Picturing Knowledge: Historical and Philosophical Problems Concerning the Use of Art in ScienceBrian Scott Baigrie The traditional concept of scientific knowledge places a premium on thinking, not visualizing. Scientific illustrations are still generally regarded as devices that serve as heuristic aids when reasoning breaks down. When scientific illustration is not used in this disparaging sense as a linguistic aid, it is most often employed as a metaphor with no special visual content. What distinguishes pictorial devices as resources for doing science, and the special problems that are raised by the mere presence of visual elements in scientific treatises, tends to be overlooked. The contributors to this volume examine the historical and philosophical issues concerning the role that scientific illustration plays in the creation of scientific knowledge. They regard both text and picture as resources that scientists employ in their practical activities, their value as scientific resources deriving from their ability to convey information. |
Contents
Some Thoughts on Scientific | 3 |
Vision | 40 |
Descartess Scientific Illustrations and la grande mécanique | 86 |
Illustrating Chemistry | 135 |
Representations of the Natural System in the Nineteenth | 164 |
Depicting the MissingLink | 184 |
Towards an Epistemology of Scientific Illustration | 215 |
Illustration and Inference | 250 |
Visual Models and Scientific Judgment | 269 |
Are Pictures Really Necessary? The Case of Sewall Wrights | 303 |
339 | |
NOTES ON CONTRIBUTORS | 373 |
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Picturing Knowledge: Historical and Philosophical Problems Concerning the ... Brian Scott Baigrie No preview available - 1996 |