Perception, knowledge and freedom in the age of extremes: on the historical epistemology of Ludwik Fleck and Michael Polanyi

This paper deals with Ludwik Fleck's theory of thought styles and Michael Polanyi's theory of tacit knowledge. Though both concepts have been very influential for science studies in general, and both have been subject to numerous interpretations, their accounts have, somewhat surprisingly, hardly been comparatively analyzed. Both Fleck and Polanyi relied on the physiology and psychology of the senses in order to show that scientific knowledge follows less the path of logical principles than the path of accepting or rejecting specific conventions, where these may be psychologically or sociologically grounded. It is my aim to show that similarities and differences between Fleck and Polanyi are to be seen in the specific historical and political context in which they worked. Both authors, I shall argue, emphasized the relevance of perception in close connection to their respective understanding of science, freedom, and democrac

Cómo funciona la mente: La representación visual de los procesos cerebrales

This paper offers an account on the history of visualization, in particular the visualization of brain activity, through a description of different sets of theories and techniques, dating back to the nineteenth century up to the present day, designed to represent mental processes.Este trabajo ofrece un repaso de la historia de la visualización de los procesos mentales a través de la descripción de las diferentes tecnologías desarrolladas desde el siglo XIX hasta nuestros días destinadas a representar la actividad cerebral

Die alten Leiden der neuen Universalgelehrten: Rezension zu "Giganten der Gelehrsamkeit. Die Geschichte der Universalgenies" von Peter Burke

Peter Burke: Giganten der Gelehrsamkeit: Die Geschichte der Universalgenies. Berlin: Klaus Wagenbach 2021. 978-3-8031-3702-