From Michael Polanyi’s Creativity in Chemistry, William T. Scott

. . .   In his youth he was exposed to ideas about the use of science for human betterment, especially from the Marxist tradition, which he never espoused. After the Communist revolution, he became curious as to how the Soviets could claim to plan their economy when centralized planning and control did not seem possible. He helped organize a series of seminars in Berlin on economics, which included reports from the Soviet Union. This interest developed to the point that he published a little book in 1935 on USSR economics,⁴⁰ and ten years later a more extensive book, Full Employment and Free Trade.⁴¹ One of his main points was that the number of economic decisions needed to be made daily in a large nation is far too great fro any central authority to decide, no matter how moral this authority might be;* he pointed out that the Soviets never did and never could control their economic system on rational principles. The information required could not be gathered, and sufficient communication could not be transmitted from the center to each person making decisions. Polanyi also became painfully aware of how the moral interest behind the communist movement became inverted into a totalitarian drive for power, especially when he experienced the disappearance of scientific friends in Russia and the sixteen-month imprisonment of his niece Eva as part of the Stalin purges.

When J. D. Bernal and J. G. Crowther in Britain proposed that science should be centrally planned for the good of society, Michael Polanyi responded⁴² by demonstrating that no central authority in science could handle the huge number of daily decisions made by all the scientists of a nation in the pursuit of their research. Only the shared value of the search for truth could guide a group of independent researchers to coordinate their efforts in obtaining revelations from nature. . . .

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    40. Michael Polanyi, “U.S.S.R. Economics: Fundamental Da6ta System and Spirit,” The Manchester School of Economics and Social Studies 6 (1935), pp. 67-89. Separately printed as U.S.S.R. Economics, Manchester, Manchester University Press, 1935.
    41. Michael Polanyi, Full Employment and Free Trade (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1945), 2nd ed. 1948.
    42. Michael Polanyi, “The Growth of Thought in Society,” Economica 8 (1941), pp. 428-456.

Springs of scientific creativity : essays on
founders of modern science / Rutherford Aris, H. Ted Davis, Roger H. Stuewer, editors.
Minneapolis : University of Minnesota Press, 1983, p. 302, notes p. 307.

* ‘Moral’ looks like bad joke when speaking of the late USSR. (WPT).

Polanyi, Michael, 1891-1976. Title The contempt of freedom : the Russian experiment and after / Michael Polanyi. Publisher New York : Arno Press, 1975. Description ix, 116 p. ; 22 cm. Series History, philosophy, and sociology of science. ISBN 0405066430 Language English Note Reprint of the 1940 ed. published by Watts, London. Note Includes bibliographical references. Contents The rights and duties of science (1939).--Collectivist planning (1940).--Soviet economics, fact and theory (1935).--Truth and propaganda (1936)

Polanyi, Michael, 1891- Title Meaning / Michael Polanyi and Harry Prosch. Publisher Chicago : University of Chicago Press, 1975. Description xiv, 246 p. ; 21 cm. ISBN 0226672948 : Language English Note Includes bibliographical references and index.

Polanyi, Michael, 1891- Title Scientific thought and social reality; essays. Edited by Fred Schwartz. Publisher New York, International Universities Press [1974] Description 157 p. 23 cm. Series Psychological issues,v. 8, no. 4. Monograph 32 ISBN 0823660052 Language English Note Bibliography: p. 150-151.

Polanyi, Michael, 1891- Title Knowing and being: essays; edited by Marjorie Grene Publisher London, Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1969 Description xvii, 246 p. 23 cm ISBN 710064446 Language English Note Includes bibliographical references

Polanyi, Michael, 1891- Title Knowing and being: essays; edited by Marjorie Grene Publisher [Chicago] University of Chicago Press [1969] Description xviii, 246 p. 23 cm Language English Note Includes bibliographical references

Polanyi, Michael, 1891- Title The tacit dimension. Publisher Garden City, N.Y., Anchor Books [1967, c1966] Description xi, 108 p. 18 cm. Series Terry lectures, 1962 A Doubleday Anchor book, A540 Language English Note Includes bibliographical references.

