Abstract: The Second World War gave Polanyi time and incentive to write about the foundations of freedom in economics, scientific inquiry, and socio-political organization. He felt that developing a satisfactory philosophy of freedom was the greatest contribution he could make to the war effort; in 1944, he rounded out his work on Keynesian economic theories with the publication of Full Employment and Free Trade. Because of his commitment to science as a model of free but responsible inquiry, he helped John Baker found the Society for Freedom in Science, an organization that opposed socialist philosophies of science as a tool that could and should be subordinated to the interests of the state.

Keywords: World War II, philosophy of freedom, Keynesian economics, Full Employment and Free Trade, John Baker, Society for Freedom in Science, socialist philosophies of science,