Elari

“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

“This social character inherent in the very nature of scientific activity is not without its substantive consequences. Words which formerly were simple terms become slogans; sentences which once were simple statements become calls to battle. This completely alters their socio-cogitative value. They no longer influence the mind through their logical meaning – indeed, they often act against it – but rather they acquire a magical power and exert a mental influence simply by being used.”
― Ludwik Fleck, Genesis and Development of a Scientific Fact

“His basic assumptions were untenable, and his initial experiments irreproducible, yet both were of enormous heuristic value. This is the case with all really valuable experiments. They are all of them uncertain, incomplete, and unique. And when experiments become certain, precise, and reproducible at any time, they no longer are necessary for research purposes proper but function only for demonstration or ad hoc determinations.”
― Ludwik Fleck, Genesis and Development of a Scientific Fact

“Biology taught me that a field undergoing development should be investigated always from the viewpoint of its past development. Who today would study anatomy without embryology? In exactly the same way epistemology without historical and comparative investigations is no more than an empty play on words or an epistemology of the imagination.”
― Ludwik Fleck, Genesis and Development of a Scientific Fact