New Perspectives on Ludwik Fleck

Convened by

Sebastian Bonhoeffer
Director

Andreas Roepstorff
Aarhus Institute of Advanced Studies

Mario Wimmer
Deputy Director

Details

Venue and accessibility info: Rudolf Wolf Room, Collegium Helveticum

This event is intended for an interested professional audience, with limited places available. Participation is free of charge.

The workshop is booked out. Thank you for your understanding.

We invite discussion of the work of microbiologist and philosopher of science Ludwik Fleck (1896–1961) from diverse perspectives. Our focus is on exploring the potential of Fleck’s work to inspire reflection on scientific practice across disciplines. Although Fleck’s seminal book, Genesis and Development of a Scientific Fact, was first published in 1935, it received only broader attention after the publication of an English translation in 1979 and a German re-edition in 1980. The interest in Fleck’s work was further stimulated by the fact that Thomas Kuhn, in his influential The Structure of Scientific Revolutions (1962), drew on central arguments from Fleck’s book.

The workshop follows a simple format: we will read aloud and discuss selected excerpts from Fleck’s work, approached from diverse perspectives. Each passage will be briefly introduced by the conveners. No prior preparation is required, though participants are encouraged to actively join the discussion. We only ask that you keep one question in mind: What, in your view, is the potential of Fleck’s thought?

Program

Perspectives

Andreas Roepstorff proposes to focus in Perspective 1 on Ludwik Fleck as a medical researcher and practitioner who, throughout his career as a virologist, continuously reflected on his own scientific practice. In his work, the processes of making new knowledge and reflecting on knowledge-making appear to have been in a constant, yet somewhat uneasy, relationship. A central point of discussion will be Fleck’s notion of a fact as a “denkkollektives Widerstandsaviso”—a signal of resistance within a thought collective. This notion of resistance seems pivotal to Fleck’s effort to link the production of facts with reflection on their formation. The session will ask whether this notion still holds relevance in today’s epistemic landscape.

In Perspective 2, Mario Wimmer proposes to use questions of accountability and the limits of expertise in multi-author collaborations as a lens through which to explore the analytical potential of some of Fleck’s key concepts. These include the thought collective, the distinction between esoteric and exoteric thought collectives, as well as the division of intellectual labor and the delegation of responsibilities.

The lab visit in Perspective 3 offers an opportunity to gain insight into contemporary practices in the broader fields of bacteriology and virology. In this session, Sebastian Bonhoeffer seeks to connect Fleck’s reflections on scientific practice with present-day laboratory research and methodologies.

Participants

Daniel Angst
Theoretical biology, ETH Zurich

Margarita Boenig-Liptsin
Ethics, technology, and society, ETH Zurich

Sebastian Bonhoeffer
Theoretical biology, Collegium Helveticum

Paola Cerrito
Evolutionary anthropology, University of Zurich, CH

Eveliina Hanski
Microbial ecology, Collegium Helveticum

Manuel Hendry

Nina Kerschbaumer
Film, Collegium Helveticum

Sara Kinell
Ethics, technology, and society, ETH Zurich

Roger Kouyos
Epidemiology, University Hospital of Zurich

Anouk Luhn
Comparative literature, Collegium Helveticum

Anna Lytvynova
Science and technology studies, ETH Zurich

Andreas Roepstorff
Anthropology and cognitive sciences, Aarhus Institute of Advanced Studies, DK

Chris Salter
Science and technology studies and immersive arts, Zurich University of the Arts

Victoria Seca
Youth studies, Collegium Helveticum

Jonas Stähelin

An Tairan
History of art and architecture, ETH Zurich

Mario Wimmer
History of the human sciences, Collegium Helveticum