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Parsing pictures: on analyzing the content of images in science

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 August 2013

Letitia Meynell
Letitia Meynell*
Affiliation:
Philosophy Department, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada B3 H 4P9; e-mail: Letitia.Meynell@dal.ca
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Abstract

In this paper I tackle the question of what basic form an analytical method for articulating and ultimately assessing visual representations should take. I start from the assumption that scientific images, being less prone to interpretive complication than artworks, are ideal objects from which to engage this question. I then assess a recent application of Nelson Goodman's aesthetics to the project of parsing scientific images, Laura Perini's ‘The truth in pictures’. I argue that, although her project is an important one, her Goodmanian conventionalism produces a method of analysis that is incapable of adequately parsing a certain class of pictures and her focus on truth is unnecessary. This speaks against the promise of Goodman's analytical strategy for elucidating visual content and reasoning in the sciences and elsewhere. As an alternative, I develop John Willats’ analytical method and compare it to Perini's through engaging three of her examples—a chemical diagram, a graph and an electron micrograph. Ultimately, a space remains open for a mixed system where Willats’ account provides pictorial analysis and the Goodman–Perini approach parses visual languages.

Type
Articles
Information
The Knowledge Engineering Review , Volume 28 , Special Issue 3: Visualization, Visual Representation and Reasoning , September 2013 , pp. 327 - 345
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2013 

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