Abstract

A historical rescue and philosophical studies of Charles Du Fay. Ens. Pesqui. Educ. Ciênc. [online]. 2015, vol.17, n.1, pp.105-126. ISSN 1983-2117.  https://doi.org/10.1590/1983-211720175170105.

Charles Du Fay, a natural philosopher of the early eighteenth century, indulged himself an intense search to find mechanisms that could explain certain electrical phenomena not yet understood in his time. Performing numerous experiments in constant dialogue with the developed hypotheses, "discovers" sets out two principles and the repulsion as something legitimate of electrical interactions. In this perspective, this article points out, beyond the historical course of this scholar, the importance of analyzing the context of discovery, more appropriately, so that they can understand the non-neutrality of the scholar, the mistakes that drive the successes and the different methods of knowledge construction. Moreover, emphasizes the importance of historical and philosophical considerations in education that discusses, in addition to physical concepts, conceptions related to Nature of Science.

Keywords : Du Fay; Experiments; Context of discovery..

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