Resumo Este artigo pretende avaliar o papel da imagem na história do atomismo e sua relação com a ideia da visualização do invisível da matéria, com enfoque nas perspectivas epistemológicas de Gaston Bachelard. As origens do atomismo estão ligadas à visão, mas é somente no final do século XVI que a iconografia atomística surge. No artigo, a autora procura evidenciar a tentação humana para o “reino das imagens”: começando por explanar a importância da “metafísica da poeira” ; fazendo notar que (...) o termo “átomo” designou entidades diversas e ressaltando a importância conferida à geometria nas concepções atomísticas, tão presente ao longo da história do atomismo filosófico; tecendo considerações sobre uma das primeiras imagens do átomo - Area Democriti, de Giordano Bruno; colocando em destaque a problemática da imagem no atomismo contemporâneo e do seu radical abstracionismo; explorando o paradoxo da utilidade das imagens a partir de várias obras bachelardianas; mostrando que Bachelard não parece tomar a noção de imagem em sentido lato e que distinguir imagens de não-imagens é supor que ela tenha uma essência e classificação estável; e, por fim, apontando para o fato de cada vez mais a filosofia da ciência tentar apurar qual a função que a iconografia pode ter na criação científica e na transmissão de conhecimento.This article aims to evaluate the role of image in the history of atomism and its relation with the idea of visualization of the invisible of matter, focusing on the epistemological perspectives of Gaston Bachelard. The origins of atomism are linked to vision, but it is only in the late sixteenth century that the atomistic iconography appears. In the article, the author seeks to evince the human temptation to "the realm of images": starting by expounding the importance of the "metaphysics of dust" ; noting that the term "atom" has designated several entities and emphasizing the importance given to geometry in atomistic conceptions, so present throughout the history of philosophical atomism; making considerations about one of the first images of the atom - Area Democriti, of Giordano Bruno; by highlighting the problematics of the image in contemporary atomism and of its radical abstractionism; exploring the paradox of the usefulness of images from various works of Bachelard; showing that Bachelard does not seem to take the concept of image in a broad sense and that to distinguish images of non-images is to assume that it has an essence and stable classification; and, finally, pointing to the fact that increasingly the philosophy of science attempts to investigate what function the iconography may have in scientific creation and transmission of knowledge. (shrink)

ABSTRACT This essay examines drawings of antiquities in the context of the history of early modern scientific illustration. The role of illustrations in the establishment of archaeology as a discipline is assessed, and the emergence of a graphic style for representing artifacts is shown to be closely connected to the development of scientific illustration in the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries. The essay argues that the production of conventionalized drawings of antiquities during this period represents a fundamental shift in the (...) approach to ancient material culture, signifying the recognition of objects as evidence. As has been demonstrated in other scientific fields, the creation of a visual system for recording objects was central to the acceptance of artifacts as “data” that could be organized into groups, classified as types, and analyzed to gain knowledge of the past. (shrink)

ABSTRACT Throughout the early modern period, the most widely read astronomical textbooks were Johannes de Sacrobosco's De sphaera and the Theorica planetarum, ultimately in the new form introduced by Georg Peurbach. This essay argues that the images in these texts were intended to develop an “intelligent eye.” Students were trained to transform representations of specific heavenly phenomena into moving mental images of the structure of the cosmos. Only by learning the techniques of mental visualization and manipulation could the student “see” (...) in the mind's eye the structure and motions of the cosmos. While anyone could look up at the heavens, only those who had acquired the intelligent eye could comprehend the divinely created order of the universe. Further, the essay demonstrates that the visual program of the Sphaera and Theorica texts played a significant and hitherto unrecognized role in later scientific work. Copernicus, Galileo, and Kepler all utilized the same types of images in their own texts to explicate their ideas about the cosmos. (shrink)

ABSTRACT Throughout the early modern period, the most widely read astronomical textbooks were Johannes de Sacrobosco's De sphaera and the Theorica planetarum, ultimately in the new form introduced by Georg Peurbach. This essay argues that the images in these texts were intended to develop an “intelligent eye.” Students were trained to transform representations of specific heavenly phenomena into moving mental images of the structure of the cosmos. Only by learning the techniques of mental visualization and manipulation could the student “see” (...) in the mind's eye the structure and motions of the cosmos. While anyone could look up at the heavens, only those who had acquired the intelligent eye could comprehend the divinely created order of the universe. Further, the essay demonstrates that the visual program of the Sphaera and Theorica texts played a significant and hitherto unrecognized role in later scientific work. Copernicus, Galileo, and Kepler all utilized the same types of images in their own texts to explicate their ideas about the cosmos. (shrink)