Karl Polanyi is an economic historian representative of the twentieth century, whose works The Great Transformation and The Livelihood of Man influenced both the humanities and social sciences. Drawing on recent research trends referred to as "Polanyi 2.0," the present work will confirm various aspects of his thought that cannot be fully refuted by market economy criticisms.
Recent research on Polanyi has found that the concept of "freedom" or "liberty" is fundamental to his theories of economic history, education, social philosophy, and war or social conflict. This concept addresses the construction of problems, with freedom representing "freedom from potential inconvenience and liabilities owed to others." While Polanyi never explicitly outlined a theory of liability, his discussion of it offers a variation on his theory of freedom and may have influenced the theories of liability that have emerged as subjects of interest in contemporary economic anthropology.
Polanyi's theory of freedom is not based on the notion of the homo economicus, or an economic human who freely exchanges wealth and services with others, but on the so-called homo debitum, or a human whose existence is liberate the repayment of liabilities naturally owed to others. In the twenty-first century, when the world rests uneasy in the gap between globalism and chauvinism, a certain value must be found in the human image raised by the theories outlined in "Polanyi 2.0" research.
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