Genesis and Development of a Scientific Fact

Fleck, Ludwik

ISBN 10: 0226253252 / ISBN 13: 9780226253251

Published by University of Chicago Press, 1981

About this Item

English-language edition of Ludwik Fleck's landmark study of the sociology and philosophy of scientific knowledge, originally published in German in 1935 as Entstehung und Entwicklung einer wissenschaftlichen Tatsache. Edited by Thaddeus J. Trenn and Robert K. Merton, translated by Fred Bradley and Thaddeus J. Trenn, with a foreword by Thomas S. Kuhn.

Fleck challenges the idea that scientific facts simply emerge from neutral observation, arguing instead that scientific knowledge develops within communities of investigators whose shared assumptions, terminology, and intellectual traditions shape what can be observed and understood. His concepts of the "thought collective" and "thought style" anticipated later work in the sociology of scientific knowledge and philosophy of science.

The book is particularly notable for its influence on discussions of scientific discovery and paradigm formation. Thomas Kuhn acknowledged Fleck's work as an important precursor to later approaches to the historical and sociological study of science.

Condition: Good. Original illustrated black and blue wrappers show moderate rubbing, surface scratches, edge wear, and wear to corners and extremities. Small areas of color loss and scuffing are present along the edges. Interior pages appear clean and well preserved with light age-toning. Binding remains sound. Please see photographs for full condition.

Collector/Scholarly Appeal: A significant twentieth-century work in the philosophy, history, and sociology of science. Fleck's analysis of thought collectives and the social formation of scientific facts anticipated later developments associated with Thomas Kuhn and the sociology of scientific knowledge. Particularly suitable for collections in philosophy of science, sociology of science, history of medicine, epistemology, and intellectual history.

Shipping/Returns: Carefully packed for shipment. Returns accepted in accordance with AbeBooks policies.
SCI 3b.

Seller Inventory # ABE-1787169525023

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Genesis and Development of a Scientific Fact
• Publisher: University of Chicago Press
• Publication Date: 1981
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0226253252
• ISBN 13: 9780226253251
• Binding: Soft cover
• Condition: Good
• Dimensions: 5.36W x 8.47H x 0.61D inches 5.36 inches width by 8.47 inches height by 0.61 inches depth
• Weight: 0.5 pounds
• Seller catalogs:
  • History of Science
  • Philosophy of Science
  • Social Science

About this title

Synopsis

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

About the Author

 Thomas S. Kuhn (1922–96) was the Laurance S. Rockefeller Professor of Philosophy at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. His books include The Essential Tension; Black-Body Theory and the Quantum Discontinuity, 1894–1912; and The Copernican Revolution.