Polanyi, Michael, 1891- Title The tacit dimension. Publisher London, Routledge & K. Paul, 1967. Description xi, 108 p. 19 cm. Language English Note Includes bibliographical references.

Polanyi, Michael, 1891- Title The tacit dimension. Publisher Garden City, N.Y., Doubleday, 1966. Description xi, 108 p. 22 cm. Language English

Polanyi, Michael, 1891- Title Science, faith and society. Publisher [Chicago] University of Chicago Press [1964, repr. 1966] Description 96 p. 23 cm. Language English Note Previously published by Oxford Univ. Press, 1946. Contents Background and prospect.--Science and reality.--Authority and conscience.--Dedication or servitude.--Appendix: Premisses of science. Significance of new observations. Correspondence with observation.

Polanyi, Michael, 1891- Title The logic of liberty; reflections and rejoinders. Publisher [Chicago] University of Chicago Press [1965,c1951] Description ix, 206 p. 23 cm. Language English

Polanyi, Michael, 1891- Title Personal knowledge : towards a post-critical philosophy Publisher New York, Harper & Row [c1964] Description xvi, 428 p. 21 cm Series Harper torchbooks Language English Note The academy library Note Bibliographical footnotes

Polanyi, Michael, 1891- Title The study of man; the Lindsay memorial lectures given at the University College of North Straffordshire, 1958 Publisher Chicago, University of Chicago Press [1963, c1959] Description 102 p. 20 cm Series The Lindsay memorial lectures, 1958 Language English Note "First Phoenix ed., 1963." Phoenix books, P128

Polanyi, Michael, 1891-1976. Title Personal knowledge : towards a post-critical philosophy / by Michael Polanyi. Publisher London : Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1962. Description xiv, 428 p. ; 25 cm. ISBN 0710019599 0710076916 (pbk.) Language English Note Based on his Gifford lectures 1951-52, delivered at the University of Aberdeen. Note Includes bibliographical references and index.

Polanyi, Michael, 1891- Title Personal knowledge ; towards a post-critical philosophy Publisher New York : Harper Torch Books, c1962 Description xvi, 428 p. ; 21 cm Language English Note Includes bibliographical references and index

Polanyi, Michael, 1891- Title Personal knowledge : towards a post-critical philosophy / by Michael Polanyi. Publisher Chicago : University of Chicago Press, 1962 (1974 printing) Description xiv, 428 p. ; 22 cm. ISBN 0226672875 0226672883 (pbk.) Language English Note Includes bibliographical references and index.

Polanyi, Michael, 1891- Title Jenseits des Nihilismus. Dreizehnte Vorlesung zum Gedächtnis von Arthur Stanley Eddington, 16. Feb. 1960. Publisher Dordrecht, Holland; Stuttgart : D. Reidel, [1961] Description 45 p. 19 cm. Language German Note Original title: Beyond nihilism. Translated from the English by Irmela Nitz.

Polanyi, Michael, 1891- Title Beyond nihilism. Publisher Cambridge [Eng.] University Press, 1960. Description 36 p. 19 cm. Series Arthur Stanley Eddington memorial lecture, 13 Language English

Polanyi, Michael, 1891-1976. Title The study of man / by Michael Polanyi. Publisher Chicago : University of Chicago Press, c1959. Description 102 p. ; 20 cm. Series Phoenix book ; P128. The Lindsay memorial lectures ;1958. ISBN 0226672913 Language English Note Bibliography: p. 100-102.

Polanyi, Michael, 1891- Title The study of man. Publisher London : Routledge & Paul, [1959] Description 102 p. 20 cm. Series The Lindsay memorial lectures,1958 Language English Note "Bibliographical note": p. 100-102.

