Peter Galison, a Harvard professor, and Lorraine Daston, a historian at the Max Planck Institute, explore the nuanced concept of objectivity in their work. They discuss how the meaning of objectivity has evolved over time and its ties to the subjectivity of researchers. The conversation highlights the interplay between science and art, especially the influence of aesthetics on knowledge creation. They delve into the historical shifts in scientific representation and the growing significance of visual data in modern research, predicting future trajectories in image production.
01:05:45
forum Ask episode
web_stories AI Snips
view_agenda Chapters
menu_book Books
auto_awesome Transcript
info_circle Episode notes
question_answer ANECDOTE
Physicists Inspired by Medical Atlases
Peter Galison found physicists' use of medical atlases surprising, as they usually don't acknowledge learning from other fields.
Medical atlases provided a rich source on how to make objective scientific images.
insights INSIGHT
Mechanical Objectivity's Radical Shift
Mid-19th century scientists fiercely adopted mechanical objectivity, suppressing personal judgment in favor of pure representation.
This clashed with prior virtues like truth to nature and trained judgment, showing objectivity's historical context.
insights INSIGHT
Objectivity and Subjectivity Intertwined
Objectivity presupposes distinct forms of subjectivity tightly linked to different scientific virtues.
Scientific images reflect the scientists' stance on subjectivity and objectivity across history.
Get the Snipd Podcast app to discover more snips from this episode
In *Objectivity*, Lorraine Daston and Peter Galison chart the emergence of objectivity in the mid-nineteenth-century sciences and show how the concept differs from alternatives such as truth-to-nature and trained judgment. The book uses scientific atlases to uncover a hidden history of scientific objectivity and its rivals, highlighting how different epistemic virtues have shaped scientific practices and the identity of scientists over time. It is a deeply researched and beautifully illustrated work that combines historical analysis with philosophical insights, making it a significant contribution to the understanding of scientific knowledge and its moral dimensions[2][3][5].
Turns out "objectivity" has a not-so clear-cut definition across time. In this podcast, Lorraine Daston and Peter Galison to discuss their work, Objectivity(Zone Books, 2010). This work traces the historical and cultural developments of the word “objective” as it acquired different meanings and associated practices. Similarly, they consider the changing relationship of objectivity as it relates to the subjectivity of the researcher, as the “scientific self.” This deep philosophical work, diving into the cultural and historical shifts of epistemology within the past few centuries, is told through atlas making and image generation.
In this conversation, we discuss the evolving processes of research and atlas making and how they co-evolved with the fears, virtues, and ideals of the time of their emergence. Additionally, we talk about the role of the self and aesthetics in categorizing and publishing the collections of working objects in atlases. We end looking at the current trajectories of image production as they try to pragmatically predict what's to come.
Sarah Kearns (@annotated_sci) is an acquisition editor for an open scholarship publishing platform, a freelance science writer, and loves baking bread.
New Books in Science 
