Michael Polanyi and His Generation

“There isn’t a lot of current interest in who Polanyi was and how he came to hold the views he did. Mary Jo Nye’s excellent and richly researched book aims to tell us and, along the way, uncovers a genealogy for the notion of tacit knowledge that situates it in the force fields shaping much 20th-century thinking about politics and economics as well as science.”

“[Nye’s] rich, impressive book recasts the science wars barbs of the recent past by illuminating the searing politics, intellectual passions, and spirited debates that drove Polanyi and his generation to think about science in social terms.”

“[A] thoroughly researched, carefully organized, and well-written account, showing how the ‘social conception of science’ that became popular in the 1960s is rooted in the 1930s. . . . Nye’s book is a very solid scholarly achievement. She carefully defines the scope of her project—to  show the staged development of the social studies of science, using a detailed account of Polanyi’s life and work as a backbone for this larger discussion—and effectively makes her case.”

“The book shows the continuities between the phases of Polanyi’s manifold career—from Budapest, to Berlin, to Manchester, to Oxford; from medicine, to physical chemistry, to economics, to politics, to philosophy of science—and convincingly demonstrates how each phase furnished Polanyi with conceptual resources he deployed to tremendous effect in his magnum opus, Personal Knowledge: Towards a Post-Critical Philosophy. . . . Throughout this transnational story of a whole generation of scholars, Nye not only displays immense erudition but astutely analyzes how the ‘social construction of science’ came to be understood as a critique of science. Close attention to her arguments will reward patient readers from any academic background.”

“The scholarship behind Nye’s book is both wide and deep; its organization very thoughtfully plotted; and its presentation remarkably coherent, given the many-layered narrative. Due to the scope of the inquiry, readers like this reviewer may encounter individuals and ideas previously unknown to them from the fields of sociology, philosophy, economics, and politics, in addition to a number of lesser known scientists. . . . Nye’s nuanced and persuasive narrative will amply reward the reader who gives it the close attention it deserves.”

“No brief review can do justice to this densely packed book. Those interested in Polanyi’s insider account of the nature of scientific investigation can be grateful for Mary Jo Nye’s painstaking research.”

“[A] masterful study of how Polanyi’s concepts were molded by their context. In analyzing the complex interplay of theories, practice, and social life in Polanyi’s career, Nye exposes the experiences of her subject, encompassing the ‘hard’ sciences as well as economics, philosophy, religion, and much else. But there Nye does not stop. She systematically places Polanyi’s scholarship in the context of his major contemporaries. In doing so, she introduces, among many others, the basic outlines of Kuhn, Popper, Imre Lakatos, Mannheim, Robert K. Merton, and Friedrich von Hayek. All of these are succinctly explained, and put into the perspective of Polanyi’s interests. . . . [A] piece of scholarship that brilliantly achieves a deeper understanding of how a major classic of science studies came into being, and has been shaped by its receptions . . . [and] a crucial work on the social construction of science studies.”

“It is a rare and pleasant experience to review a book that is as good as the laudatory comments that appear on the back of the book jacket say it is. That is happily the case with Michael Polanyi and His Generation by Mary Jo Nye. . . . For anyone interested in the history and philosophy of science in the twentieth century there is literally something for everyone, and everything in the book is of value. . . . I strongly recommend that you read her book yourself. You will not be disappointed.”

“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.”

“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.”

“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.”

“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.”