Figural Co-Production

María De Los Ángeles Martini

doi:10.24117/2526-2270.2021.i11.04

Abstract

The aim of this article is to provide a critical revision of the notion of “reception” of academic works in general and of the histories of the sciences in particular. This will broaden the scope of the notion in a way that can include the new and unexpected receptions of the history of science in Latin America. To achieve this, I propose the concept of “figural co-production”, which I understand as a set of situated practices where the available cultural resources are appropriated, and that allows for productive interactions between heterogeneous collectives that aim for the configuration of knowledge. This theoretical proposal enables me to analyze Verónica Tozzi Thompson’s appropriation of the works of Steven Shapin and Martin Kusch in her pragmatist approach to the philosophy of history. This appropriation, I contend, can be seen as a case of reception of the shapinian history of science in Argentina.

Highlights

How can we address the reception of the history of science throughout a variety of academic disciplines? How can we rethink how non-academic collectives appropriate the historiographies of science made available by academia? And how can we rethink the academic appropriations of non-academic cultural resources? To answer these questions, the present article problematizes different understandings of the notion of ‘reception’ of academic works in general and of the history of science in particular
The objective is to present a critical proposal of the notion in such a way that it includes the plural and unexpected receptions of the history of science in Latin America
The concept of “figural co-production” will allow me to examine the productive interactions that took place within heterogeneous collectives in the configuration of knowledge. Drawing from this analysis, I present the work of the Argentinian philosopher Tozzi Thompson (2012) and her appropriation of the work of Shapin and Kusch as an illustration of the unexpected reception of the shapinian history of science

Summary

Introduction

The objective is to present a critical proposal of the notion in such a way that it includes the plural and unexpected receptions of the history of science in Latin America. The concept of “figural co-production” will allow me to examine the productive interactions that took place within heterogeneous collectives in the configuration of knowledge. Drawing from this analysis, I present the work of the Argentinian philosopher Tozzi Thompson (2012) and her appropriation of the work of Shapin and Kusch as an illustration of the unexpected reception of the shapinian history of science. Besides the richness present in her disciplinary appropriation of different disciplines, Tozzi Thompson’s article deserves special attention because it allows me to present a reception case outside academia: the court case of María de los Ángeles Verón, better known as “Marita Verón’s case”

Objectives

Conclusion