STS1

SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, AND SOCIETY

~ TO LOOK, TO SEE, TO KNOW ~

According to Ludwik Fleck, “may erroneous opinions are removed by the psychology of perception and the sociology of thinking.

IN ORDER TO SEE ONE HAS FIRST TO KNOW

 In order to see, one has to
o Know what is essential and what is inessential
o Distinguish the background from the image
o know to what category does the object belong
 Otherwise, we look but do not see…
 As the readiness of perceiving some forms awakens, we lose the ability to perceive other forms
 Psychology: every perception is a seeing of some wholes, while elements are only seen later
 Forms – entities which thrust themselves upon sensory perception, and which are to a large extent independent of their constituent elements
o Either visual, auditory, olfactory, etc.
 ON FORMS
o Each form has a competing form (A and H)
o Each form possesses not only positive forms but also negative ones
 Lacking some certain fundamental features of the competing form
o In order to discern a form, one must know the competing forms
o The limits of possible transpositions are determined not only by features of competing forms; certain limits are dictated by the
characteristic style of the form itself
 Numerous changes of secondary features, when carried out together, likewise destroy the form – even though each
change by itself is harmless
 Transposition of the form has its specific laws, and one has to have intuition of these laws at least
o Perception Readiness – Acquaintance with the form gives rise to disposition of its perception
 Intensity varies from one human to another
 Inter alia, on the degree of education in the relevant field
o When surrounded by competing forms (context), disposition is enhanced  more easily recognized, range of transpositions is
greater, gaps completed more easily
o Context – becomes superior form, increase our readiness to see inferior forms
 Can also result to excessive readiness  complete non-existent details of inferior forms
o At any rate, in order to see, one has first to know a lot about the fundamental features of the form; everything else is inessential
 In order to see a rare form, one has to know to which context it belongs
o Once we learn to see a form, we forget a large part of the knowledge (of actually learning the context behind)
 Ex: Child learning alphabet, who knows all rules of the alphabet, compared to an adult who “just” knows what that
letter is, without analyzing the details
o From vigorous knowledge  know-how and readiness to perceive a form
 To see, one has first to know, and then to know how, and to forget part of the knowledge
 One has to acquire a directed readiness to see

WE LOOK WITH OUR OWN EYES, WE SEE WITH THE EYES OF A COLLECTIVE BODY
 To be clear that the distinctness of a form, much as this form is seen by the eyes of a single person, arises in these cases from sources
beyond the individual person
o From the opinion of the general public
o From the prevailing habit of thinking
 Form is constructed not from “objective physical elements” but from cultural and historical themes
 A predominant part of our forms (not all) were created by the environment, linguistic customs, opinion of the general public, tradition
 The collective body of men sanctions the isolation certain entireties from the collection of certain elements
 We look with our own eyes, but we see with the eyes of the collective body
 We see the forms whose sense and range of permissible transpositions is created by the collective body
 Initiation, propaganda, mutual completion in collective actions, and veneration of common ideals reinforce and specify this style
 What is our behavior when we first see a new form?
o We see it based on forms we already know
o These forms then mutually displace themselves, they disappear, make room for one another, vary, and oscillate
 From the store of traditional, generally admitted forms, one derives in the first place those mutually displacing resemblances, and then the
collective life produces among these oscillating possibilities a novel prescribed form, which is then fixed and pressed upon the individual
person
READING THE POSITION OF POINTERS
 Not everybody admits that virtually every seeing is of form-perceiving type; that virtually every form is conditioned by collective life and
by the collective thought-style
 However, it is impossible to isolate the object of observation from the thought-style
o Especially without assuming in advance that it possesses certain features
 o According to Bohr: Even the observation concept itself contains an option since it depends in principle on what objects are
reckoned among the observed system
 The apparent arbitrariness is a necessity imposed by a specific thought-style
o Impossible to isolate any element, regardless of the traditional thought-style created by the society to which he belongs
 The process of analyzing and isolating the elements does not differ in any way from the process of producing new forms from the
decomposed old parts
o The number of negative features increases, while positive features decrease as one passes from earlier forms to the new ones
 The use of an apparatus is always the expression of applying a certain developed thought-style
o The scientific apparatus directs thinking towards the path of scientific style of thinking
 Readiness to see certain forms, while removing at the same time the possibility of seeing others
 Eddington: physics refers rather to the relation between the read-off positions of pointers than to positions themselves
 From this construction one cannot deduce anything about something which is independent of us
 The objectivity of scientific observations consists merely in relating them to the entire store of knowledge, experience, and the traditional
mental customs of the scientific collective
o Outcome is independent of the passing moods of the individual and of his readiness which is given by the collective of everyday
life
o Instead of forms conditioned by the style of everyday thinking, science creates at best constructions conditioned by the differing
scientific thought-style
 One cannot deduce anything about something which is independent of us
 When we push the analysis sufficiently far, we shall reach the elements of knowledge which, to stubborn metaphysicians, will appear to be
forms of a priori thinking with regard to observation, or intuition, and which actually result from the combined nature of cognition and may
be investigated by methods of the sociology of thinking
 Scientific observation – of the form-perceiving or construction type – depends on the collective thought-style

THE COLLECTIVE BODY AS THE TERTIUM

 The collective body intrudes into the process of looking and seeing, thinking and cognition
 There is no skepticism, or any communication and community life would be probably impossible
 The process of cognition is not a two-term one, as individualist opinion proclaims
o Does not occur solely between an abstract subject and an equally absolute object
o Collective is incorporated as third members; no way to exclude any of these three members from the process of cognition
 System of opinions whose authorship does not lie in any individual; it is the collective body that is its author
 Gumplowicz – what thinks in a man, it is by no means himself, but his social community
 Levy-Bruhl – collective conceptions of these peoples (primitive nations) and the relations between them cast light on the generation of our
categories and logical principles. Using this patch one can reach a positive theory of cognition, based on a comparative method
 With rich and developed thought-style, communication between members and outsiders becomes difficult or impossible
 The two members of a thought-collective
o The elite – depends on the mass which is the carrier of the overpowering opinion of the general public
o The mass – looks up to the elite with a specific trust
o A vox dei – confirmation, from mass to elite
 In the intra-collective peregrination
o Each thought becomes strengthened ipso sociologico facto
 Only the sociology of thinking, while young, can explain us communication or lack thereof
o Advantage: it will enable us to rationally direct the intellectual life of societies
o Will find a way to immunize masses against absolute propaganda
o Counteract fanaticism
o Provide the idea of the formation of view
o It will point to that which will be common to all, and which brings them closer together