Michael Polanyi's Social/Political Order: Design for a Society of Explorers

Abstract

Michael Polanyi's fascinations throughout his lifetime were threefold: (1) science—specifically physical chemistry; (2) philosophy—specifically epistemology and ontology; and (3) political society, understood, in the British tradition, to include economics. In developing his recommendations for political society, Polanyi draws broadly upon insights and even concepts from his experiences and reflections in both science and philosophy. His search for meaning in all of his philosophical works provides for him the definition of what he considers the most important human endeavor and is that which the political order must strive to encourage and protect. In addition, the gratification he found in the collegiality and conviviality of scientific research, conducted most productively in what Polanyi identified as “societies of explorers,” suggested to him the diverse groups—as in science, “polycentrically” ordered—and engaged in all kinds of productive activities that came to represent, for him, the grassroots source of a society's creative vitality. Having come to appreciate the necessity of freedom for scientific discovery, freedom became a paramount value in the model he proposed for political society. But this freedom, he realized, had to operate within the boundaries of legal and moral constraint if it was not to dissolve into the oppressions of anarchy. So we find in Polanyi's model of political society a dynamic very similar to that which he had developed in his epistemology: an indwelling of tradition for the purpose of social stability but also a “breaking-out” of established ways to engage in creative endeavors. Similarly, as Polanyi had recognized higher and lower “orders” of existence in his ontology that were necessary for the “emergence” of more comprehensive and novel entities, “greater than the sum of their parts,” he provided for a similar vertical, or qualitative, “layering” in his social order. These insights, and more, that Polanyi draws from his scientific and philosophical reflections in the process of constructing his model of a political society are what I attempt to develop in this essay.     

In sickness or in health? Assessment of Early Iron Age human skeletons from Toutswe sites,east central Botswana

The general health of Early Iron Age (AD 700 to 1300) mixed farmers in east central Botswana has not been studied before. In this study the bones and teeth of 84 individuals from ten Toutswe sites were analysed for osteological manifestations of disease, with the aim of assessing the general health of the Toutswe communities. These individuals were aged between newborn and 75 years old, and include both sexes. Results indicate the presence of diseases commonly found in archaeological populations such as osteoarthritis, spina bifida occulta, cribra orbitalia, porotic hyperostosis and enamel hypoplasias. One possible case of DISH was found. The frequency of lesions was comparable with or even lower than at other similar sites, such as K2 and Mapungubwe and other parts of southern Africa. The samples represent communities with relatively low levels of stress and infections. This seems to support the results of the palaeodemographic analysis, which indicated that the Toutswe people were better off than those of neighbouring K2 and Mapungubwe. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Cultural transmission, copying errors, and the generation of variation in material culture and the archaeological record

Archaeologists are adept at analyzing variation in artifacts. The discipline has well established and tested methods to track change through time and to evaluate the function of artifacts that depend upon measures of variation in the archaeological record. Although a critical concept, the means by which variation in material culture is generated is not well understood. This paper explores one source of variation, copying errors, and systematically examines how cultural transmission processes act to amplify, reduce, or maintain such variation. Using simple models, we generate expected distributions for the amount of variation that occurs through time under varying circumstances. This variation is caused by small errors that are transmitted from one person to another in the propagation and replication of cultural traits. These baseline values provide useful null models for explaining variation in prehistoric assemblages of artifacts. We use measurements of projectile points from Owens Valley and Woodland ceramics from Illinois to demonstrate the value of this approach.     

人文主义地理学与地理学人本传统的复兴

实证主义地理学是通过"认识论翻转"确定均质化空间而保证其有效性的,这在根本上规定了实证主义方法论中人文世界的隐没。人类科学理性的缔造经过"认识论翻转",确保了其割裂人文世界的普世价值观,并随着实证主义在近现代的成功和学科建制化而得到制度保障。这一历程在显示实证主义对地理学神圣指导作用的同时,暗含了其对地理学分工的不适。在"认识论翻转"层面上,人文主义地理学对地理学研究传统进行了"否思":①重新评估了地理学的本体论问题,使人文世界定位于地理学研究领域之内;②发展了针对人文世界的整体主义方法论,但并非对实证主义的反判;③人文主义地理学的立足点伦理和价值是内在的而非实证主义外在的;④人文主义地理学讨论的知识论要求"本体论-认识论与方法论-价值论"的联通以获得具有人性的世界图景。     

士绅的坚守与权变:清代苏州潘氏家族的家风与心态研究

苏州潘氏是徽商后裔,亦是江南著名的科第世家。潘氏家族发展过程中所形成的科举与经商迭相为用的二元价值观、学宗宋儒与讲究实用的家学传统,既是明清以来,尤其是晚清士商相混的结果,也是徽州和苏州两种不同地域文化整合的结果。而潘氏族人慎言慎行如履薄冰的仕途实践经验、行善与积福密切相连的因果报应观,则生动地反映了清代江南上层士绅的行为方式和源自于社会生活的伦理道德观。     

中华民族精神问题研究述评

对中华民族精神的研究是中国文化史、中国哲学史领域的重要问题。学者们对什么是民族精神,中华民族精神的含义、内涵、特征、功能及如何弘扬与提升中华民族精神等问题进行了广泛的探讨,提出了不同的意见。     

The Marausa Wreck,Sicily: interim report on a boat built in the Western Imperial Roman tradition

In 1991, the wreck of a late 3rd–early 4th century AD Roman merchant vessel was discovered on the west coast of Sicily that had carried North African amphora, tubuli, and other ceramics. The hull was dismantled and raised in 2011, including a keel hook‐scarfed to stem and sternposts, 39 pegged mortise‐and‐tenon joined planks, 43 frames with an irregular pattern of floor‐timbers, half‐timbers, and futtocks fastened to the planking with treenails and copper nails, sister‐keelsons and evidence of two stringers, 36 ceiling strakes, and the base of a bilge pump. Many repairs are indicated. The fairly flat bottom and round bilges, mortise‐and‐tenons, sister‐keelsons and lack of a coherent framing pattern, place the boat in the Western Imperial tradition.     

The Woodland and Mississippian traditions in the prehistory of Midwestern North America

Cultural developments in Midwestern North America between 5000 and 400 B.P. are reviewed and related to two overlapping, but contrasting, cultural traditions: Woodland and Mississippian. Significant changes in prehistoric subsistence systems, settlement patterns, and sociopolitical organization are reviewed within a three-division framework, beginning with a Transitional period (5000–2000 B.P.) when Late Archaic and Early Woodland societies settled into different regions, constructed regional markers (cemeteries, mounds, earthworks), and established economic and social relations with both neighboring and more distant groups. This was followed by the Middle Woodland period (2000–1500 B.P.) that is associated with the Hopewell climax of long-distance exchange of exotic materials, mound building, and ceremonial activities, although all Middle Woodland groups did not participate in this Hopewell interaction sphere. In the Late Prehistoric period (1500–400 B.P.), the Woodland tradition persisted in some areas, while the Mississippian tradition developed from local Late Woodland societies elsewhere. Finally, the patterns of interaction between the two traditions are discussed.