Genesis and Development of a Scientific Fact

Description

Originally published in German in 1935, this monograph anticipated solutions to problems of scientific progress, the truth of scientific fact and the role of error in science now associated with the work of Thomas Kuhn and others. Arguing that every scientific concept and theory—including his own—is culturally conditioned, Fleck was appreciably ahead of his time. And as Kuhn observes in his foreword, "Though much has occurred since its publication, it remains a brilliant and largely unexploited resource." "To many scientists just as to many historians and philosophers of science facts are things that simply are the case: they are discovered through properly passive observation of natural reality. To such views Fleck replies that facts are invented, not discovered. Moreover, the appearance of scientific facts as discovered things is itself a social construction, a made thing. A work of transparent brilliance, one of the most significant contributions toward a thoroughly sociological account of scientific knowledge."—Steven Shapin, Science Foreword Preface Genesis and Development of a Scientific Fact Overview of Contents Prologue Chapter 1. How the Modern Concept of Syphilis Originated 1 Chapter 2. Epistemological Conclusions from the Established History of a Concept 20 Section 1. General Observations 20 Section 2. Proto-ideas as Guidelines for the Development of any Finding 23 Section 3. The Tenacity of Systems of Opinion and the Harmony of Illusions; Viewpoints as Autonomous, Style-Permeated Structures [Gebilde] 27 Section 4. Introduction to Thought Collectives 38 Chapter 3. The Wassermann Reaction and Its Discovery 52 Chapter 4. Epistemological Considerations Concerning the History of the Wassermann Reaction 82 Section 1. General Conclusions 82 Section 2. Observation, Experiment, Experience 84 Section 3. Further Observations Concerning Thought Collectives 98 Section 4. Some Characteristics of the Thought Collective of Modern Science 111 Section 5. Thought Styles 125 Commentary and Annotation 147 Biographical Sketch 149 Descriptive Analysis 154 Notes 167 Bibliography 185 Index 193 Illustrations Figure 1 34 Figure 2 67 Figure 3 138 Figure 4 140 Figure 5 143