Abstract: In view of his work in the humanities, Polanyi was transferred from the Chemistry Department at the University of Manchester to a chair in the Faculty of Economics and Social Studies in 1948. Thanks to his work on the Gifford Lectures (1951–1952) and after ten years of research and writing, Polanyi was able to consolidate his fiduciary program in Personal Knowledge. In this work, he argued that impersonal, objectivist interpretations of science destroy fabric of the scientific community and society as a whole; he proposed that all knowledge is "either tacit or rooted in tacit knowing," so that objectivity is understood as the accomplishment of responsible subjects who strive to serve transcendent ideals of truth.

Keywords: Personal Knowledge, Gifford Lectures, fiduciary program, objectivism, tacit knowing, objectivity, transcendent ideals,