Abstract
Among the most arresting images in Personal Knowledge is "the second apple." Through this metaphor Polanyi describes a fall of man comparable to the expulsion from paradise recounted in Genesis. But here, too, redemption is possible. It comes, says Polanyi, in the form of a maturation of perspective that he calls "balance of mind." Under this heading Polanyi offers his conception of human fruition, a fruition requiring a loss of innocence that follows from not only departure from the original paradise but also the utter collapse of the allegedly autonomous citadel of critical reason that followed in its train. Interestingly, "balance of mind" has much in common with the Christian life, as understood by Polanyi. Thus, the encounter with "the second apple" is simultaneously both an advance and a return.