Lorenzo Sartori MA

 October 1st until December 31st, 2024

Affiliation: 

Research for a study about:

Tba

Lecture

Scientific pictures, models, and their justification

Philosophy of Science Colloquium Talk

Logik Café Lecture

Date: November 07, 2024

Time: 4.45-6.15 pm

Venue:  Lecture Hall 2G, NIG Universitätsstraße 7, 2nd floor, 1090 Vienna

Abstract:

In this paper, I first show that similarity accounts of scientific pictures fail with more realistic cases of scientific pictures. My primary case study is the picture of a black hole, from which I develop an interpretation-based account of picture representation analogous to how models represent: a picture represents a designated target system iff, once interpreted, it exemplifies properties that are then imputed to the target via a de-idealising function. Then, I show that justification of the inferences from pictures crucially depends on their causal mechanisms of production, in contrast with the standard justificatory strategies we employ for model inferences.