In scholarly debates, Ludwik Fleck's post-war paper `Problemy naukoznawstwa [Problems of the Science of Science]', published in 1946, has been taken unanimously to illustrate the epistemology expounded in his monograph Genesis and Development of a Scientific Fact. The paper has also been seen to support parts of the received view of Fleck, notably that he manufactured an anti-typhus vaccine while imprisoned in Buchenwald. However, a different narrative emerges when comparing Fleck's paper with other accounts, also published in 1946 and written by other prisoners alluded to by Fleck in his paper. The situation is further complicated by four papers, published in prestigious scientific journals between 1942 and 1945, by the German medical leader of the typhus studies accounted for by Fleck. In addition, a thus-far neglected paper by Fleck, published in 1946 and summarizing his observations on typhus, discloses his role in the Buchenwald studies. Despite the obvious difficulties with tracing the history behind these works, notably the one on Nazi science, the contention is that what was attempted in Buchenwald in the name of science amounted to pseudoscience. This conclusion is amply supported not only by the accounts given by Fleck's fellow prisoners, but also by his own post-war paper on typhus. Based on the above findings, it is suggested that the mythology about Fleck, established in the 1980s, has been accomplished by a selective reading of his papers and also that the role played by Fleck was more complex than has so far been contemplated.
...MoreArticle Amsterdamska, Olga; et al. (2008) Medical Science in the Light of a Flawed Study of the Holocaust: A Comment on Eva Hedfors' Paper on Ludwik Fleck. Social Studies of Science (p. 937).
Article Amsterdamska, Olga; et al. (2008) Medical Science in the Light of a Flawed Study of the Holocaust: A Comment on Eva Hedfors' Paper on Ludwik Fleck. Social Studies of Science (p. 937).
Book
Baumslag, Naomi;
(2005)
Murderous Medicine: Nazi Doctors, Human Experimentation, and Typhus
(/isis/citation/CBB000600032/)
Article
Hedfors, Eva;
(2007)
Medical Ethics in the Wake of the Holocaust: Departing from a Postwar Paper by Ludwik Fleck
(/isis/citation/CBB000830398/)
Book
Rubenfeld, Sheldon;
(2010)
Medicine after the Holocaust: From The Master Race to the Human Genome and Beyond
(/isis/citation/CBB001031272/)
Article
Nikolas K. Schröder;
(2021)
Vom völkischen Studenten zum nationalsozialistischen Arzt. Joachim Mrugowskys Studienzeit in Halle (1925–1935). [From "völkisch" student to National Socialist doctor. Joachim Mrugowsky's studies in Halle (1925-1935)]
(/isis/citation/CBB593980114/)
Book
David de Jong;
(2022)
Nazi billionaires : The dark history of Germany's wealthiest dynasties
(/isis/citation/CBB275308890/)
Book
Katz, Eric;
(2006)
Death by Design: Science, Technology, and Engineering in Nazi Germany
(/isis/citation/CBB000600205/)
Chapter
Weindling, Paul;
(2010)
Genetics, Eugenics, and the Holocaust
(/isis/citation/CBB001020303/)
Article
Topp, Sascha;
Fuchs, Petra;
Hohendorf, Gerrit;
Richter, Paul;
Rotzoll, Maike;
(2008)
Die Provinz Ostpreußen und die nationalsozialistische “Euthanasie”: SS-“Aktion Lange” und “Aktion T4”
(/isis/citation/CBB001220559/)
Chapter
Schleiermacher, Sabine;
Schagen, Udo;
(2008)
Medizinische Forschung als Pseudowissenschaft. Selbstreinigungsrituale der Medizin nach dem Nürnberger Ärzteprozess
(/isis/citation/CBB001023679/)
Article
Hedfors, Eva;
(2008)
Medical Science in the Light of the Holocaust: Reply to a Biased Reading
(/isis/citation/CBB000953526/)
Article
Volker Roelcke;
(2021)
Glossar historisch relevanter medizinischer Termini aus dem Mrugowsky - Manuskript Das Fleckfieber [Glossary of historically relevant medical terms from the Mrugowsky - Manuscript "Das Fleckfieber" (Spotted Fever)]
(/isis/citation/CBB033627142/)
Article
Amsterdamska, Olga;
(2008)
Medical Science in the Light of a Flawed Study of the Holocaust: A Comment on Eva Hedfors' Paper on Ludwik Fleck
(/isis/citation/CBB000953525/)
Article
Weisz, George M.;
(2010)
Dr. Fleck Fighting Fleck Typhus
(/isis/citation/CBB000953628/)
Book
Caplan, Arthur L.;
(1992)
When medicine went mad: Bioethics and the Holocaust
(/isis/citation/CBB000031529/)
Book
Oppitz, Ulrich-Dieter;
Uexküll, Thure von;
(1999)
Medizinverbrechen vor Gericht: das Urteil im Nürnberger Ärzteprozess gegen Karl Brandt und andere sowie aus dem Prozess gegen Generalfeldmarschall Milch
(/isis/citation/CBB000502943/)
Article
Zeidman, Lawrence A.;
(2013)
Dr. Haakon Sæthre: A Norwegian Neuroscientist and His Resistance against Nazi Germany
(/isis/citation/CBB001320360/)
Article
Mineau, André;
(2007)
Social Hygiene and the Holocaust
(/isis/citation/CBB000760729/)
Book
Ehrenreich, Eric;
(2007)
The Nazi Ancestral Proof: Genealogy, Racial Science, and the Final Solution
(/isis/citation/CBB001033853/)
Chapter
Allen, Michael Thad;
(2001)
Modernity, the Holocaust, and Machines without History
(/isis/citation/CBB000350118/)
Book
Fraser, Gordon;
(2012)
The Quantum Exodus: Jewish Fugitives, the Atomic Bomb, and the Holocaust
(/isis/citation/CBB001500182/)
Be the first to comment!