Abstract

Polanyi's epistemological program involved an inversion of what Reformed theology called the coram deo nature of man's noetic processes. Though he began with a transcendental thrust, ultimately his tacit basic assumption that knowledge must be seen as a coram omnibus affair led him to a transcendental frame of reference that was progressively off center. As his concept of knowledge, therefore, grew in sophistication it also became increasingly abstract as for final meaning and self-referential as to particular meanings. ;To uphold the coram deo vis-a-vis coram omnibus thesis three stages, or movements, in Polanyi's thought are suggested: First, his diagnosis and critique of the modern crisis, which culminates in the prescription of a fiduciary epistemological reformation are seen as one movement. Second, his development of the epistemological prescription through an analysis of the scientific fiduciary framework is another logical movement. Third, the extension of his epistemological program into a comprehensive philosophy of emergent meaning is a final stage in his thought. ;Two general presuppositional strands are proposed as underlining his thought: A tacit assumption that human thought requires a transcendent frame of reference akin to that optimally embodied in Christian beliefs. A growing insistence that a transcendent frame of reference, though admittedly metaphysical, must be rooted in the natural level