In this work the distinguished physical chemist and philosopher, Michael Polanyi, demonstrates that the scientist's personal participation in his knowledge, in both its discovery and its validation, is an indispensable part of science itself. Even in the exact sciences, "knowing" is an art, of which the skill of the knower, guided by his personal committment and his passionate sense of increasing contact with reality, is a logically necessary part. In the biological and social sciences this becomes even more evident.

Because of the difficulty posed by the contrast between the search for truth and truth itself, Michael Polanyi believes that we must alter the foundation of epistemology to include as essential to the very nature of mind, the kind of groping that constitutes the recognition of a problem. This collection of essays, assembled by Marjorie Grene, exemplifies the development of Polanyi's theory of knowledge which was first presented in "Science, Faith, and Society" and later systematized in "Personal Knowledge." Polanyi believes that the dilemma of the modern mind arises from the peculiar relation between the positivist claim for total objectivity in scientific knowledge and the unprecedented moral dynamism characterizing the social and political aspirations of the last century. The first part of "Knowing and Being" deals with this theme. Part two develops Polanyi's idea that centralization is incompatible with the life of science as well as his views on the role of tradition and authority in science. The essays on tacit knowing in Part Three proceed directly from his preoccupation with the nature of scientific discovery and reveal a pervasive substructure of all intelligent behavior. Polanyi believes that all knowing involves movement from internal clues to external evidence. Therefore, to explain the process of knowing, we must develop a theory of the nature of living things in general, including an account of that aspect of living things we call "mind." Part Four elaborates upon this theme.

Two books have been particularly influential in contemporary philosophy of science: Karl R. Popper's Logic of Scientific Discovery, and Thomas S. Kuhn's Structure of Scientific Revolutions. Both agree upon the importance of revolutions in science, but differ about the role of criticism in science's revolutionary growth. This volume arose out of a symposium on Kuhn's work, with Popper in the chair, at an international colloquium held in London in 1965. The book begins with Kuhn's statement of his position followed by seven essays offering criticism and analysis, and finally by Kuhn's reply. The book will interest senior undergraduates and graduate students of the philosophy and history of science, as well as professional philosophers, philosophically inclined scientists, and some psychologists and sociologists.

《自由的逻辑》内容简介：迈克尔·博兰尼与哈耶克、波普尔同为“朝圣山学会”的重要代表人物，二战以来捍卫自由的有力斗士。然而，我国学界对哈耶克、波普尔介绍甚多，对博兰尼却少有提及。《自由的逻辑》是博兰尼的重要代表作，初版于1951年。正与哈耶克的《通往奴役之路》、波普尔的《开放社会及其敌人》具有相同的写作背景及目的，亦与这两部捍卫自由的名著有异曲同工之力。《自由的逻辑》收入了作者二战前后的数篇论文，雄辩地阐述了他一如既往倡导的主题，即科学发展与经济进步应以自由的实现为基本前提，而阉割自由的计划体制则有可能牺牲科学及经济发展。

自休谟与洛克以来，客观主义的认识论认为真正的知识必须经得起经验的检验，不得超越经验，如果知识与经验冲突，人们必须随时准备抛弃这种“知识”。依据这种认识论，我们必须尽力排除求知过程之中的个人系数，才能达至完全客观的理想该书认为，这种以主客观分离为基础的认识论不仅是错误的，而且还是有害的。事实上，求知是一种技能，是一种个人怀着责任感与普遍性意图、从启发性前兆不断趋近真实的过程，一旦缺少了个人的求知热情与参与，任何有意义的知识都无法获得。而个人对求知的寄托、科学社群对知识主张的共识，以及社会对自由思维的尊重，都是人类知识增长过程中环环相扣的要素。
严密的理路、详尽的论证，《个人知识》所呈现的，不仅是一个科学家对自己志业的热情与省思，更是一个公民对自由社会的忠贞与执着。

This is the classic work upon which modern-day game theory is based. What began more than sixty years ago as a modest proposal that a mathematician and an economist write a short paper together blossomed, in 1944, when Princeton University Press published
. In it, John von Neumann and Oskar Morgenstern conceived a groundbreaking mathematical theory of economic and social organization, based on a theory of games of strategy. Not only would this revolutionize economics, but the entirely new field of scientific inquiry it yielded--game theory--has since been widely used to analyze a host of real-world phenomena from arms races to optimal policy choices of presidential candidates, from vaccination policy to major league baseball salary negotiations. And it is today established throughout both the social sciences and a wide range of other sciences.
This sixtieth anniversary edition includes not only the original text but also an introduction by Harold Kuhn, an afterword by Ariel Rubinstein, and reviews and articles on the book that appeared at the time of its original publication in the
, tthe
, and a variety of other publications. Together, these writings provide readers a matchless opportunity to more fully appreciate a work whose influence will yet resound for generations to come.

The book is an outcome of two conferences held in Poland in 1987 and 1990. Both conferences dealt with the problem of rationality; the first put the problem in the context of the philosophy of Popper and Polanyi; and the second involved the notion of the aim of science. This book presents the most comprehensive current account of the manifold approaches to the problem of rationality and related issues. Generally speaking, some authors are convinced that the standard approach to the problem of rationality is more or less correct. They try to amend this approach and/or to reply to some objections to it. Others adopt a more radical attitude and seek inspiration in more exotic regions of philosophy of science, in particular in the philosophy of Michael Polanyi. In this case not only the problem of rationality of science is addressed but also the problem of rationality of the philosophy of science itself. What makes the book really fascinating is the common attitude of all authors in addressing fundamental issues pertaining to the problem of rationality. This results from the fact that both conferences were organized for a small number of participants and there was time for discussion within a friendly but demanding social environment. The book is primarily intended for researchers in the philosophy of science. It is also valuable to other philosophers interested in current trends in philosophy of science, to scientists of various disciplines interested in philosophy, to scientists and to graduate students in the philosophy of science.

