Categorias fleckianas aplicadas ao experimento de Ørsted e suas diferentes interpretações: uma revisão epistemológica para o ensino de ciências

Abstract

The historical construction of a scientific fact is shaped by multiple factors involving scientists, scientific communities, the public and the culture of a given time. Bringing this complex constitution into the classroom remains one of the greatest challenges for science teachers. The epistemology of Ludwik Fleck (1896–1961) addresses various aspects of knowledge production and offers an analytical framework through categories such as “thought styles” and “thought collectives,” “esoteric and exoteric circles,” and “intra and intercollective circulations,” which provide new insights into the true nature of science as a collective endeavor. This research aims to investigate, through a documental research of various 19th-century historical records related to Hans Christian Ørsted’s experiment on the interaction between electricity and a magnetic needle, including records by André-Marie Ampère, Michael Faraday, Jean-Baptiste Biot, and Félix Savart, possible thought collectives and thought styles, outlining the influences of each collective in the historical construction of the fact later known as the “discovery of electromagnetism.” Finally, we propose a Fleckian epistemological approach to this historical episode, with the aim of fostering new reflections on science education.