Old Email Archive

digest 2001-02-23 #001.txt

11:17 PM 2/22/01 -0800
From: "Society for Literature & Science" 
Daily SLS Email Digest

-> possible session for Buffalo SLS
     by jal@its.caltech.edu

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: 22 Feb 2001 14:39:41 -0800
From: jal@its.caltech.edu
Subject: possible session for Buffalo SLS

Fellow SLSers:

I'm working on a presentation for this fall's (Buffalo, Oct. 11-14)
meeting, exploring what happens if scientific work loses contact with
observable phenomena and becomes too focused on representations
thereof, with particular reference to theoretical chemistry.
Suitably generalized, this seems to me a potentially good topic for a
session, and I'm looking to attract interested participants.  I've
drafted a working title and brief abstract, as follows:

"The Map is not the Territory"

Representation in science has been a major focus of science studies,
encompassing topics such as the roles of analogy and metaphor, the
use of models of all sorts -- mathematical, visual, mechanical, etc.
- -- and others.  It has been amply demonstrated, again and again, that
science cannot proceed without relying on representation.  But how
far does this go?  Do scientists come to treat the representations
they work with as more real than the underlying phenomena that are
represented, evaluating their hypotheses solely against the former
and disconnecting from the latter?  And if so, what are the
consequences?  Does this pose a risk, or is it just part of the
normal course of science?

The abstract poses questions primarily from a practicing scientist's
viewpoint, but I welcome participants from any field (and will be
happy to adjust the abstract and/or title if appropriate).  Anyone
interested, please respond within the next week or so, as the
deadline for panel proposals is March 15.

Best,

Jay
- --
Jay A. Labinger
Beckman Institute
California Institute of Technology
139-74
Pasadena, CA 91125
tel: 626-395-6520
fax: 626-449-4159