Article ID Journal Published Year Pages File Type
1161978 Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part C: Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences 2011 4 Pages PDF
Abstract

In this paper, I consider Santiago Ramón y Cajal’s strategy of histological observation and imaging in terms of what I call “induction of visibility” (Fiorentini, 2011). Cajal’s strategy of visibility induction drew upon both rational and aesthetic visual sensibility, and considered this interplay to be a constitutive element of knowledge production. I propose to describe Cajal’s fundamental attitude towards visually inferred knowledge in terms of an “aesthetic epistemology”.

► I discuss Cajal’s strategy of microscopic observation and imaging. ► I define it as process of induction of visibility. ► This process draws upon visual selection, visual assemblage, and judgment. ► Interplay between rational and aesthetic visual sensibility constitutes knowledge production thereby. ► This way to obtain and infer knowledge is defined as aesthetic epistemology.

Related Topics
Life Sciences Agricultural and Biological Sciences Agricultural and Biological Sciences (General)
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