Zoom Discussion: February 14, 2026
11 a.m.-12: 30 p.m. Central Standard Time
Zoom Meeting Link
Meeting ID: 879 468 6146
Passcode: 190133
Donovan Schaefer is a contemporary religious studies scholar and cultural critic who recognized and amplifies Michael Polanyi’s claim that intellectual and moral passions must be central in an account of modern science and society. The thinking/feeling dichotomy is a false dichotomy–thinking necessarily involves feeling. Schaefer creatively uses Polanyi in his analysis of contemporary science and society but he also provocatively complements Polanyi’s earlier suggestions about the passions with analysis of other thinkers and contemporary movements. This Zoom Discussion focuses on the kinds of issues related to the role of passions in society that Schaefer has identified; among other queries, it will re-examine Polanyi’s emphasis upon intellectual and moral passions and truth in a social order dominated by persuasive passions.
Several available resources for participants in this Zoom Discussion are listed below:
Here is Damon Kutzin’s 5-page review (HTML PDF) of Donovan Schaefer’s Wild Experiment: Feeling, Science and Secularism After Darwin (Duke University Press, 2022) published in the 2025. Vol. 51 issue of Tradition & Discovery.
Here is a September 22, 2022 blog post by Schaefer (about 3 pages) commenting on Wild Experiment.
Here is a short overview as well as the Introduction (about 25 pages—see especially pp. 10-18 where Schaefer frames his project in relation to Polanyi), to Wild Experiment, both made available online by the publisher.
There are YouTube interviews of Schaefer and discussions of Wild Experiment.
Here is ONE (about 1.5 hours total ): in the first 20 minutes, Schaefer gives an excellent introduction to his book and what he hoped to accomplish with it; however, the full video is worth viewing since the major commentator talking with Schaefer is a very insightful religious studies/philosophy of science academic.
Polanyi, of course, is a philosopher who has much to say about the passions. He discusses both “intellectual” and “moral” passions and seems to link and distinguish these types of passion. Diane Yeager in her 2002 TAD 29 (1) essay “Confronting the Minotaur: Moral Inversion and Polanyi’s Moral Philosophy” carefully outlines Polanyi’s distinction between “appetites” and “moral”/”mental passions.” She then extends this discussion in her analysis of Polanyi’s treatment of “intellectual” and “moral passions.” See especially pp. 35-41.
Anyone interested can participate in this Zoom Discussion. Register for the session by sending an e-mail to Phil Mullins (mullins@missouriwestern.edu ). As in other recent Zoom sessions, Gus Breytspraak ( gus.breytspraak@ottawa.edu ) will send to registrants a couple of e-mail notices with the link in the week of this session as well another link for the recording of the session afterward. We will also post the link for the session on the Polanyi Society website during the week in which the session occurs. Send any questions or suggestions to Phil Mullins and Gus Breytspraak.