Visualization and Cognition (Latour)

Key Words and Definitions

• There is a “grand dichotomy” between prescientific and scientific cultures, which should be replaced with uncertain and unexpected divides.

  • This dichotomy is merely a border but not any natural boundary, but are maintained to prevent absurd consequences of relativism

  • Changes in the capitalistic mode of production, dubbed “materialist”, explain the ways which we prove, argue and believe things.

  • The only way to escape simplistic relativist position is to look at explanations that take writing and imaging into account – also known as inscriptions!

1. Agonistic: The overcoming of an argument.

2. Inscriptions: writing and images which help make agonistic situations more favorable. The following traits should not be isolated from one another:

1. Mobile: They can move around. (eg: maps, diagrams, Petri dishes)

2. Immutable: When they move around, they are kept in their state.

3. Flat: There is nothing hidden or convoluted (eg: a diagram, chart, graph)

4. Modifiable scales: Can be reconstructed in size without changing its internal proportions.

5. Reproducible: Spread at little cost.

6. Recombinable: Since they are mobile, flat, reproducible, and variable, this is made possible.

7. Superimposable: Multiple images can be recombined of different scales and origins. (think of Google maps)

8. Able to be made part of a written text

9. Able to be merged with geometry: You cannot measure the sun, but you can measure a photograph of the sun with a ruler.

3. Optical Consistency: No matter from what distance and angle an object is seen, it is always possible to transfer it – to translate it – and to obtain the same object at a different size as seen from another position.

   1. Why is this important? Because it establishes what is called a “linear perspective framework”, where you can allow perspectives to move through space and return where it came from.

   2. It allows the shift of senses to vision in an agonistic situation (you can look at a map and determine certain things about it, although you can’t smell or touch it, but the absent things are now being able to be discussed.)

4. Visual Culture: How a culture sees the world and makes it visible.

   1. These visual cultures are not supposed to be “objective”, but rather, have optical consistency.

   2. Sort of like Professional Vision (Goodwin)