Imagining 'reactivity' : allergy within the history of immunology
01 Dec 2010-Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part C: Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences (Elsevier)-Vol. 41, Iss: 4, pp 356-366
TL;DR: It is argued that immunology is founded on a view of the organism as a discrete, autonomous entity, and on a concomitant notion of the immune response as essentially reactive, and suggests that Pirquet's unique view of immune responsiveness presents an account of organismic or biological identity that encapsulates, rather than reduces, its ecological complexity.
About: This article is published in Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part C: Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences.The article was published on 2010-12-01. It has received 10 citations till now.
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TL;DR: The original significance of the neologism ‘allergy’ became perverted and limited to describe hypersensitivity conditions and has long ago escaped from physicians and gone to the streets, where it is popularly used also as synonymous with antipathy and rejection.
Abstract: About 100 years ago, a young paediatrician understood that the function of the immune system should be rationalized not in terms of exemption of disease but in terms of change of reactivity. He coined a new word to represent such an idea: 'allergy': the first contact of the immune system with an antigen changes the reactivity of the individual; on the second and subsequent contacts, this change (or allergy) can induce a spectrum of responses from protective (literally, immune) to hypersensitivity ones. The idea was at first hardly understood by the scientific community because it undermined the essentially protective nature of the immune response as it was defined. Nevertheless, in the next years, the growing clinical evidence led to the acceptance of this new point of view, but not of the new word, at least not unconditionally. The original significance of the neologism 'allergy' became perverted and limited to describe hypersensitivity conditions. Perhaps because of the corruption of the term, today 'allergy' does not have a well-delimited significance among health professionals. Furthermore, the word has long ago escaped from physicians and gone to the streets, where it is popularly used also as synonymous with antipathy and rejection. This vulgarization of the term 'allergy' has significantly increased its imprecision.
51 citations
Cites background from "Imagining 'reactivity' : allergy wi..."
...But, despite the worthy efforts of eminent authors such as Samter (1), Silverstein (2), Simons (3), Kay (4), Jackson (5), Jamieson (6), and others in reviewing its history and meaning, few allergists and clinical immunologists know them....
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47 citations
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TL;DR: In immunology, allergy and autoimmunity are recognised as some of the most common types of immunopathology, involving errors in the protective and self-regulatory mechanisms associated with tolerance and immunity.
Abstract: In immunology, allergy and autoimmunity are recognised as some of the most common types of immunopathology. Both are conventionally viewed as deviations or aberrations of normal immune function, in...
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References
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TL;DR: A model of immunity based on the idea that the immune system is more concerned with entities that do damage than with those that are foreign is outlined.
Abstract: For over 50 years immunologists have based their thoughts, experiments, and clinical treatments on the idea that the immune system functions by making a distinction between self and nonself. Although this paradigm has often served us well, years of detailed examination have revealed a number of inherent problems. This Viewpoint outlines a model of immunity based on the idea that the immune system is more concerned with entities that do damage than with those that are foreign.
4,082 citations
Book•
01 Jan 1979
TL;DR: Friedck as discussed by the authors argued that facts are invented, not discovered, and that the appearance of scientific facts as discovered things is itself a social construction, a "made" thing.
Abstract: Originally published in German in 1935, this monograph anticipated solutions to problems of scientific progress, the truth of scientific fact and the role of error in science now associated with the work of Thomas Kuhn and others. Arguing that every scientific concept and theory including his own is culturally conditioned, Fleck was appreciably ahead of his time. And as Kuhn observes in his foreword, "Though much has occurred since its publication, it remains a brilliant and largely unexploited resource." "To many scientists just as to many historians and philosophers of science facts are things that simply are the case: they are discovered through properly passive observation of natural reality. To such views Fleck replies that facts are invented, not discovered. Moreover, the appearance of scientific facts as discovered things is itself a social construction, a "made" thing. A work of transparent brilliance, one of the most significant contributions toward a thoroughly sociological account of scientific knowledge." Steven Shapin, "Science""
2,384 citations
Book•
01 Jan 1982
TL;DR: Well, someone can decide by themselves what they want to do and need to do but sometimes, that kind of person will need some immunology the science of self nonself discrimination references.
