Michael Polanyi and His Generation
Origins of the Social Construction of Science
In "Michael Polanyi and His Generation", Mary Jo Nye investigates the role that Michael Polanyi and several of his contemporaries played in the emergence of the social turn in the philosophy of science. This turn involved seeing science as a socially based enterprise that does not rely on empiricism and reason alone but on social communities, behavioral norms, and personal commitments. Nye argues that the roots of the social turn are to be found in the scientific culture and political events of Europe in the 1930s, when scientific intellectuals struggled to defend the universal status of scientific knowledge and to justify public support for science in an era of economic catastrophe, Stalinism and Fascism, and increased demands for applications of science to industry and social welfare.
At the center of this struggle was Polanyi, who Nye contends was one of the first advocates of this new conception of science. Nye reconstructs Polanyi's scientific and political milieus in Budapest, Berlin, and Manchester from the 1910s to the 1950s and explains how he and other natural scientists and social scientists of his generation – including J. D. Bernal, Ludwik Fleck, Karl Mannheim, and Robert K. Merton – and the next, such as Thomas Kuhn, forged a politically charged philosophy of science, one that newly emphasized the social construction of science.
About the Author
Mary Jo Nye is the Thomas Hart and Mary Jones Horning Professor of the Humanities Emerita and professor of history emerita at Oregon State University.
Reviews
"This is a sure-handed polymathic study of a distinguished polymath. 'Michael Polanyi and His Generation' is an impressive intellectual achievement, a book that will be read with pleasure and profit by multiple audiences" – Alan J. Rocke, Case Western Reserve University
"This long-awaited volume is a masterpiece of historical research, cultural and political exposition, and analytical insight. It is thus much more than a simple biography of the physical chemist and philosopher Michael Polanayi, as it provides a substantive analysis of the scientific und intellectual context of his life and work, merging history and philosophy of science with intellectual and social history" – Dieter Hoffmann, Max Planck Institute for the History of Science in Berlin
"Professor Nye's splendid book is an exemplary case study of major developments in twentieth century science, seen from an essentially cosmic viewpoint, with high science indebted to a whole spectrum of cultural factors, from philosophy to politics, from economics to world history" – Gerald Holton, Harvard University
"Mary Jo Nye is the mistress of all she surveys: history, culture, economics, science, sociology, and philosophy. She has an eye for the telling detail that reveals how Polanyi's mind developed in and through the turmoil of the twentieth century. I have read this book twice and look forward to reading it again to savor her understanding of what made Polanyi excel both in science and in his philosophy of science. Polanyi planted seeds that are still bearing fruit; Nye helps gather in the harvest. She frames Polanyi's achievements in such a way as to make them more accessible and more fruitful for our generation and for those to come" – Martin X. Moleski, co-author of "Michael Polanyi: Scientist and Philosopher"
