Article ID: CBB000931146

Ways of Seeing: Ludwik Fleck and Polish Debates on the Perception of Reality, 1890--1947 (2008)

unapi

Löwy, Illana (Author)


Studies in History and Philosophy of Science
Volume: 39
Pages: 375--383


Publication Date: 2008
Edition Details: Part of a special issue: “Science and the Changing Senses of Reality circa 1900”.
Language: English

This article argues that Ludwik Fleck's understanding of scientific observation as a social and cultural process stemmed not only from his practical experience as a bacteriologist and serologist, but also from a confrontation with ideas developed by other Polish thinkers. It discusses ideas of three such thinkers: the ophthalmologist and philosopher of medicine Zygmunt Kramsztyk, the mathematician and painter Leon Chwistek, and the playwright, painter and photographer Stanislaw Ignacy Witkiewicz (Witkacy). Kramsztyk was interested in the way the observer's preconceived idea shaped observations through selection of specific visual elements and the rejection of others. Chwistek developed a theory of `multiple realities' which proposed several divergent and equally valid patterns of grasping reality. In his plays, photographs, drawings and paintings Witkiewicz experimented restlessly with destabilization and transformation of the notion of a stable external reality. It links, then, debates on `reality' in Poland between 1900 and 1939 to intersections of ideas derived from modern physics, psychology of perception, and avant-garde art.

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Description The article links these debates to intersections of ideas derived from modern physics, psychology of perception, and avant-garde art.


Included in

Article Sibum, H. Otto (2008) Science and the Changing Senses of Reality circa 1900. Studies in History and Philosophy of Science (p. 295). unapi

Citation URI
https://data.isiscb.org/isis/citation/CBB000931146/

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Authors & Contributors
Patrick Ellis
Lederer, Roger J.
Hofstein, Avi
Eilks, Ingo
Schaefer, Claudia
Daniel Bowles
Concepts
Senses and sensation; perception
Observation
Science and art
Philosophy of science
Science and culture
Empiricism
Time Periods
20th century, early
19th century
18th century
17th century
Early modern
Ancient
Places
Poland
Germany
United States
Spain
Greece
Europe
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