Face to Face with I.P. Pavlov Jerzy Konorski and Orthodox Pavlovianism in Poland

• Authors: Olšáková Doubravka
• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

This text uses the case study of the Polish physiologist Jerzy Konorski (1903– 1973), who worked in I.P. Pavlov’s laboratory for two years, to examine the scientifi c and political disciplining of a researcher whose results contradicted both the reigning scientifi c paradigm (Pavlov’s teachings about refl exes) and the political regime. In the case of Konorski we are dealing with research in type II conditional refl exes (“motor conditioning”, as he called it, as opposed to Pavlov’s “classical conditioning”) and his interpretation thereof, with which Pavlov disagreed, and refused to further engage within the 1930s, though a part of it was incorporated into his later works. After the declaration of orthodox Pavlovianism as the exclusive paradigm of physiology of the Eastern Bloc in 1949, Konorski, as a collaborator of Pavlov’s who was known for his critical approach to Pavlov’s theories, was, under the supervision of Moscow, pushed into isolation by the new Communist regime. Unlike Nazism, the 1950s were not characterized by the physical elimination of scientists but rather their ideological re-education, which shares many features with Foucault’s concept of power and its symbolical implementation.

Keywords

EN

Jerzy Konorski; Ivan Pavlov; Pavlovianism; reflexes; motor conditioning; classical conditioning Communist regime

PL

Jerzy Konorski; Iwan Pawłow; pawłowianizm, odruchy warunkowe; odruchy instrumentalne; warunkowanie klasyczne; reżim komunistyczny

• Publisher: Polska Akademia Nauk. Instytut Historii Nauki im. Ludwika i Aleksandra Birkenmajerów
• Journal: Analecta. Studia i Materiały z Dziejów Nauki
• Year: 2018
• Volume: 27
• Issue: 1(52)
• Pages: 125-156

Contributors

author

Olšáková Doubravka

• Institute of Contemporary History, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Prague