What do scientific texts refer to? On the epistemological relevance of visualization to scientific research

Abstract

That scientific research is not discovering the objects onto which is refers to, but rather produces them, is per se a trivial insight – and a widely agreed upon one in theory of science. The question is why science, in its everyday research practice, is mostly neglecting this insight. The present paper attempts to show that and how visualization techniques contribute to this self-deception. The central hypothesis of this study is explicated with the help of Leonardo da Vinci’s anatomic drawings. These drawings did not originate from mere perception of reality; rather, they are ideograms in the sense of Ludwik Fleck, i.e., graphic representations of ideas or of theories on how – in this case: bodily –processes might function.