Hostname: page-component-54dcc4c588-smtgx Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-10-04T03:22:46.445Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
Accepted manuscript

Why We Love Pictures (for the Wrong Reasons): A lesson from the picture of a black hole

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 August 2025

Lorenzo Sartori*
Affiliation:
IMT School for Advanced Studies Lucca
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

In this paper, I first argue that similarity accounts of scientific pictures fail with more realistic cases of scientific pictures. My primary case study is the picture of a black hole, from which I develop an interpretation-based account of picture representation analogous to how models represent: a picture represents a designated target system iff, once interpreted, it exemplifies properties that are imputed to the target via a de-idealising function. Then, I argue that the justification of the inferences from mechanically produced pictures depends on their causal mechanisms of production, in contrast with the standard justificatory strategies employed for model inferences.

Information

Type
Contributed Paper
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2025. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Philosophy of Science Association