Ludwik Fleck
Encyclopedia
Ludwik Fleck was a Polish
Israeli
medical doctor and biologist who developed in the 1930s the concept of Denkkollektiv (or thought collectives). This concept is important in philosophy of science
and sociology of science in that it helps explain how scientific ideas change over time, similar to Thomas Kuhn
's later notion of paradigm shift
or Foucault
's episteme
.
Fleck wrote that the development of truth
in scientific research was an unattainable ideal as different researchers were locked in thought collectives (or thought-styles). He felt that the development of scientific insights was not unidirectional and does not consist of just accumulating new pieces of information, but also in overthrowing the old ones. This approach anticipated later developments in social constructionism
, and especially the development of critical science and technology studies
.
Fleck was born in Lemberg (now L'viv), and grew up in the cultural autonomy of Austrian province of Galicia. He graduated from the Polish Lyceum in 1914 and he enrolled at the Jan Kazimierz University of L'viv
, where he received his medical degree. In 1920 he became an assistant of the famous typhus specialist Rudolf Weigl
when he was appointed to the chair in Biology at the University of L'viv in 1921. From 1923 to 1935 he worked firstly in the Department of Internal Medicine of the General Hospital in L'viv and then became Director of the Bacteriological Laboratory of the local social assurance authority. From 1935 he worked in the private bacteriological laboratory which he had earlier founded.
With Nazi Germany
's occupation of L'viv, Fleck was deported with his wife, Ernestina Waldman, and son Ryszard to the city's Jewish ghetto. He continued his research in the hospital and developed a new procedure in which he procured vaccine
from the urine
of typhus
patients. Fleck's work was known to the German occupiers and his family were arrested in December 1942 and deported to the Laokoon" pharmaceutical factory to produce typhus serum
. He and his family were arrested again and sent to the Auschwitz concentration camp
on February 7, 1943. His task was to diagnose syphilis
, typhus and other illnesses using serological tests. From December 1943 until the liberation of Poland on April 11, 1945 Fleck was detained in Buchenwald concentration camp
.
Between 1945 and 1952, he served as the head of the Institute of Microbiology of the School of Medicine of Maria Sklodowska-Curie University of Lublin
. In 1952, he moved to Warsaw
to become the Director of the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at the Mother and Child State Institute. In 1954 he was elected a member of the Polish Academy of Sciences. Fleck's research during these years focused on the question of the behavior of leucocytes in infectious and stress situations. Between 1946 and 1957 he published 87 medical and scientific articles in Polish, French, English and Swiss journals. In 1951 Fleck was awarded the National Prize for Scientific Achievements and in 1955 the Officer's Cross of the Order of the Renaissance of Poland.
In 1956, after a heart attack
and the discovery that he was suffering from lymphosarcoma, Fleck emigrated to Israel
where a position was created for him at the Israel Institute for Biological Research
. He died in 1961 at the age of 64 of a second heart attack.
The Ludwig Fleck Prize is awarded annually for the best book in the area of science and technology studies
. It was created by the 4S Council (Society for the Social Studies of Science) in 1992.
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
Israeli
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
medical doctor and biologist who developed in the 1930s the concept of Denkkollektiv (or thought collectives). This concept is important in philosophy of science
Philosophy of science
The philosophy of science is concerned with the assumptions, foundations, methods and implications of science. It is also concerned with the use and merit of science and sometimes overlaps metaphysics and epistemology by exploring whether scientific results are actually a study of truth...
and sociology of science in that it helps explain how scientific ideas change over time, similar to Thomas Kuhn
Thomas Kuhn
Thomas Samuel Kuhn was an American historian and philosopher of science whose controversial 1962 book The Structure of Scientific Revolutions was deeply influential in both academic and popular circles, introducing the term "paradigm shift," which has since become an English-language staple.Kuhn...
's later notion of paradigm shift
Paradigm shift
A Paradigm shift is, according to Thomas Kuhn in his influential book The Structure of Scientific Revolutions , a change in the basic assumptions, or paradigms, within the ruling theory of science...
or Foucault
Michel Foucault
Michel Foucault , born Paul-Michel Foucault , was a French philosopher, social theorist and historian of ideas...
's episteme
Episteme
Episteme, as distinguished from techne, is etymologically derived from the Greek word ἐπιστήμη for knowledge or science, which comes from the verb ἐπίσταμαι, "to know".- The Concept of an "Episteme" in Michel Foucault :...
.
Fleck wrote that the development of truth
Truth
Truth has a variety of meanings, such as the state of being in accord with fact or reality. It can also mean having fidelity to an original or to a standard or ideal. In a common usage, it also means constancy or sincerity in action or character...
in scientific research was an unattainable ideal as different researchers were locked in thought collectives (or thought-styles). He felt that the development of scientific insights was not unidirectional and does not consist of just accumulating new pieces of information, but also in overthrowing the old ones. This approach anticipated later developments in social constructionism
Social constructionism
Social constructionism and social constructivism are sociological theories of knowledge that consider how social phenomena or objects of consciousness develop in social contexts. A social construction is a concept or practice that is the construct of a particular group...
, and especially the development of critical science and technology studies
Science and technology studies
Science, technology and society is the study of how social, political, and cultural values affect scientific research and technological innovation, and how these, in turn, affect society, politics and culture...
.
