The exemplification of the non-neutrality of scientific observation through the lunar drawings portrayed in the seventeenth century

Abstract

One aspect of the nature of science (nos) is illustrated through one historical episode of science depicted in images, in order to emphasize that both theoretical and technical questions exert influence on the mode of knowledge production. At first, the non-neutrality of the observation is emphasized as evidencing the influence that the theories and artistic techniques related to the perspective and the chiaroscuro exerted under the way Thomas Harriot, Galileo Galilei and Lodovico Cardi represented the lunar surface. Finally, it is considered the potential of this analysis to increase scientific education by highlighting the importance of images in the understanding and historical construction of knowledge.