Elari

“Discovery is thus inextricably interwoven with what is known as error. To recognize a certain relation, many another relation must be misunderstood, denied, or overlooked. The operation of cognition [Erkenntnisphysiologie] is analogous to the physiology of movement. To move a limb, an entire so-called myostatic system must be immobilized to provide a basis of fixation. Every movement consists of two active processes; namely, motion and inhibition. The corresponding features in the operation of cognition are purposive, directed determination and cooperative abstraction, which complement one another.”
― Ludwik Fleck, Genesis and Development of a Scientific Fact

“In science, just as in art and in life, only that which is true to culture is true to nature.”
― Ludwik Fleck, Genesis and Development of a Scientific Fact

“The current state of knowledge remains vague when history is not considered, just as history remains vague without substantive knowledge about the current state.”
― Ludwik Fleck, Genesis and Development of a Scientific Fact

“Whatever is known has always seemed systematic, proven, applicable, and evident to the knower. Every alien system of knowledge has likewise seemed contradictory, unproven, inapplicable, fanciful, or mystical. May not the time have come to assume a less egocentric, more general point of view and to speak of comparative epistemology?”
― Ludwik Fleck, Genesis and Development of a Scientific Fact