Philosophy Wire: I "see" chemical bonds <> I interpret an image

Philosophy Wire by Spiros Kakos [2012-09-18]: A pioneering team from IBM in Zurich has published single-molecule images so detailed that the type of atomic bonds between their atoms can be discerned. [source: BBC News] Before being ecstatic about such announcements, one should always be a little careful. What is that we actually "see" ? Surely the image I post above, but what "IS" that image? The only way to securely describe what we see is to claim that "we see what we see". Nothing more. There are no "bonds" in there, no "molecules". We have created those notions with our modern chemistry and we will "destroy" them as soon as a new chemistry (possibly one not including molecules and bonds at all, but only chords) will arise. Interpreting is not "seeing"...

 

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Philosophy Wire: Electronic microscope – What do you “see” ?

Philosophy Wire by Spiros Kakos [2012-01-26]: Scientists report the first 3-D images of an individual protein ever obtained from an electronic microscope with enough clarity to determine its structure [source: web news]. Every time scientists think they “see” something with an electronic microscope ONE NAME should come to the mind of everyone: Hillman. Search the name and you will be surprised… [Letter to Students of Biology of the Twenty First Century]

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