Ludwik Fleck’s Theory of Thought Styles and Thought Collectives: Translations and Receptions | Transversal | 2016

Introduction1

Paweł Jarnicki2 Sandra Lang3 Ludwik Fleck (1896–1961) developed his theory of thought styles and thought collectives4 eighty years ago. It describes the origins and condensation of knowledge (including scientific knowledge) in a framework of thought collectives and the “circulation of thoughts” [Denkverkehr/krążenie myśli] within and among them. The combination of sociological, historical and psychological approaches to (scientific) knowledge was groundbreaking in those times and Fleck is often considered to be one of the first proto-constructivist thinkers.

By reconstructing the origins of a microbiological fact (the first reliable testing method for syphilis following the Wassermann reaction) at the beginning of the 20th century, Fleck showed that scientific knowledge does not simply derive from spontaneous discoveries or a single pure genius mind. According to Fleck, scientific facts emerge in a constant process of circulating and interchanging thoughts between various collectives. Collectives are carriers of thought styles, and one individual is always a member of several collectives; this makes the circulation of thoughts (i.e. a mutual interaction of different styles) possible even within one individual. Fleck’s sociological and historical perspective is closely linked to his experiences, practices and socialization as microbiologist (Sady, 2012).

With his book Entstehung und Entwicklung einer wissenschaftlichen Tatsache (Fleck, 1935), Ludwik Fleck inspired many scholars to reflect epistemologically on the production of scientific knowledge in terms of social circumstances. The first responses to Fleck’s book were published in the 1930s (Schnelle, 1986, pp. 456f.), and the monograph also served as one of Thomas Kuhn’s inspirations for his The Structure of Scientific Revolutions (Kuhn, 1962). Today, bibliographies of the reception of Fleck’s ideas in Polish (Jarnicki, 2015b), German (Lang, 2016b) and English (Jarnicki, 2015a)5 consist of hundreds of entries but the history of the receptions themselves has rarely been an object of consideration (Ginev, 2015a, 2015b; Rivadulla, 1990).

Fleck’s book was translated first into English (Fleck, 1979), following which it was reissued in German (Fleck, 1980), then later translated into Italian (Fleck, 1983b), Polish (Fleck, 1986b), Spanish (Fleck, 1986a), Swedish (Fleck, 1997), Russian (Флек, 1999), French (Fleck, 2005) and Brazilian Portuguese (Fleck, 2010). Fleck’s theoretical legacy, however, is not limited to his German-language book, since he also wrote several papers in Polish, most of which were then translated into German (Fleck, 1983a, 2011), English (Löwy, 1990; Schnelle & Cohen, 1986) and Italian (Fleck, 2009). None of these editions, however, can be called “critical”, nor are there any critical editions even in the original German and Polish languages. Nevertheless, it is a peculiarity of Fleck’s legacy that one integral theory was formulated more or less simultaneously (1934-1936) in two languages, Polish and German6 . This was the inspiration behind the project titled A philological analysis of Ludwik Fleck’s philosophical writings and their translations in Polish, German and English, 7 which included the organization of a conference on Ludwik Fleck’s theory of thought styles and thought collectives – translations and receptions (Lang, 2016a). This issue is continuation of this work, since we are of the opinion that Fleck remains an underexploited source of inspiration and authority for those who are interested in any kind of metascience, including, but not restricted to, philosophers, historians and sociologists of science.

Notas

1 This work was supported by the National Science Centre (Poland) under Grant number DEC-2012/ 06/M/HS2/00313.

4 For biographical information see Leszczyńska (2009) and a book written by the journalist Allen (2014).

5 For updated versions of these bibliographies see: www.ludwikfleck.pl.

6 For list of his theoretical writings and bilingual character of this legacy see Jarnicki (2016).

7 The project is presented in Jarnicki (2015c), see also www.ludwikfleck.pl

References

Allen, A. The fantastic laboratory of Dr. Weigl: How two brave scientists battled typhus and sabotaged the Nazis (First edition): W. W. Norton & Company, 2014.

Fleck, L. Entstehung und Entwicklung einer wissenschaftlichen Tatsache. Einführung in die Lehre vom Denkstil und Denkkollektiv. Basel: Benno Schwabe & Co, 1935.

Fleck, L. Genesis and development of a scientific fact: [transl. F. Bradley, T. J. Trenn]. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1979.

Fleck, L. Entstehung und Entwicklung einer wissenschaftlichen Tatsache. Einführung in die Lehre vom Denkstil und Denkkollektiv. (Schnelle, T., & Schäfer, L., Eds.). Frankfurt am Main, 1980.

Fleck, L. Erfahrung und Tatsache: Gesammelte Aufsätze. (Schnelle, T., & Schäfer, L., Eds.). Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp, 1983a.

Fleck, L. Genesi e sviluppo di un fatto scientifico: Per una teoria dello stile e del collettivo di pensiero. Saggi / [Il mulino]: Vol. 253. Bologna: Il mulino, 1983b.

Fleck, L. La génesis y el desarrollo de un hecho científico: Introducción a la teoría del estilo de pensamiento y del colectivo de pensamiento. Alianza universidad: Vol. 469. Madrid: Alianza Editorial, 1986a

Fleck, L. Powstanie i rozwój faktu naukowego.: Wprowadzenie do nauki o stylu myślowym i kolektywie myślowym. [transl. M. Tuszkiewicz] [Tuszkiewicz, Maria]. (Cackowski, Z., Ed.). Lublin, 1986b.

Fleck, L. Uppkomsten och utvecklingen av ett vetenskapligt faktum: Inledning till läran om tankestil och tankekollektiv. Stockholm, Stehag: Östlings Bokförl. Symposion, 1997.

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Jarnicki, P. “Bibliografia recepcji teorii Ludwika Flecka w języku polskim” [“Bibliography of the reception of Ludwik Fleck’s theory in Polish”]. In P. Jarnicki, B. Płonka-Syroka, & B. Balicki (Eds.), Ludwik Fleck – tradycje – inspiracje – interpretacje [Ludwik Fleck – traditions – inspirations – interpretations] (pp. 239–255). Wrocław: Wydawnictwo Fundacji Projekt Nauka & Uniwersytet Medyczny im. Piastów Śląskich, 2015b.

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Флек, Л. Возникновение и развитие научного факта: Введение в теорию стиля мышления и мыслительного коллектива. [transl. V. Porus]. Москва, 1999.

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Organizadores

Paweł Jarnicki – PhD – Project Science Foundation (Fundacja Projekt Nauka), ul. Stalowowolska 3/5, 53-404 Wrocław, Poland, e-mail: jarnicki@gmail.com

Sandra Lang – PhD Candidate at the ETH Zürich, Collegium Helveticum, Schmelzbergstrasse 25, 8092 Zürich – Switzerland. E-mail: lang@collegium.ethz.ch

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Referências desta apresentação

JARNICKI, Paweł; LANG, Sandra. Introduction. Transversal: International Journal for the Historiography of Science. Belo Horizonte, n.1, p.3-5, dec. 2016. Acessar publicação original [DR]

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