If Polanyi asserts that "society gives meaning to science" -- we might conclude that meaning is independent of each individual mind -- but is given by a society.
Can "society" give anything ? Or is it merely a concept - a fantasy -- i.e. yet another word to which each of us gives our own interpretation? Individualist that I am, I think "society" is a fiction -- but a fiction that's necessary to account for the most important issues -- both personal and social -- so I'm going to let him proceed with his argument. BTW -- here's what one of Polanyi's followers, a business consultant in "knowledge management" wrote about "the meaning of words" on his website: "For instance, when reading a text, words and linguistic rules function as tacit subsidiary knowledge while the attention of the reader is focused on the meaning of the text. -- When I read an article or book I am vividly aware of the meaning conveyed by the text, still I may know none of its words. I have attended to the words but only for what they mean to me and not as the objects they are." So -- I'm doubting that the definition of "meaning" -- or of any word -- is all that important to either Polanyi or his disciples -- as long as the reader is "vividly aware" of what the writer had in mind. And I'm guessing that -- as practical men of business and science - their test for that "vivid awareness" is the subsequent success or failure of the idea in application. _____________________________________________________________ Scan, remove and block Spyware. Click now! http://thirdpartyoffers.netzero.net/TGL2211/fc/Ioyw6ijlZvPbWmaeWyyY2VVg9nFnbx NJpF06YlJta6oSwm9ON3NAg8/
