Intending to be objective

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I start by rejecting the ideal of scientific detachment. In the exact sciences, this false ideal is perhaps harmless, for it is in fact disregarded there by scientists. But we shall see that it exercises a destructive influence in biology, psychology, and sociology, and falsifies our whole outlook far beyond the domain of science. I want to establish an alternative ideal of knowledge, quite generally.( "Preface," PK, vii)

Without falling into the trap of a false "ideal of scientific detachment," the editorial team of this wiki intend to be objective in our treatment of the facts of Michael Polanyi's life and works. We hope to conduct ourselves in a Polanyian fashion in making information available to interested readers. Objectivity is the fruit of a subjective, personal commitment to the overarching ideal of telling the truth, as far as in us lies. We are striving to embody Polanyi's ideal of "skillful knowing":

I regard knowing as an active comprehension of the things known, an action that requires skill. Skillful knowing and doing is performed by subordinating a set of particulars, as clues or tools, to the shaping of a skillful achievement, whether practical or theoretical. (Ibid.)

We desire to make Polanyi better known. His mind is the "hidden reality" that we desire to communicate, as best we can, in our contributions to this wiki:

Comprehension is neither an arbitrary act nor a passive experience, but a responsible act claiming universal validity. Such knowing is indeed objective in the sense of establishing contact with a hidden reality; a contact that is defined as the condition for anticipating an indeterminate range of yet unknown (and perhaps yet inconceivable) true implications. It seems reasonable to describe this fusion of the personal and the objective as Personal Knowledge. (Ibid., vii-viii)