Abstract
In this chapter, we present Ludwik Fleck’s conception of epistemology and the history of science, structured around the concepts of thought style and thought collective. We aim to demonstrate that, besides introducing the idea that social and historical factors condition scientific knowledge, Fleck was also a pioneer in conceiving biology as a model for epistemology. Unfortunately, the Kuhnian reading of Fleck’s work emphasized this social approach and ignored that biological influence. Thus, in the wake of Kuhnian influence, Fleck’s social conception of science was widely disseminated, and the role of biology was ignored, even by significant authors of the historiography of science. Highlighting the influence that Fleck received of biology connected to social and historical factors enables an interpretation more in line with the reflections of the Polish thinker on the history of science and its epistemology.
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Notes
- 1.
- 2.
The first list of Fleck’s scientific publications appeared in Schäfer and Schnelle (1983, 182–195) and was expanded in Werner and Zittel (2011, 656–672); the most up-to-date bibliography can be found in Ciesielska and Jarnicki (2021). Originally published in different journals in Polish or German, philosophical articles were republished in German (Schäfer and Schnelle 1983) and English (Cohen and Schnelle 1986). They are “Some specific features of the medical way of thinking” (1927); “On the crisis of ‘reality’” (1929); “Scientific observation and perception in general” (1935); “The problem of epistemology” (1936); “Problems of the science of science” (1946); “To look, to see, to know” (1947); and “Crisis in science” (1960), the last of which remained unpublished until 1983.
- 3.
It is significant that one of Fleck’s first published articles, “On the Crisis of Reality” (1929), stems precisely from a discussion established in physics at the time.
- 4.
- 5.
Kuhn declared that he had learned of the existence of Fleck’s book in a note from Experience and prediction (Reichenbach 1938, 224) written by logical empiricist philosopher Hans Reichenbach (Kuhn 1979, viii). In that book, Reichenbach formulated his well-known distinction between “the context of discovery” and “the context of justification.” Kuhn reported that he had been excited to find Fleck’s book reference and said: “if someone wrote a book with that title, I have to read it!” (Kuhn, 2000, 283). For the American philosopher, it was surprising that a fact had a “development” (Kuhn, 2000, 283). For more on how Kuhn came to know Fleck’s book and the possible genealogical relationship between the theories of both philosophers, see Jarnicki and Greif (2022).
- 6.
According to correspondence between Fleck and Schlick dated September 5, 1933, in which Fleck asked Schlick for assistance in finding a publisher willing to publish his book, whose initial title was Die Analyse einer wissenschaftlichen Tatsache: Versuch einer vergleichenden Erkenntnistheorie (The analysis of a scientific fact: an attempt at a comparative theory of knowledge), see Werner and Zittel (2011, 561–562).
- 7.
Schlick replied to Fleck more than 6 months later, on March 16, 1934, apologizing for the long delay, saying he was interested in the topic but reporting the difficulties of publication and finally informing him that he would not be able to help. See Werner and Zittel (2011, 562–563).
- 8.
Fleck spent 1927 studying medicine in Vienna at the Government Institute for Serotherapy, thus being closer to the atmosphere of the Vienna Circle. That same year he also began his career as an epistemologist, publishing the article “Some specific features of the medical way of thinking.”
- 9.
One exception was Edgar Zilsel, who, after immigrating to the USA, developed a new approach to the history of science, presenting an epistemological perspective based on historical, social, and technological aspects. See Condé (2022).
- 10.
Although Fleck gave this expression his philosophical conceptualization, it was first used by Mannheim in 1925; see Trenn (1979, xv). It is also interesting to note that Carnap – the target of Fleck’s criticism – in the preface of the 1928 first edition of his book Der logische Aufbau der Welt (The Logical Construction of the World), uses the expression Denkstil when characterizing the change in the way of doing philosophy started by the Vienna Circle. In clarifying what changes in the new philosophy of science, Carnap points out, “this new attitude changes not only the thought style (Denkstil) but also the task” of philosophy (Carnap, 1961 [1928], xix). Alexandre Koyré also uses the expression “thought style.” In his 1930 text, “La pensée moderne,” later presented in his book Étude d’histoire de la pensée scientifique, Koyré uses the expression “style” to characterize what he calls the Zeitgeist of modernity or the “style of our time” using, ultimately, the expression “style de pensée” (thought style) itself (Koyré, 1973 [1966], 18).
- 11.
- 12.
Darwin’s book title On the Origins of Species in German is Die Entstehung der Arten; one can see a similarity with Fleck’s book title in German, Entstehung und Entwicklung einer wissenschaftlichen Tatsache.
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Condé, M.L., Jarnicki, P. (2023). Ludwik Fleck: Thought Style and Thought Collective in the Historiography of Science. In: Condé, M.L., Salomon, M. (eds) Handbook for the Historiography of Science. Historiographies of Science. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-99498-3_5-2
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