Abstract: Well, someone can decide by themselves what they want to do and need to do but sometimes, that kind of person will need some immunology the science of self nonself discrimination references. People with open minded will always try to seek for the new things and information from many sources. On the contrary, people with closed mind will always think that they can do it by their principals. So, what kind of person are you?
394 citations
Book•
12 May 1989
TL;DR: The history of immunology can be traced back to 1892 when Metchnikoff et al. as mentioned in this paper proposed the concept of immunologic specificity and its application in immunology.
Abstract: PART ONE: INTELLECTUAL HISTORY 1. Theories of Acquired Immunity 2. Cellular vs. Humoral Immunity 3. Theories of Antibody Formation 4. The Generation of Diversity: The Germline/Somatic Mutation Debate 5. The Clonal Selection Theory Challenged: The Immunological Self 6. The Concept of Immunologic Specificity 7. Specificity Continued 8. Horror Autotoxicus: The Concept of Autoimmunity 9. Allergy and Immunopathology: The "Price" of Immunity 10. Anti-Antibodies and Anti-Idiotypic Immunoregulation: 1899-1904 11. Transplantation and Immunogenetics PART TWO: SOCIAL HISTORY 12. Magic Bullets and Poisoned Arrows: The Uses of Antibodies 13. The Royal Experiment: 1721-22 14. The Languages of Immunologic Dispute 15. The Search for Cell-Bound Antibodies. On the Influence of Dogma 16. Natural' Antibodies and 'Virgin' Lymphocytes: The Importance of Context 17. The Dynamics of Conceptual Change in Immunology 18. Immunology in Transition 1951-1972: The Role of International Meetings and Discipline Leaders 19. The Origin of Subdisciplines: (Ocular Immunology Pediatric Immunology Immunophysiology) 20. Immune Hemolysis: On the Heuristic Value of an Experimental System 21. Darwinism and Immunology: from Metchnikoff to Burnet 22. The End of Immunology? Appendix A1. The Calendar of Immunologic Progress Appendix A2. Seminal Discoveries Appendix A3. Important Books in Immunology, 1892 - 1968 Appendix B. Nobel Prize Highlights in Immunology Appendix C. Biographical Dictionary
294 citations
TL;DR: This paper explore some of the issues in question from the historian's point of view, paying particular attention to trends in literary criticism that suggest a reawakened interest in history, and explore the role of the historian with respect to issues of literary interpretation in contemporary critical debate.
Abstract: The study of literary texts appears at the moment to stand at a decisive juncture. Trends in critical thinking over the last decades have questioned the possibility of recovering a text's historical meaning. At the same time, there is a newly insistent plea for a return to "history" in the interpretation of literature. Before a rapprochement can occur, however, we need to have a clearer understanding of how both historians and critics understand "history" and of the ways in which postmodernist thought positions history and the role of the historian with respect to issues of literary interpretation at the forefront of contemporary critical debate. One thing is clear: the paradigms that have governed historical and literary study since the nineteenth century no longer hold unquestioned sway. The confident, humanist belief that a rational, "objective" investigation of the past permits us to recover "authentic" meanings in historical texts has come under severe attack in postmodernist critical debate. At stake in this debate are a number of concepts traditionally deployed by historians in their attempts to understand the past: causality, change, authorial intent, stability of meaning, human agency and social determination. What place, then, does history have in a postmodern theoretical climate? What, if anything, can the historian contribute to the reconfiguration of both theoretical concerns and interpretive practices signaled by the very notion of postmodernism? My purpose here is to explore some of the issues in question from the historian's point of view, paying particular attention to trends in literary criticism that suggest a reawakened interest in history.
228 citations