The epistemological and historical concept of nostoc from an indiciary lecture of George Canguilhem's "The cell theory"

Abstract

Through an indiciary lecture of Canguilhem's article  "The cell theory", I propose, methodically guided by a epistemological-historical style research, the construction of the concept of nostoc as a metamorphic concept that integrated the concepts of primordial blastema and biblical slime of the French botanist Charles Naudin, set up a scientific culture of broad reach committed to solving the riddle of the morphological unity of organic and vital beings. The concept of Nostoc refers alchemically a gelatinous substance from the stars and endowed with balsamic medical virtues and botanically, a cianoficea algae of Nostoc genus. Examined the ideas of Canguilhem, Naudin, Jung and Paracelsus, this concept is proposed as a nucleoplasmatic oscillation, understood as a specific form of expression of the mythical-scientific theme of tension between continuity and discontinuity, as shown by Canguilhem in his history of cell concept.