The Genesis of a Scientific Fact

Ludwik Fleck’s rediscovered key text “The Genesis and Development of a Scientific Fact” from 1935 is in many ways a revelation. Thomas Kuhn, who popularized the term “paradigm shift,” saw central aspects of his scientific theoretical model anticipated by Fleck. Fleck assumes that knowledge never arises individually, but always in so-called “thought-collectives” that differ from one another through their “thought-styles.” In doing so, he dismisses objectivism and positivism with a single stroke. In fact, it is impossible to acquire knowledge in and of itself, but only under the condition of certain assumptions about the object. This does not mean that scientific research is inevitably doomed to failure. However, within scientific communities, there is a need for a more systematic reflection of the basic assumptions and self-evident truths that co-constitute the object. Fleck demonstrates this ruling principle by the empirical evidence of anatomical illustrations. In comparing the centuries, these depictions always document a specific view of the human body and not (as one would expect) reality.

The biographical information about Ludwik Fleck contained in the book also evokes memories of the golden age of the Habsburg Monarchy, so aptly portrayed by Stefan Zweig in “The World of Yesterday.” Fleck was born in 1896 in Lemberg, the capital of Galicia (now Lviv, Ukraine). There he interacted across disciplines and nationalities with mathematicians, philosophers, and natural scientists. He is said to have spoken Polish, German, Yiddish, and Ukrainian. In 1914, he enrolled in medicine in Lemberg and conducted research in Vienna in the 1930s. In 1939, Fleck was appointed head of the microbiology department in Lemberg. After the German invasion in 1941, he, his wife, and son ended up in the Jewish ghetto, where he managed to develop a typhus vaccine under the most primitive conditions. With this discovery, he not only saved the lives of many ghetto inhabitants but also his own and that of his family. After the Nazis recognized Fleck’s scientific qualities, they refrained from murdering him.