All knowledge, whether routine or based upon magical, religious, philosophical, scientific or artistic interpretations of reality, originates from practical problems. Since ancient times man has been concerned with diseases and their causes. Nevertheless, knowledge of the health-disease process in its collective sense, only crosses the threshold of positivity, that is to say, it only stands out as a discoursal practice, in the 17th century when the ideas of population, State and collectivity gain social significance. This knowledge, however, does not yet characterize a scientific discipline with its own set of enunciations, rules of investi-gation and coherence. The epistemological threshold will only be crossed in the 19th century with the use of statistics, rates, development of causal theories and definition of research methods. In the first half of the 20th century the transition of the discipline towards epidemiological science occurs by using analytical instruments such as statistics, defining the collective character of the object, and the systematization of methods. The current stage is the transition towards the threshold of formalization.
Epidemiology; Epidemiology, history; Science