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Reasoning with visual metaphors

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 July 2013

James W. McAllister
James W. McAllister*
Affiliation:
Institute of Philosophy, University of Leiden, P.O. Box 9515, 2300 RA Leiden, The Netherlands; e-mail: j.w.mcallister@phil.leidenuniv.nl
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Abstract

Research into visual reasoning up to now has focused on images that are literal depictions of their objects. I argue in this article that an important further mode of visual reasoning operates on images that depict objects metaphorically. Such images form part of the class of expressive symbols: they are found, for example, in allegorical representations in works of visual art, studied by iconology. They were also a common way of encapsulating insights about the universe in natural philosophy in the Renaissance. Many writers assume that expressive symbols have vanished from modern science, but I argue in the second part of the article that mathematical law statements in present-day physics should be seen, in part, as images that constitute expressive symbols of the world. In support of this view, I offer evidence that law statements relate to their objects metaphorically and that physicists engage with them primarily through visual inspection and visual reasoning.

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Articles
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The Knowledge Engineering Review , Volume 28 , Special Issue 3: Visualization, Visual Representation and Reasoning , September 2013 , pp. 367 - 379
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2013 

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