Deskribapena

The received view of scientific representation takes these, under a strong demarcationist view of science, as a specific and genuine type of representation in which the preservation of some particular structure — which each proposal attempts to characterise in its own terms— is the central concept.

An increasing amount of new work in the area during the last three or four decades has lead to a substantial reshaping of our standard understanding of scientific representation under the received view. In particular, the understanding of (i) what is it what we represent, and (ii) how we actually represent it, has been subject to modification. Such new results build on a generalisation into extended domains where representations are performed —e.g. image production in nanoscience/technology, computer simulations, etc.— on the one hand, and on a departure from the traditional views on representation on the other —e.g. emphasising the role of models in representations instead of theories, or focusing on the actual scientific representation practices. More generally, these new views point to a wider richer notion of representation, which is to be better comprehended in a practice-based framework, strongly dependent on the specific local contexts where actual representations are produced.

The conference aims to contribute to the debate by exploring some specific aspects of the departure from the tradition mentioned above.