Scientific Discovery: the Role of Imagination raising invention according to Michel Polanyi's Theory of Knowledge

Abstract

In the development of scientific theories, imagination emerges as a fundamental and indispensable methodological tool. Michael Polanyi (1891–1976), a scientist and philosopher of science, particularly emphasizes this point in his principal work, Personal Knowledge: Towards a Post-Critical Philosophy. Polanyi highlights the significance of the ‘personal component’ that influences the cognitive process in a distinctive and decisive manner. Ultimately, the hypotheses formulated by scientists are shaped by both their prior knowledge – encompassing educational background and past experiences – and their individual worldview (i.e., cosmovisión or Weltanschauung). According to Polanyi, knowing is an integrated human act, wherein imagination plays a crucial role: this act of cognition, while not irrational, is inherently linked to the capacity to generate ‘creative intuition’, a faculty that endows human intelligence with its unique and exceptional qualities.