Chapter iv: A Heuristic Philosophy
“Heuristic” derives from the Greek, heuriskein, to find or discover.
Summary of how we gain knowledge
“All of our knowing functions with two types of awareness, subsidiary and focal. Our explicit knowledge of anything is the achievement of a focal integration of subsidiary clues and stimuli on which we rely. Science is a way of seeing things in nature, and we can see how it discovers realities in nature by noticing the parallel between the solution of a difficult perceptual problem and the solution of a scientific one.” (p. 86)
How Scientific Discovery occurs
“Polanyi suggests that scientific discovery occurs in essentially two steps of intuition and of the imagination. The first step is the deliberate act of the imagination questing for the hidden reality suggested by the intuition’s subsidiary awareness. The second step is in the spontaneous effort of the creative intuition groping toward integration. It is, in principle, in such a way that we, in our ordinary acts of knowing or in our scientific triumphs, gain a knowledge that bears on reality.” (p. 89)
Theory of Tacit Knowing: a theory that accounts for our personal participation in the finding and holding of knowledge.
*Super important (see last paragraph of this chapter, pages 108-109).
“It is a Society of Explorers freed from the absurdity of the objective ideal and able to rely upon the frailties and strengths of its tradition and its heroes in an unlimited expedition into the ranges of reality.”
Summary of how we gain knowledge
“All of our knowing functions with two types of awareness, subsidiary and focal. Our explicit knowledge of anything is the achievement of a focal integration of subsidiary clues and stimuli on which we rely. Science is a way of seeing things in nature, and we can see how it discovers realities in nature by noticing the parallel between the solution of a difficult perceptual problem and the solution of a scientific one.” (p. 86)
How Scientific Discovery occurs
“Polanyi suggests that scientific discovery occurs in essentially two steps of intuition and of the imagination. The first step is the deliberate act of the imagination questing for the hidden reality suggested by the intuition’s subsidiary awareness. The second step is in the spontaneous effort of the creative intuition groping toward integration. It is, in principle, in such a way that we, in our ordinary acts of knowing or in our scientific triumphs, gain a knowledge that bears on reality.” (p. 89)
Theory of Tacit Knowing: a theory that accounts for our personal participation in the finding and holding of knowledge.
*Super important (see last paragraph of this chapter, pages 108-109).
“It is a Society of Explorers freed from the absurdity of the objective ideal and able to rely upon the frailties and strengths of its tradition and its heroes in an unlimited expedition into the ranges of reality.”
Chapter v: Invitation to Explorers
Society of Explorers: “It is a society of humans placed in the midst of potential discoveries, which offer them numberless problems. It is a society where each human is given a calling to be an active center pursuing the truth with universal intent. The human is called with his or her whole range of being to strive for integration, intelligence, and understanding. Acceptance of this calling is a choice that only each individual can make, but at the same time, it is a surrender to a belief in the presence of a hidden reality that others can share.” (p. 111)
A very important section is the last one of this chapter, A Focal Point for Change (page 136). In here we can find Polanyi’s contributions on this new paradigm summarized. He calls us to a “newer and deeper understanding of our own traditions in science and in learning in general.”
“We, as the whole structure of tacit knowing shows, are the instruments of exploration in the universe. The acceptance of this responsibility is our most important choice.”
A very important section is the last one of this chapter, A Focal Point for Change (page 136). In here we can find Polanyi’s contributions on this new paradigm summarized. He calls us to a “newer and deeper understanding of our own traditions in science and in learning in general.”
“We, as the whole structure of tacit knowing shows, are the instruments of exploration in the universe. The acceptance of this responsibility is our most important choice.”
Chapter vi: The Transformation of Imagination
To finish this book, Gelwick explains and summarizes many points of Polanyi’s thought. He starts by making a summary of what’s wrong with society nowadays and explains four main problems. Then, he explains how Polanyi has revitalized science in 5 main ways, and how this is helping and giving us hope for the future. Another point is how Polanyi puts an end to the dichotomies in gaining knowledge, and within this topic he also explains thinkers on this area, misleading assumptions on the scientific inquiry, reductionism and mechanicism, the difference between humans and machines, the problem humanity has now and how can we overcome that problem, and our responsibility as learners in this Society of Explorers.