Transversal: International Journal for the Historiography of Science
Transversal: International Journal for the Historiography of Science is an open-access semiannual [June and December] online journal published by the Graduate Program in History (Science and Culture in History) of Federal University of Minas Gerais (Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais). Transversal: International Journal for the Historiography of Science promotes scholarly research in the historiography of science and chronicles its history and criticism. Although historiography of science is a sub-discipline of History, we construe this subject broadly to include analysis of the historiography of science produced by history of science, philosophy of science, science education and related disciplines. By focusing its analysis on the different historical, social and epistemological implications of science, historiography of science is a transversal knowledge with respect to the production of science, hence the name of this journal. In order to accomplish its purpose, Transversal: International Journal for the Historiography of Science discusses historical, theoretical, conceptual and methodological aspects of the different themes, works and authors present in this tradition, as well as the new approaches in the recent historiography of science.
Interview: Kapil Raj and Thomás A. S. Haddad
Interview - Kapil Raj and Thomás A. S. Haddad : Following the Actors Beyond Science and Empire
Copyright (c) 2025 Kapil Raj, Thomás A. S. Haddad, Sabina Ferreira Alexandre Luz, Millena Souza Farias https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Pablo Rubén Mariconda (1949-2025): The Legacy of a Giant
Copyright (c) 2025 Paulo Tadeu da Silva, Claudemir Roque Tossato, Eduardo Salles de O. Barra https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Suitability of a Historical Research Design in a History Research
Historical research design provides a systematic framework ideal for examining historical events, people, and phenomena. It emphasizes chronological organization, enabling researchers to trace historical processes over time. Source analysis is central, promoting critical evaluation of primary and secondary sources to ensure accuracy and reliability. The design situates events within broader social, cultural, political, and economic contexts, fostering nuanced understanding. It facilitates causal analysis and comparative studies to identify patterns and contrasts across different historical situations. Longitudinal studies allow for the examination of developments over extended periods, while narrative construction ensures coherence and meaning. Interdisciplinary approaches further enrich historical inquiry by integrating insights from multiple fields. Beyond academia, historical research design aids in preserving collective memory by guiding the documentation and interpretation of the past. Its emphasis on critical analysis ensures methodological rigor, supporting accurate and meaningful contributions to historical scholarship.
Copyright (c) 2025 Josephat Nairutia Kemei, Kizito Muchanga Lusambili, Kenneth Kaunda Odulwa , Pascalia Okoba https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Constructivism and Historiography of Science in Argentina
The article focuses on the networks involved in the Spanish translation, in 2005, of the book Leviathan and the Air-Pump, by Steven Shapin and Simon Schaffer. It shows that the translation by the publishing house of the National University of Quilmes was linked to prior and subsequent tensions that arose within the framework of the local institutionalization of the STS (Science, Technology and Society) field and overlapped with concerns specific to the historiography of science in Argentina. Focusing on multidisciplinary publications and local institutional developments, it is shown how the constructivist approach adopted in the book received criticism from other currents such as the neo-institutional, Marxism, or historical epistemology. The final reflections show some of the derivations of these debates in relation to the decisions of science policies.
Copyright (c) 2025 Marina Rieznik https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Steven Shapin and Simon Schaffer’s main contribution has been to show how science can be understood as a complex activity. This perspective encourages a view of scientific endeavour not only in terms of its outcomes, but as a more holistic process that includes experiments, instruments, and discourses. From this perspective, the principle of symmetry established by the Sociology of Scientific Knowledge (SSK) programme plays a central role. In this paper we would like to analyse three aspects of the historical research carried out by the SSK authors: first, the tensions between historical and sociometric modes of inquiry; second, the emergence of the symmetry principle as a founding criterion of the SSK programme and its implication in the internal/external debate; and finally, a critical suggestion about the type and self of the historian who conducts the history of science on the basis of the SSK.
Copyright (c) 2025 Juan A. Queijo Olano https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Leviathan and the Air Pump represents, for Hacking, a story of unparalleled value for illustrating and working on several of his fundamental projects. It is the story of the historical conditions of possibility that allowed, in the 17th century, the emergence of the laboratory style of thinking & doing, based on the creation of a device in the experimental cabinet -the pump- with which to intervene in the world and create a new phenomenon -the void. Just as The Emergence of Probability and The Taming of Chance constitute not only examples of the application of scientific styles, but also the historical background that inspires this Hackinian notion, in Shapin y Schaffer’s book, Hacking finds the historical background for the new style he proposes: the laboratory style. This paper begins by presenting Hacking's proposed styles of scientific thinking & doing, then focuses on his characterization of the laboratory style. It concludes with an analysis of Hacking’s use of the history of Hobbes, Boyle, and the vacuum pump to illustrate his aforementioned projects.
