Aristotle, Plato, and Polanyi on Access to Forms

This chapter builds on the analysis of Michael Polanyi’s understanding of Universals by examining the question of how we access universal concepts. I bring Polanyi’s view into dialogue with ancient philosophy as I compare Aristotle’s theory of concept acquisition as propounded in Posterior Analytics with that of Plato in Phaedo. I argue that Plato’s is the superior explanatory theory and go on to show how Polanyi’s theory of tacit knowing can serve as a less mythological explanation of Plato’s theory of anamnesis or recollection.