Apartheid and the world's universities : [report on a meeting held in London, November 1957] / Michael Polanyi ... [et al.]. Publisher [Manchester, Eng. : Committee on Science and Freedom, 1958]. Description 70 p. ; 23 cm. Series Science and freedom ;no. 10 Language English

Polanyi, Michael, 1891-1976. Title Personal knowledge; towards a post-critical philosophy. Publisher Chicago, University of Chicago Press [1958] Description xiv, 428 p. 25 cm. Language English Note Based on his Gifford lectures 1951-52, delivered at the University of Aberdeen. Note Bibliographical footnotes.

Polanyi, Michael, 1891- Title The logic of liberty; reflections and rejoinders Publisher Chicago, University of Chicago Press [1958] Description viii, 206 p. 23 cm Language English Note "Published 1951. Second impression 1958." Note Includes bibliographical footnotes and index

Polanyi, Michael, 1891- Title The magic of Marxism, and The next stage of history / by Michael Polanyi. Publisher Manchester, Eng. : Committee on Science and Freedom, 1956. Description 24 p. ; 23 cm. Language English Note Cover title. Loose sheet inserted in back. Note Includes bibliographical references.

Polanyi, Michael, 1891- Title Pure and applied science and their appropriate forms of organization / by Michael Polanyi. Publisher [s.l. : s.n.], 1953 (Oxford : Potter Press) Description 13 p. ; 22 cm. Series Occasional pamphlet - Society for Freedom in Science ; no. 14 Language English Note Cover title. "Contribution to the conference on Wissenschaft und Freiheit held at Hamburg in July 1953".

Polanyi, Michael, 1891- Title The logic of liberty; reflections and rejoinders. Publisher London, Routledge and K. Paul [1951] Description viii, 206 p. 23 cm. Language English Polanyi, Michael, 1891- Title Full employment and free trade, by Michael Polanyi, F.R.S. Publisher Cambridge, [Eng.] The University press, 1948. Description x, 155, [1] p. diagrs. 23 cm. Language English

Polanyi, Michael, 1891- Title Full employment and free trade. Publisher Cambridge, The University Press, 1948. Description 159 p. illus. 23 cm. Language English

Polanyi, Michael, 1891- Title The foundations of academic freedom. Publisher [Oxford], 1947. Description 18 p. Series Society for Freedom in Science.Occasional pamphlet,no. 6 Language English Note Cover title.

Polanyi, Michael, 1891- Title The planning of science. Publisher Oxford : Society for Freedom in Science, 1946. Description 14 p. Series Society for Freedom in Science.Occasional pamphletno. 4 Language English Note First pub. in the Political Quarterly.

Polanyi, Michael, 1891-1976. Title Science, faith and society. Publisher London, Oxford University Press, 1946. Description 80 p. 23 cm. Series Riddell memorial lectures,18th ser. Language English Note At head of title: University of Durham. Contents Science and reality.--Authority and conscience.--Dedication or servitude.--Appendix: Premisses of science. Significance of new observations. Correspondence with observation.

Polanyi, Michael, 1891- Title Full employment and free trade, by Michael Polanyi, F. R. S. Publisher Cambridge [Eng,] : The University press, 1945. Description x, 155 [1] p. diagrs. 23 cm. Language English

Polanyi, Michael, 1891- Title Rights and duties of science. Publisher Oxford : Society for Freedom in Science, 1945. Description 18 p. Series Society for Freedom in Science.Occasional pamphletno. 2 Language English Note First pub. in Oct. 1939 in The Manchester School of Social and Economic Studies.

Polanyi, Michael, 1891- Title The contempt of freedom; the Russian experiment and after, by M. Polanyi. Publisher London : Watts & co., [1940] Description ix, 116 p. 19 cm. Language English Note "First published in this form 1940." Note Bibliography: p. 94-95. Contents The rights and duties of science (1939).--Collectivist planning (1940).--Soviet economics--fact and theory (1935).--Truth and propaganda (1936)

Polanyi, Michael, 1891- Title U.S.S.R. economics, fundamental data, system and spirit [by] M. Polanyi. Publisher Manchester, University Press, 1936. Description 25 p. tables. 24 cm. Language English