Historical Conditions of Possibility for the Emergence of Scientific Concepts and Objects
Hackinian Project of Styles of Scientific Thinking & Doing
Intervention into Nature and Creation of Phenomena
Copyright (c) 2025 María Laura Martínez https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
This paper examines Bruno Latour’s reading of Leviathan and the Air-Pump, arguing that the Boyle–Hobbes controversy, as reconstructed by Shapin and Schaffer, becomes foundational for Latour’s critique of modernity. It situates Latour’s reception of the book within broader shifts in science studies during the 1980s, focusing on the principle of generalized symmetry and a critique of social constructivism—a critique that, in Latour’s account, turns on the partition of representation introduced by the modern Constitution. This conceptual division assigns the representation of humans to politics and that of nonhumans to science—a structure that, according to Latour, emerged only with the settlement of the Boyle–Hobbes controversy. The paper shows how Latour appropriates the conceptual personae of Hobbes and Boyle as delineated by Shapin and Schaffer and transforms them into the founding figures of this bifurcation, while bringing to light the theologico-political dimension of the laboratory.
Copyright (c) 2025 Pablo N. Pachilla https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
The Social Value of the Trust-Truth Bond in a Post-Truth Era
Shapin and Shaffer’s book offers a socio-historical approach that highlights the inseparable relationship between the processes of producing “true” knowledge and the constitution of the epistemic community that produces and legitimates that knowledge and takes responsibility for it. Such legitimacy and authority are being discredited by phenomena characterized under the label of “post-truth.” The authors present their book as a study that characterizes the debate between Boyle’s “experimentalism” and Hobbes’s demonstrative method, as a response to the problem of assent and social order in the context of the Monarchical Restoration following the Civil War. I find an opportunity to reflect on the foundations of the acceptance of knowledge provided by the natural and social sciences in the current context of the post-truth phenomenon. The strategy is to follow our authors in the issue that has guided their research: How does a (scientific) community that works tirelessly to produce consensus around knowledge describe the knowledge achieved as given, rather than produced? The book reveals an interweaving between truth and trust. This will lead us to discourage dichotomies such as the given and the constructed, individualism-holism, fact-value, and move toward a consideration of “epistemic responsibility” within a communal framework.
Copyright (c) 2025 Verónica Tozzi Thompson https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Copyright (c) 2025 Simon Schaffer, Ana Carolina Vimiero Gomes, Gabriel da Costa Ávila, Mauro L. Condé https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Edgar Zilsel: Researches in the history of science and philosophy
Copyright (c) 2025 Mauro L. Condé https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Copyright (c) 2025 Steven Shapin , María de los Ángeles Martini, Mauro L. Condé https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
The Validity of Leviathan and the Air-Pump
Copyright (c) 2025 María de los Ángeles Martini https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Forty Years of Leviathan and the Air-Pump and the Horizons of a Transnational Historiography of Science
Copyright (c) 2025 Marina S. Duarte https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Copyright (c) 2024 Marina S. Duarte, Fábio R. Leite https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Special Issue History and Philosophy of Science in the Belle Époque (1871-1914) Introduction: The Rayonnement of Science and the History and Philosophy of Science in the Belle Époque
Copyright (c) 2024 João Príncipe, Fábio Rodrigo Leite https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
A Reconstruction of Gilles Deleuze’s Contribution in Einstein-Bergson Debate
This paper aims to explore how Gilles Deleuze’s philosophy of time can enhance our understanding of the central themes arising from the famous 1922 debate between Albert Einstein and Henri Bergson on the nature of time, as well as Bergson’s critique of Einstein in Duration and Simultaneity. To achieve this goal, the paper begins with a review of Einstein’s theory of relativity, Bergson’s critique of it, and a summary of Deleuze’s theory of time as appears in Difference and Repetition. Subsequently, it explores Deleuze’s call in Bergsonism to investigate the metaphysics of the theory of relativity. It will be demonstrated that this metaphysics underlies the incorporation of a concept of time that, diverging from the measured time found in physical formulas, fundamentally alters the physical paradigm itself. Finally, the paper examines how Deleuze’s own metaphysical framework contributes to the demands of this physical theory.
