Madness and the Moral Inversion

Madness and the Moral Inversion – The post-critical epistemology of Michael Polanyi derives from a political problem he saw in the way Soviet policy undermined a moral outlook. He identifies a moral inversion when unacknowledged moral passions are coupled with a purported “objective” view of reality, which he identifies as a “dynamo-objective coupling.” Moral inversion provides cover for a false view of reality in that any criticism of its purported claims is met with a passionate moral objection, while any counter to the false morality is met with an alternative reality. Polanyi&s;s philosophy derives from a scientist&s;s reflection on the process of scientific discovery, not from an abstract or idealized account of science&s;s claims to reality. He points out that science is based on a tacit understanding of reality and that the scientist does not work from an objective point outside the world, but rather works within a community of knowers seeking the truth. Polanyi suggests that all declarative sentences should begin with the words “I believe that …” to remind ourselves of our personal commitment to that which we claim to know…. Interlude : The Rolling Stones