Michael Polanyi Quotes

We could not, for example, arrive at a principle like that of entropy without introducing some additional principle, such as randomness, to this topography.

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.

The process of philosophic and scientific enlightenment has shaken the stability of beliefs held explicitly as articles of faith.

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.

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.

Of course language manifests a belief only if we use its words with the implied acceptance of their appositeness.