ABSTRACT
Scientists use pictures, images, diagrams, graphs, charts, lists, and many hybrid forms of representation as cognitive tools. They facilitate thinking about what they represent, serve as forms of evidence, means of communication, and aids to discovery. Philosophers have tried to show how these representations further scientists’ goals. William Wimsatt (1990) illustrates how they allow us to think effectively about complex, interacting systems. Andrea Woody shows how diagrams in quantum chemistry “highlight or bring to the surface certain aspects of the mathematical structure of the underlying quantum theory” (2000: 624). Mary Morgan sees the Edge-worth box as “a tool for reasoning about the economic world using the conceptual resources of the diagram” (2004: 763). Laura Perini draws attention to how inferences about chemical reactions can be “facilitated by the visual format of [a] table” (2005a: 919). And Dominic Lopes (2009) makes related points about lithic drawings in archaeology.
