Ratio Working Papers
No 141:
In Defense of Dwelling in Great Minds: A Few Quotations from Michael Polanyi’s The Study of Man
Daniel B. Klein ()
Abstract: It seems like a small and perhaps shrinking minority of
economists know reverence of individual figures. Most economists seem to be
without heroes, and sometimes disparage reverence as cultish idolatry. Here
I collect from Michael Polanyi’s The Study of Man (1959) a few passages
that eloquently suggest that “we need reverence to perceive greatness, even
as we need a telescope to observe spiral nebulae.” The selection is made in
the defense of seeking out and communing with great minds.
Keywords: greatness; reverence; heroes; calling; (follow links to similar papers)
JEL-Codes: A20; B00; B30; (follow links to similar papers)
5 pages, September 24, 2009
Forthcoming in Society
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