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The Role of Skill in Experimentation: Reading Ludwik Fleck’s Study of the Wasserman Reaction as an Example of Ian Hacking’s Experimental Realism.
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 31 January 2023
Extract
Ludwik Fleck’s Genesis and Development of a Scientific Fact is an extended argument for the inclusion of social factors in the history and philosophy of science. Fleck uses the history of syphilis as his case study, which falls into two parts. In the first two chapters of his book, Fleck presents a history of the change of the concept of syphilis as a “carnal scourge with strong moralistic connotations” in the middle ages to the modern concept of syphilis as an infectious disease (1979, 77). In the second part of the book, he presents a detailed account of the development of a serum test for syphilis, the Wasserman reaction. Fleck also argues that perception is theory-laden, for example, in his comparative study of anatomical drawings, and for the importance of social pressures on the development of science, for example, in his discussion of the rivalry between nations to first develop a cure for syphilis, as demanded by politicians (1979, 133 ff. and 68).
- Type
- Part IX. Interpreting Scientific Inference
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- Copyright
- Copyright © Philosophy of Science Association 1988
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