Mutações no estilo de pensamento: Ludwik Fleck e o modelo biológico na historiografia da ciência

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to analyze, from the work of Ludwik Fleck, the role of biology and life sciences as a modeling matrix in the constitution of a theoretical and methodological proposal of how to write the history of science; what is here called the “biological model” in the historiography of science. In contrast to the Kuhnian model of history of science strongly inspired by classical physics – although later Kuhn has also referenced in biology –, in Fleck, we can find a history of science that is inspired by biology and medicine, presenting a more robust epistemological foundation that, consequently, allows a better elaboration of how to write the history of science. Indeed, analyzing this question we can also see – in addition to the assertion of social and historical aspects in the construction of scientific knowledge as he defended – that his epistemology is also based deeply in the biological referential, thus making the Polish thinker a forerunner of this approach. In highlighting the importance of biology in Fleck’s epistemology, the article also highlights a non-Kuhnian interpretation of the Polish thinker.