Abstract
When do knowledge claims become formal knowledge; that is, accepted as reliable, valid and useful, extending the scope of perspectives and supplying sufficient explanations for natural and/or social phenomena? What elements account for the genesis of scientific knowledge? Who are the key persons to push an idea to become a real issue on the knowledge agenda? And how can the evolutionary process be explained that a once accepted theory is superseded by a completely new way of framing an issue? These kinds of questions are addressed by scholars of the sociology of scientific knowledge (SSK), or the sociology of scientific ignorance (SSI).
Discovery is not finding new things, but to look at things with new eyes.
Marcel Proust
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Alper, T. et al. (1967) ‘Does the Agent of Scrapie Replicate without Nucleic Acid?’, Nature 214: 764–6.
Bolton, D. C. et al. (1982) ‘Identification of a Protein that Purifies with the Scrapie Prion’, Science 218: 1309–11.
Büeler, H. et al. (1992) ‘Normal Development and Behaviour of Mice Lacking the Neuronal Cell-surface PrP Protein’, Nature 356: 577–82.
Callon, M. and B. Latour (1981) ‘Unscrewing the Big Leviathan: How Actors Macro-Structure Reality and How Sociologists Help Them To Do So’, in K. Knorr-Cetina and A. V. Cicourel (eds) Advances in Social Theory and Methodology - Towards an Integration of Micro and Macro Sociologies. Boston: Routledge & Kegan Paul: 277–303.
Comber, T. (1772) ‘Real Improvements in Agriculture: on the Principle of A. Young Esq’ (letters to Reade Peacock, Esq. and to Dr. Hunter, Physician in York, concerning the Rickets in sheep). London: Nicoll.
Cuillé, J. and P. L. Chelle (1936) ‘La maladie dite tremblante du mouton est-elle inoculable?’, C.R. Acad. Sci. (Paris) 203: 1552–4.
Diringer, H. (1985) ‘Unconventional Slow Viruses, Amyloidosis, and Dementias’, Lancet ii: 661–2.
Diringer, H. (1990) ‘Durchbrechen von Speziesbarrieren mit unkonventionellen Viren’, Bundesgesundheitsblatt 10/90: 435–40.
Diringer, H. and R. H. Kimberlin (1983) ‘Infectious Scrapie Agent is Apparently not as Small as Recent Claims Suggest’, Bioscience Reports 3: 563–8.
Diringer, H. et al. (1983) ‘Scrapie Infectivity, Fibrils and Low Molecular Weight Protein’, Nature 306: 476–8.
Dressel, K. (2002) BSE - the New Dimension of Uncertainty. The Cultural Politics of Science and Decision-Making. Berlin: Edition Sigma.
Felt, U. et al. (1995) Wissenschaftsforschung. Eine Einführung. Frankfurt/Main: Campus.
Foucault, M. (1977) Sexualität und Wahrheit. Der Wille zum Wissen. Frankfurt/Main: Suhrkamp.
Franklin, J. (2000) ‘Thomas Kuhn’s Irrationalism’, The New Criterion 18 (10), June.
Fuller, S. (2000) Thomas Kuhn: a Philosophical History for Our Times. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Gibbons, R. A. et al. (1967) ‘Nature of the Scrapie Agent’, Nature 215: 1041–3.
Hsiao, K. et al. (1989) ‘Linkage of a Prion Protein Missense Variant to Gerstmann-Sträußler Syndrome’, Nature 338: 342–5.
Hunter, G. D. et al. (1964) ‘Studies on the Heat Stability and Chromatographic Behaviour of the Scrapie Agent’, J. Gen. Microbiol. 37: 251–8.
Kellings, K. et al. (1992) ‘Further Analysis of Nucleic Acids in Purified Scrapie Prion Preparations by Improved Return Focusing Gel Electrophoresis’, J. Gen. Virol. 73: 1025–9.
Kellings, K. et al. (1995) ‘Analysis of Residual Nucleic Acids in Scrapie Prions with Differing Degrees of Aggregation’ (dissertation). Düsseldorf: Heinrich-Heine- Universität.
Kuhn, T. (1970 [1962]) The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. Edited by International Encyclopedia of Unified Science 2(2), 2nd edn, Enlarged. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
McKinley, M. P. and S. B. Prusiner (1981) ‘Reversible Chemical Modification of the Scrapie Agent’, Science 214: 1259–61.
McKinley, M. P. et al. (1983) ‘A Protease-resistant Protein is a Structural Component of Scrapie Prion’, Cell 35: 57–62.
Merz, P. A. et al. (1981) ‘Abnormal Fibrils from Scrapie-infected Brain’, Acta Neuropathol. 54: 63–74.
Oesch, B. et al. (1985) ‘A Cellular Gene Encodes Scrapie PrP (27–30) Protein’, Cell 40: 735–46.
Prusiner, S. B. (1980) ‘Slow Viruses: Molecular Properties of the Agents Causing Scrapie in Mice and Hamsters’, Prog. Clin. Biol. Res. 39: 73–89.
Prusiner, S. B. (1982) ‘Novel Proteinaceous Infectious Particles Cause Scrapie’, Science 216: 136–44.
Prusiner, S. B. et al. (1980) ‘Molecular Properties, Partial Purification and Assay by Incubation Period Measurements of Hamster Scrapie Agent’, Biochemistry 19: 4883–91.
Prusiner, S. B. et al. (1983) ‘Scapie Prions Aggregate to form Amyloid-like Birefringent Rods’, Cell 35: 349–58.
Safar, J. and S. B. Prusiner (1998) ‘Molecular Studies of Prion Disease’, Prog. Brain Res. 117: 421–34.
Sigurdsson, B. (1954) ‘Rida, a Chronic Encephalitis of Sheep with General Remarks on Infections which Develop Slowly and Some of Their Special Characteristics’, British Veterinary Journal 110: 341–54.
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Copyright information
© 2004 Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Dressel, K. (2004). Paradigm Change? Explaining the Nature of the TSE Agent in Germany. In: Seguin, E. (eds) Infectious Processes. Science, Technology and Medicine in Modern History. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230524392_4
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230524392_4
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-51588-2
Online ISBN: 978-0-230-52439-2
eBook Packages: Palgrave History CollectionHistory (R0)