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“… the art of shaping a democratic reality and being directed by it …”—philososophy of science in turbulent times

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What times are these, when to speak of trees is almost a crime.

Bertold Brecht, To those who follow in our wake, Svendborg poems, 1939.

Abstract

This article has three objectives: First, it revises the history of the reception of Ludwik Fleck’s monograph Entstehung und Entwicklung einer wissenschaftlichen Tatsache (1935, Genesis and Development of a Scientific Fact). Contrary to the established picture, Fleck’s book was largely discussed in the years before the outbreak of World War II. What becomes clear when reading these early reviews and especially Fleck’s comments to those written by representatives of Nazi Germany is, second, the political dimension of his epistemology. In this respect, Fleck’s emphasis on the genuinely democratic character of science will be discussed in some detail. And third, Fleck’s notion of “Denkstil”—thought-style—shall be examined more closely since, as we will claim, it can be understood as a notion indicating where the democratic dimension of science encounters its limits.

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Notes

  1. Translated after the copy of the CV in the “Forschungsdokumentation Dr. Thomas Schnelle” of the Ludwik Fleck Zentrum at Collegium Helveticum in the possession of the Archiv für Zeitgeschichte (Archives of Contemporary History) of ETH Zurich that can be visited online too: http://www.ludwikfleck.ethz.ch/de/fleck-archive/online-archiv.html. For this case AfZ FD Thomas Schnelle/1.1.

  2. Borck (2004) in particular, has drawn attention to this fact.

  3. Cf. in particular Zittel (2007), Sauerland (2007), as well as Griesecke & Graf (2008), in particular Griesecke (2008a, b). An English translation of the debate with Bilikiewicz is available in Löwy (1990), 249–275.

  4. See Borck 2004, 453 f., Zittel 2007, as well as Schnelle 1982, 78 and 341.

  5. One exception is the review by Leon Chwistek (1936) published in Poland. In his introduction he writes: “This book belongs to the fields of methodology and epistemology and I do not exaggerate in declaring a turning point/milestone in the history of these sciences that are still very dark and full of archaic superstition.”

  6. Besides the review published by a certain “– – –el” in 1936 in the Wiener klinischen Wochenschrift mention should be made of a paper published in Natur und Kultur. Monatsschrift für Naturforschung und Kulturpflege, published in Vienna, Innsbruck, and Vienna. It considers Fleck’s book “of the highest value” and deplores “that many physicians unfortunately will not be able to follow the lines of thought because of a lack of philosophical education.” This second paper is not signed. The publisher of this journal was a certain Dr. Franz Wetzl in Munich (München-Solln) whose publishing company Herold also published a journal for dowsing-rod research, the Zeitschrift für Wünschelruten-Forschung.

  7. English translation quoted from Borck 2004, 454 f., slightly adapted.

  8. The Polish original reads as follows: “[…] a nie żródłem płytkich frazesów o nieistnieniu ‘voraussetzungslosen Wissenschaft’ lub smętnych refleksji o ‘niepewności wielkiej ludzkiej wiedzy’” (Fleck 2007, 265).

  9. Originally “Zur Krise der ‘Wirklichkeit’.”

  10. Originally “Zagadnienie teorii poznawania.”

  11. Fleck’s characterisation of the sciences as being democratically constituted is in line with the deliberations of the literary critic and pedagogue Richard Wagner and of the philosopher of science Edgar Zilsel, in Vienna, in the mid-twenties. As Monika Wulz shows in her as yet unpublished study, “Talking about Democracy in the Philosophy of Science: The 1920s in Vienna,” both Wagner and Zilsel discussed the existence of procedures to control the aims and assumptions of a statement and to critically reflect the preconditions of its validity. Fleck may have been familiar with the work of Wagner and Zilsel, but—as far as I know—he makes no reference to them.

  12. In the reviews published in Germany, without exception, Fleck’s first name was spelled with a ‘g’.

  13. However, one has to mention here Fleck’s comment to Tadeusz Tomaszewski’s talk on the “Psychological Studies on E-Prisoners of concentration Camps,” as recorded in the 1948 proceedings of the Lublin Philosophical-Psychological Society. He states: “It is important to educate people in the spirit of true democratic equality. We should develop efficient ways to resist propaganda that negates this fundamental principle as well as approaches (means) that prevent infiltration of such propaganda” Quoted from Leszczyńska 2009, 31.

  14. The original in Polish was published under the title “O obserwacji naukowej i postrzeganiu w ogóle” in Przegląd Filozoficzny.

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Fehr, J. “… the art of shaping a democratic reality and being directed by it …”—philososophy of science in turbulent times. Stud East Eur Thought 64, 81–89 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11212-012-9161-7

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