemistry. ”
- Michael Polanyi- Copy
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“ The process of philosophic and scientific enlightenment has shaken the stability of beliefs held explicitly as articles of faith. ”
- Michael Polanyi- Copy
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“ Take a watch to pieces and examine, however carefully, its separate parts in turn, and you will never come across the principles by which the watch keeps time. ”
- Michael Polanyi- Copy
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“ Human beings exercise responsibilities within a social setting and a framework of obligations which transcend the principle of intelligence. ”
- Michael Polanyi- Copy
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“ The process of philosophic and scientific enlightenment has shaken the stability of beliefs held explicitly as articles of faith. ”
- Michael Polanyi- Copy
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“ But even physics cannot be defined from an atomic topography. ”
- Michael Polanyi- Copy
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“ We could not, for example, arrive at a principle like that of entropy without introducing some additional principle, such as randomness, to this topography. ”
- Michael Polanyi- Copy
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“ So long as we use a certain language, all questions that we can ask will have to be formulated in it and will thereby confirm the theory of the universe which is implied in the vocabulary and structure of the language. ”
- Michael Polanyi- Copy
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“ We could not, for example, arrive at a principle like that of entropy without introducing some additional principle, such as randomness, to this topography. ”
- Michael Polanyi- Copy
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“ Common experience also tells us that in teaching we rely on an intellectual effort of the learner for recognizing that which we are conveying to him. ”
- Michael Polanyi- Copy
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“ 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- Copy
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“ I hold that the propositions embodied in natural science are not derived by any definite rule from the data of experience, and that they can neither be verified nor falsified by experience according to any definite rule. ”
- Michael Polanyi- Copy
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“ 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- Copy
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“ 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- Copy
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