Fleck was born in Lemberg (now L'viv), and grew up in the cultural autonomy of Austrian province of Galicia. He graduated from the Polish Lyceum in 1914 and he enrolled at the Jan Kazimierz University of L'viv
Lviv University
The Lviv University or officially the Ivan Franko National University of Lviv is the oldest continuously operating university in Ukraine...
, where he received his medical degree. In 1920 he became an assistant of the famous typhus specialist Rudolf Weigl
Rudolf Weigl
Professor Rudolf Stefan Weigl was a famous Polish biologist and inventor of the first effective vaccine against epidemic typhus. Weigl founded the Weigl Institute in Lwów, Poland , where he did his vaccine-producing research.Of Austrian ethnic descent, Weigl was born in Přerov, Moravia...
when he was appointed to the chair in Biology at the University of L'viv in 1921. From 1923 to 1935 he worked firstly in the Department of Internal Medicine of the General Hospital in L'viv and then became Director of the Bacteriological Laboratory of the local social assurance authority. From 1935 he worked in the private bacteriological laboratory which he had earlier founded.
With Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
's occupation of L'viv, Fleck was deported with his wife, Ernestina Waldman, and son Ryszard to the city's Jewish ghetto. He continued his research in the hospital and developed a new procedure in which he procured vaccine
Vaccine
A vaccine is a biological preparation that improves immunity to a particular disease. A vaccine typically contains an agent that resembles a disease-causing microorganism, and is often made from weakened or killed forms of the microbe or its toxins...
from the urine
Urine
Urine is a typically sterile liquid by-product of the body that is secreted by the kidneys through a process called urination and excreted through the urethra. Cellular metabolism generates numerous by-products, many rich in nitrogen, that require elimination from the bloodstream...
of typhus
Typhus
Epidemic typhus is a form of typhus so named because the disease often causes epidemics following wars and natural disasters...
patients. Fleck's work was known to the German occupiers and his family were arrested in December 1942 and deported to the Laokoon" pharmaceutical factory to produce typhus serum
Blood plasma
Blood plasma is the straw-colored liquid component of blood in which the blood cells in whole blood are normally suspended. It makes up about 55% of the total blood volume. It is the intravascular fluid part of extracellular fluid...
. He and his family were arrested again and sent to the Auschwitz concentration camp
Auschwitz concentration camp
Concentration camp Auschwitz was a network of Nazi concentration and extermination camps built and operated by the Third Reich in Polish areas annexed by Nazi Germany during World War II...
on February 7, 1943. His task was to diagnose syphilis
Syphilis
Syphilis is a sexually transmitted infection caused by the spirochete bacterium Treponema pallidum subspecies pallidum. The primary route of transmission is through sexual contact; however, it may also be transmitted from mother to fetus during pregnancy or at birth, resulting in congenital syphilis...
, typhus and other illnesses using serological tests. From December 1943 until the liberation of Poland on April 11, 1945 Fleck was detained in Buchenwald concentration camp
Buchenwald concentration camp
Buchenwald concentration camp was a German Nazi concentration camp established on the Ettersberg near Weimar, Germany, in July 1937, one of the first and the largest of the concentration camps on German soil.Camp prisoners from all over Europe and Russia—Jews, non-Jewish Poles and Slovenes,...
.
Between 1945 and 1952, he served as the head of the Institute of Microbiology of the School of Medicine of Maria Sklodowska-Curie University of Lublin
Lublin
Lublin is the ninth largest city in Poland. It is the capital of Lublin Voivodeship with a population of 350,392 . Lublin is also the largest Polish city east of the Vistula river...
. In 1952, he moved to Warsaw
Warsaw
Warsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River, roughly from the Baltic Sea and from the Carpathian Mountains. Its population in 2010 was estimated at 1,716,855 residents with a greater metropolitan area of 2,631,902 residents, making Warsaw the 10th most...
to become the Director of the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at the Mother and Child State Institute. In 1954 he was elected a member of the Polish Academy of Sciences. Fleck's research during these years focused on the question of the behavior of leucocytes in infectious and stress situations. Between 1946 and 1957 he published 87 medical and scientific articles in Polish, French, English and Swiss journals. In 1951 Fleck was awarded the National Prize for Scientific Achievements and in 1955 the Officer's Cross of the Order of the Renaissance of Poland.
In 1956, after a heart attack
Myocardial infarction
Myocardial infarction or acute myocardial infarction , commonly known as a heart attack, results from the interruption of blood supply to a part of the heart, causing heart cells to die...
and the discovery that he was suffering from lymphosarcoma, Fleck emigrated to Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
where a position was created for him at the Israel Institute for Biological Research
Israel Institute for Biological Research
Israel Institute for Biological Research is a government defense research institute specializing in biology, medicinal chemistry and environmental science, and is suspected of also developing biological and chemical weapons, as well as defenses against them. It is located in Ness Ziona, 20...
. He died in 1961 at the age of 64 of a second heart attack.
The Ludwig Fleck Prize is awarded annually for the best book in the area of science and technology studies
Science and technology studies
Science, technology and society is the study of how social, political, and cultural values affect scientific research and technological innovation, and how these, in turn, affect society, politics and culture...
. It was created by the 4S Council (Society for the Social Studies of Science) in 1992.
External links
- Short introduction to Fleck's philosophy and sociology of science
- Polish Philosophy Page: Ludwik Fleck, at the Internet ArchiveInternet ArchiveThe Internet Archive is a non-profit digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It offers permanent storage and access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, music, moving images, and nearly 3 million public domain books. The Internet Archive...
- 4S Ludwig Fleck Prize