Concepts, Facts, and Sedimentation in Experimental Science
Concepts, Facts, and Sedimentation in Experimental Science
This chapter shows how Husserl's ideas may be fruitfully extended and applied in historical research in the experimental sciences, in this case, chemistry. It considers some notions that appear to be appropriate to that case and relates them to Husserl's concept of sedimentation. It also examines Charles Dufay's research, noting that it was directed more toward articulating concepts than it was toward theories. However, in the laboratory sciences, knowledge can sediment as materials and methods. In particular, the long sequence of conceptual articulation required by Dufay to attain his new concept of electricity eventually sedimented for his successors. Their unreflective use of these concepts and equipment both contained and concealed the results of Dufay's painstaking laboratory work.
Keywords: experimental sciences, chemistry, Husserl's sedimentation, laboratory sciences, conceptual articulation, Charles Dufay
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