Copyright (c) 2024 Mehdi Parsa https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Philipp Frank and the Relationship Between Physics and Philosophy in the Belle Époque
Philipp Frank (1884-1966) was an Austrian theoretical physicist and philosopher and a founding member of the Vienna Circle. Although much of his recognition as a proponent of logical positivism emerged in the 1920s, Frank’s deep interest in and engagement with philosophy, particularly the philosophy of science, was evident from the early years of his professional career. Under the mentorship of Ludwig Boltzmann at the University of Vienna and significantly influenced by Ernst Mach, Frank exemplified key traits among Austrian physicists of the early 20th century: a commitment to antidogmatism, a pluralistic approach, and an emphasis on dialogue amidst the growing specialization and fragmentation of knowledge. This article aims to explore both the personality and his ideas through an examination of Frank’s articles and reviews from his formative years in 1907 up until the end of the so-called Belle Époque in 1914.
Copyright (c) 2024 Rafael Velloso , Antonio Augusto Passos Videira https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Carl Hempel and the Analytical Tradition
This article brings into debate two contemporary traditions – one of French origin, dominant in the historiographical scenario of the mid-twentieth century, the Annales, and another of German-English tradition, represented above all by the works of the philosopher Carl Hempel. The dialogue between them and, eventually, the symptomatic lack of communication, gives rise to a discussion about the scientificity of history, an important theme to both positions and widely debated in the 1940s and 1950s. The hypothesis is that disciplinary contacts, academic hierarchies and the theoretical borders observed from this debate help to understand fundamental elements of the dynamics of academic consecration in that context, beyond the agreement or disagreement that can be observed at the level of the theory of history.
Copyright (c) 2024 Alexandra Dias Ferraz Tedesco https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
In the years 1903-1910, Poincaré developed thoughts about the relationship between ethics and science. This essay gives a historical or genetic framework for these thoughts and analyzes their content. Around 1895, Ferdinand Brunetière claimed that science was bankrupt, and Marcelin Berthelot responded in the name of science. Poincaré came to affirm an ideal of science that shows its moral value, centered on the disinterested cult of truth, independence of spirit, criticism and vigilance towards prejudices, a skepticism that prevents presenting as science what is only half-science. At the same time, Poincaré, who attributed the driving force of moral actions to feelings, insisted on the impossibility/disadvantage of reducing morality to science. Attentive to the antinomies that arise in the confrontation and interaction of human things, he showed himself attentive to the contemporary debates associated with the emergence of Durkheimian sociology and the possibility of a “science des mœurs”.
Copyright (c) 2024 João Príncipe https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Louis Couturat (1868-1914) is well known as the editor of Leibniz’s Opuscules et Fragments Inédits and for his study La Logique de Leibniz, which is often wrongly associated with his interpretation of Leibniz’s metaphysics. The confusion is twofold since both his book and his interpretation of Leibniz’s metaphysics are equally often identified with Russell’s famous interpretation, despite their remarkable differences. The purpose of this essay is to show that such confusions have obscured Couturat’s role as a historian of logic and, in particular, in relating the emerging systems of logic in the 19th century with the Leibnizian project of a characteristica universalis and a calculus ratiocinator. Couturat must therefore be seen as the oldest pioneer of van Heijenoort interpretation, according to which the new logic arises under two traditions, one with the idea of logic as a language and the other with the idea of logic as a pure logical calculus.
Copyright (c) 2024 Víctor Manuel Hernández Márquez https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
This paper revisits Mortimer Taube’s Computers and Common Sense: The Myth of Thinking Machines (1961), positioning his critique of artificial intelligence (AI) within the broader frameworks of the history and philosophy of science (HPS) and science and technology studies (STS). While often recognized for its relevance to early AI debates, Taube’s work offers insights that extend beyond computing. He critiques the technocratic optimism present in many scientific fields, highlighting the tendency of scientific enterprises to overpromise and underdeliver. Taube explores how scientific legitimacy is constructed and the societal consequences of scientific overreach. This paper situates Taube’s critique within philosophical debates on the limits of scientific authority and speculative claims. Additionally, Taube’s ethical concerns about the misallocation of public resources toward speculative research are examined. His critique remains, therefore, relevant today, particularly in discussions around AI, quantum computing, and biotechnology, emphasizing the need for empirical rigor and ethical oversight. By situating Taube’s work within broader mid-20th-century critiques of science and technology, this paper underscores its enduring value for understanding modern scientific challenges.
