Discussing the epistemologies of Thomas Kuhn and Ludwik Fleck: an analysis on the photoelectric effect

Authors

  • Eliéverson Guerchi Gonzales
  • Ronivan Sousa da Silva Suttini
  • João José Caluzi

Keywords:

Scientific Community, Paradigms, Thought Collective, Thought Style, History and Philosophy of Science

Abstract

The epistemology proposed by the Polish physician Ludwik Fleck (1896-1961) has attracted more and more supporters among researchers in Science Education. However, his innovative concepts of "thought collective" and "thought style" are mistakenly considered equivalent to the terms "scientific community" and "paradigm" used by Thomas Kuhn (1922 - 1996) in his book "The Structure Scientific Revolutions". The work, presented here, aims to clarify and apply these four epistemological concepts in a case study. For this, having a historical point of view on the photoelectric effect experiment, we use as an object of analysis and discussion
the scientific controversy involving, on the one hand, the "Triggering Hypothesis", by the Austro-Hungarian physicist Philipp Eduard Anton von Lenard (1862-1947), formulated in 1902 and, on the other hand, the "Quantum Light Hypothesis", by the German physicist
Albert Einstein (1879-1955), elaborated in 1905. It was possible to evidence how conceptual and social elements contributed both to the emergence of new ideas (the "quantum of light") and the widespread rejection by physicists, at least until 1913, of a quantum theory of radiation.

Published

2022-12-21

Issue

Section

Trabajos presentados a SIEF

How to Cite

Discussing the epistemologies of Thomas Kuhn and Ludwik Fleck: an analysis on the photoelectric effect . (2022). Journal of Physics Teaching, 34, 221-229. https://revistas.psi.unc.edu.ar/index.php/revistaEF/article/view/39834