Mitchell, Mark T.

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Mitchell, Mark T.

PERSONAL:

Education: Crown College, B.A.; Gonzaga University, M.A.; Georgetown University, Ph.D.

ADDRESSES:

Office—Patrick Henry College, P.O. Box 1776, Purcellville, VA 20134-1776. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER:

Patrick Henry College, Purcellville, VA, began as assistant professor of philosophy and political theory, became associate professor of government.

WRITINGS:

Michael Polanyi: The Art of Knowing ("Library of Modern Thinkers" series), ISI Books (Wilmington, DE), 2006.

SIDELIGHTS:

Mark T. Mitchell is a scholar of political theory who has taught subjects that include ancient and medieval political theory, modern and contemporary political theory, and conservative political thought. His research interests also include the political implications of science and technology and political themes in literature. Mitchell has written on the themes of democracy, community, and tradition, and about people such as Eric Voegelin, Michael Oakeshott, Flannery O'Connor, and the subject of his first book, Michael Polanyi.

Michael Polanyi: The Art of Knowing is a study of the Hungarian-born Polanyi (1891-1976), a physical chemist who changed disciplines from science to philosophy. He served as a medical doctor during World War I, then immigrated to Germany, where he met fellow scientist and Jew, Max Born. Polanyi, who was anti-Zionist, joined the Catholic Church, which enabled him to more easily assimilate. He more closely identified with Christianity, which he felt gave rise to the West, and rejected not only fascism but also communism. Both Born and Polanyi immigrated to Britain. National Review critic M.D. Aeschliman noted that "Polanyi was astonished and appalled by the philosophical and ethical ignorance and arrogance of selfstyled ‘scientific socialist’ thinkers such as Bukharin, and of their English allies, especially prominent Cambridge Marxist scientists such as J.B.S. Haldane and J.D. Bernal. A sharp observer of ‘life on the ground’ in the USSR, he noticed not only the epistemological poverty and brutal naivete of the utilitarian Marxist regime, but also its gross political tyranny and economic ineffectiveness."

John Rose observed in First Things that Mitchell "places Polanyi in fertile conversation with three other thinkers: Michael Oakeshott, Eric Voegelin, and Alasdair MacIntyre. Another name, Hans Urs von Balthasar, may also be of interest. By reversing the operative order of the Platonic transcendentals of Being as caged, prioritized, and approached by Kant in his Trilogy (first the True, then the Good, and lastly the Beautiful), Balthasar reintroduced beauty and drama into Christian theology, doing for Christianity what Polanyi, in effect, did for science." Rose remarked that since "Polanyi played the parts of chemist, philosopher, theologian, and economist, tracing a single thematic arc through his work is not easy. Still, according to Mitchell, all of Polanyi's endeavors ‘spring from a common concern: a tireless attempt to reestablish a legitimate grounding for liberty. In this light, Polanyi should be understood as a political philosopher who rightly grasped that liberty depends on resources beyond politics.’ It should be added that Polanyi believed such resources were transcendent in origin. In other words, man is made to be free because all kingdoms are subject to the metaphysical norms of justice and goodness." Aeschliman called Michael Polanyi "an outstanding brief introduction."