Copyright (c) 2024 Alberto Bardi https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
The Development of Experimental Physiology
In the mid-19th century, experimental physiology emerged as an important field of research, coinciding with the flourishing of various other scientific disciplines. The experimental approach in physiology involved vivisection, which led to an increase in the number of experiments performed on living animals. The growing interest in this discipline had consequences not only within the scientific community but also in society. Through a historical study of this period, the specificities of the development of physiology in Britain – where ethical opposition to experiments was most pronounced – will be described. This aims to highlight two key consequences: the perception of the physiological laboratory as a modern and specialized environment for science and the need for regulation of the use of living animals for scientific purposes during the period.
Copyright (c) 2024 Giovanna Perez Altieri, Maurício de Carvalho Ramos https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Leonard Euler in the “Scientific Revolution” Concept of Thomas Kuhn
This study seeks to clarify T. Kuhn’s “theory of scientific revolution” in the application of the laws of I. Newton to the theory of the Moon’s motion. It argues that I. Newton’s formulae produced at least three approaches. L. Euler provided one by gearing the formula to the needs of practical astronomy and developed calculation techniques that could answer all practical needs, using the apparatus of differentials and derivatives developed by G. W. Leibniz. J. L. Lagrange took Newton’s concept of ‘force’ and developed it into the formalism of ‘impulse’ and ‘energy’. Later G. Plana returned to the point where L. Euler had started, but he used the law of universal gravitation instead of the 2nd law of Newton in his equations. Thus I. Newton’s laws and ideas were developed in totally different directions, none of which seemed enough in the 19th century.
Copyright (c) 2024 Dmitri Starostin https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Experimental Zoology and the Concept of Milieu
This paper explores the evolution of zoology during the Belle Époque, a time marked by the transformation of this discipline toward an experimental approach. By focusing on marine stations, the paper examines how these infrastructures enabled the study of marine organisms in their natural environment, illustrating this shift through the example of the Arago Laboratory and its founder, Henri de Lacaze-Duthiers. The analysis addresses the epistemic functions of marine laboratories, their contribution to contemporary epistemological reflections, and the impact of the concept of milieu in this context.
Copyright (c) 2024 Théophile Carrau https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
The Economy of Thought in Mach, Poincaré and Duhem
In this work, we describe the concepts of complexes of sensations, economy of thought and causality, conventionalism in mathematics and natural science, distinction between metaphysics and science, on Ernst Mach, Henri Poincaré and Pierre Duhem. We intend to emphasize the characteristic common to the thought of these three thinkers: the economic function of thought. This ideas of Ernst Mach, Henri Poincaré and Pierre Duhem, give an image of science that does not distinguish between a context of discovery and a context of justification and, therefore, they do not see logic as a necessary and sufficient condition to analyze and justify scientific knowledge.
Copyright (c) 2024 Roberto Estrada Olguín https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Copyright (c) 2024 Yue Liang , Fa-ti Fan https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Copyright (c) 2024 Marina S. Duarte https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Copyright (c) 2024 Mairna S. Duarte, Fábio R. Leite https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Towards the end of his life, Michel Foucault proposed an interpretation of the sexual revolution in terms of “desexualisation”. The purpose of this essay is to outline the relationships between homosexual and queer experiences and those in late antiquity and Christianity. Through an analysis of the Foucauldian interpretation of Augustine of Hippo –specifically of his doctrine on paradisiacal sex and chastity– the aim is to demonstrate that asceticism may be conceived as a different exercise of sexuality that do not solely consists of abstinence, abstention, self-control or abnegation but, rather, libido is the very foundation of the subject’s being. Such a spiritual and sexual experience – that for Augustine tears subject from his will – for Foucault is very akin to the principle that should govern every devenir-homosexuels. Somehow, both Augustine’s Confessiones and Foucault’s Confessions of the Flesh are testament of different but parallel lives.
Copyright (c) 2024 Sajjad Lohi https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Despite the increasing interest in the history of sexuality, there remains a significant risk in the history of science, namely, skepticism as an adverse reaction to the critical reconstruction of the contingent emergence of any scientific theory. It is important to understand how an excessive critical spirit might lead to an anti-scientific attitude to find alternative ways of historizing the scientia sexualis. I explore such alternative paths through the history of hysteria, a highly polemical phenomenon that intertwined neurology, psychiatry, psychoanalysis, feminism, literature and, of course, sexuality. After highlighting some of the controversies around the topic, I discuss the ontological status of hysteria and how to conduct historical research on it without falling into the Scylla of naturalism or the Charybdis of constructivism.
Copyright (c) 2024 David Antolínez Uribe https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/