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SCIENCE STUDIES EVENTS
MICROSCOPIC VISION?
Otávio Bueno
Department of Philosophy
University of South Carolina
November 29, 2005
Tuesday, 12:30pm-2:00pm
Sumwalt College, Room 102
Physicists, chemists, and biologists often describe the results of
experiments that use various kinds of microscopes in terms of
"observation". Given the unobservable nature of some the objects that are
studied (nanoparticles, viruses, bacteria), one wonders how we should make
sense of this way of speaking. Underlying this way of speaking is a
particular cluster of epistemological views regarding the reliability and
adequacy of microscopes. In this talk, I try to uncover key epistemological
assumptions that may be in place, and discuss whether we have good reason
to maintain them. The idea is to articulate the initial steps of an
epistemology for microscopy. I'll first consider 5 different microscopes,
examining their nature and limitations. I'll then try to extract some
common epistemological assumptions that may be in place when these
instruments are used. I'll then assess these assumptions, and sketch an
epistemological account of these microscopes.
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