Paper long abstract:

The target audience of Ludwik Fleck's texts was his contemporary collective of philosophers of science, thus he wrote about 'truth', 'objectivity', 'observation', 'reality', 'discovery' and scientific 'fact'. The Metaphors he used to conceptualize these notions (inter alia Gestaltpsychologie metaphors) made these notions contradictory, he introduced his own terms (using the same metaphors) - not only 'thought style' and 'thought collective' but also for instance of 'active' and 'passive couplings' or 'elements of knowledge' and others. Communication failed. The "circulation" of Fleck's thoughts begun more or less 40 years after he had formulated his "philosophy". He tried to change the change of meaning some concepts to rapid. How did the "gestalt of Ludwik Fleck" change from a sophist (Dąmbska, 1937) to proponent of 'social ontology not a social epistemology' (Latour, 2006). What problems were found and what have been put in his theory by his positive recipients (like Kuhn, strong programme, Latour et al.)? My talk will trace the reception of his theory of science from the perspective of philology and translation studies - half of his legacy is in German, other half in Polish and worldwide reception is in English. On the basis of philological analysis of his philosophical writings I ask if Fleck invented any other concepts that could be developed in the studies of science and technology?