Related Experiment Videos
[Do objects have history? A meeting between Pasteur and Whitehead in a lactic-acid bath]
1Centre de Sociologie de la Innovation, Ecole des Mines, Paris.
Historia, Ciencias, Saude--Manguinhos
|January 1, 1995
Summary
This study re-examines Louis Pasteur's work on lactic acid using Whiteheadian philosophy. It proposes that scientific discovery involves an experimental environment translating propositions, leading to new understandings of Pasteur and yeast.
Area of Science:
- Philosophy of Science
- History of Science
- Microbiology
Background:
- The abstract questions whether Louis Pasteur discovered, constructed, or invented lactic acid, framing it as a complex issue in the social studies of science.
- It introduces Alfred North Whitehead's conceptual framework to analyze the events at Lille in 1857, a pivotal moment in Pasteur's research.
Discussion:
- The Nature, as addressed by Pasteur, is not silent but imbued with propositions that guide scientific inquiry.
- Pasteur, acting as a scientist, engages with singular propositions, which become true or false based on his ability to create a corresponding real-world experimental basis.
Key Insights:
- The experimental environment acts as a hybrid mediator and translator of propositions from both Pasteur and microorganisms.
- This interactive process, where the environment 'makes the event,' results in a co-emergence of a new Pasteur and a new understanding of yeast.
Outlook:
- This Whiteheadean perspective offers a novel way to understand scientific discovery as a dynamic, interactive process rather than a singular act.
- It suggests that scientific progress involves the mutual transformation of the scientist and the subject of study through experimental engagement.