Product Description
Kornai, in opposition to Walrasian general equilibrium theory, developed in this work an alternative framework for a non-Walrasian type of economics, blending elements of organization theory, information theory, management science and the new disequilibrium economics. "One of the few economists of the Eastern bloc ... read with interest by Western economists ... The book attracted considerable attention." M. Blaug Great Economists Since Keynes

In "Michael Polanyi and His Generation", Mary Jo Nye investigates the role that Michael Polanyi and several of his contemporaries played in the emergence of the social turn in the philosophy of science. This turn involved seeing science as a socially based enterprise that does not rely on empiricism and reason alone but on social communities, behavioral norms, and personal commitments. Nye argues that the roots of the social turn are to be found in the scientific culture and political events of Europe in the 1930s, when scientific intellectuals struggled to defend the universal status of scientific knowledge and to justify public support for science in an era of economic catastrophe, Stalinism and Fascism, and increased demands for applications of science to industry and social welfare. At the center of this struggle was Polanyi, who Nye contends was one of the first advocates of this new conception of science. Nye reconstructs Polanyi's scientific and political milieus in Budapest, Berlin, and Manchester from the 1910s to the 1950s and explains how he and other natural scientists and social scientists of his generation - including J.D. Bernal, Ludwik Fleck, Karl Mannheim, and Robert K. Merton - and the next, such as Thomas Kuhn, forged a politically charged philosophy of science, one that newly emphasized the social construction of science.

《社会主义体制——共产主义政治经济学》一书终于与中国读者见面了。作为作者，我对此感到非常高兴。我用了五年时间写作本书英文第一版，当然，所投入的精力远远不是时间所能说明的。本书总结并综合了我本人自1955年以来的所有研究成果（那一年我出版了自己的第一本研究著作《过度中央集权化的经济管理》）。
本书在内容上涵盖了社会主义体制的所有主要领域：政治架构、意识形态、严格意义上的经济和对经济的监督管理、体制内部的信息流动、典型的社会关系以及由政治—社会—经济环境塑造的典型行为特征。这一点桅成了本书和许多其他著作的一个重要区别，它们一般都局限于分析某一领域的问题——经济、政治或意识形态。
这本著作或许有助于理解不同的发展道路以及体制特征上的因果关系，同时它也可能无法为人们提供所谓的“指南”。在分析中国问题时，中国读者必须认真考察其他各种因素。在这方面，国际上也已经有很多的研究成果，但我想，最终还是要依靠中国学术界自己进行最深入细致的研究才能真正把握中国的问题所在。

由中國時報開卷周報企畫的【啟蒙假期】，邀請各個不同行業人士，為讀者推薦最佳的暑期課外讀物；其中知名藝人侯湘婷給國中生的推薦書，就是小知堂文化代表作之一--【惡童三部曲】！一座被外軍佔領的「大城市」，日子變得艱難困苦並且受到糧食短缺的威脅。一位年輕婦女因此帶著孿生兒子投靠她的鄉下母親──被同鄉稱為老巫婆的瘋子──也就是孩子們的外婆。這位可怕的外婆不僅不識字、骯髒、吝嗇、兇惡，甚至是一名兇手。她帶著這對雙胞胎一起過活。這兩兄弟彼此從不打架，只是學習生存法則、學習寫作，以及學習殘忍。他們被遺棄在一個遭受戰爭破壞的國家裡──是個既沒有仁慈，也缺乏道德的地方。他們將每天發生的事情仔細記載在一本大筆記裡......。
在一幕接著一幕駭人的短篇情節裡，這本「日記」真真實實地、赤裸裸地以一種尖銳的寓言手法將戰爭與極權統治下，種種不幸的情景呈現在讀者面前。是一齣充滿野蠻、怪異、殘酷的夢魘式寓言故事。

一座被外国军队占领的城市，由于粮食短缺，人民生活艰难困苦，一位年轻妇女只好带着双胞胎儿子们投靠住在乡间的母亲。这位“外婆”不仅不识字、骯脏、吝啬、凶恶，甚至是一名凶手。两兄弟在艰困的环境中成长，为了让自己变得坚强，两人每日以互相打骂对方、绝食等各种方式锻炼生存本领。他们将每天发生的事情仔细记载在一本大笔记本中。随着日记一页页被翻开，一场冷酷的梦魇式寓言也逐步呈现。

在前一本《恶童日记》中，孪生兄弟在一个战乱的国家，利用恶劣、残暴的环境，转换成继续存活下去的资源。之后，这对双胞胎分开了。其中一个人跨越了边界进入另一个国家，另一人则留了下来。本书从两人分开后开始叙述。留下来的那个人叫作路卡斯。自此以后，他便独自一人过活。他似乎想致力于协助周遭不幸的人们。他收留雅丝密娜和他的私生子玛迪阿斯；他每餐必定会带食物前往镇上神父家；他试图安慰因丈夫被判通敌罪吊死的克萝拉；他倾听文具店老板维多长久以来的作家梦想……然而，在战争背景之下，这些事情的背后，却直指人类最初的原始本性。 而孪生兄弟的另一位──克劳斯，为通篇叙述带来急转直下的情节，几乎推翻了原有的架构。在结尾里，文学与欺骗已融入故事中，而人人急欲知晓的最终结果竟然是……真正可怕的噩运正一步步向他们逼近……他们的命运将会如何呢？