All-important here, are Polanyi's concep¬tion of the nature of reality, which, far from being necessitarian or determinist, is characterised by internal freedom or spontaneity by virtue of which it constantly takes us by surprise; and the way in which Polanyi holds different levels to operate in cross-level coor¬dination with one another: the higher level resting on laws obtain¬ing at the lower level, yet not finally determined by it but rather controlling the boundaries of the level below it through a richer and wider organisation which it is made to serve. m.