Is There Really Something Which Might Be Called a 'Self-Demonstrating Picture' : Even Within Scientific Imagery? Some Observations on a Double Illusion of Communication

Torsten Weimarck

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingPaper in conference proceedingpeer-review

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Abstract

I will propose some ideas about such pictures claiming to be self-demonstrating or selfillustrating, mostly using some classical anatomy illustrations. Based on these you may say that the anatomy seems to create a remarkable, realistic pictorial code, which casts together in one single, selfdemonstrating shape, an object of knowledge with the properties of the natural object itself. This is the paradox of the self-demonstrating picture’s double illusion of communication: on the one hand it seems to be a picture of the natural appearance of the object, but on the other it is, in fact, simultaneously a depiction of a cognitive concept, a visual name of this object. It is a conditional and man-made classification, which is embodied into the body itself.
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationIdeas in History. Journal of the Nordic Society in the History of Ideas
EditorsBen Dorfman
PublisherMuseum Tusculanum Press
Pages71-87
Number of pages17
VolumeVol. 5
Publication statusPublished - 2012
EventThe Image in Science: Infrequently Asked Questions. Responses of the humanities to visualism in science. - Lund University
Duration: 2009 Nov 6 → …

Publication series

Name
NumberNo. 1-2, 2010/11
VolumeVol. 5
ISSN (Print)1890-1832

Conference

ConferenceThe Image in Science: Infrequently Asked Questions. Responses of the humanities to visualism in science.
Period2009/11/06 → …

Bibliographical note

The paper is accepted to be published in the journal Ideas in History.

Subject classification (UKÄ)

  • Art History

Free keywords

  • scientific images
  • anatomy
  • picture theory
  • self-demonstrating pictures

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