Visual representations (photographs, diagrams, etc.) play crucial roles in scientific processes. They help, for example, to communicate research results and hypotheses to scientific peers as well as to the lay audience. In genuine research activities they are used as evidence or as surrogates for research objects which are otherwise cognitively inaccessible. Despite their important functional r…
As the considerations in the previous chapter made clear, visual representations are, without doubt, part of many epistemic processes in contemporary science. Scientists present diagrams in their publications and talks to communicate their research results. They investigate computer-generated images as substitutes for research objects. Drawings in textbooks are used to educate novices, to intro…