From da Vinci to Cad and beyond

Don Ihde

pp. 453-467

in: Jan K. Berg Olsen, Frederik Voetmann Christiansen, Stig A. Pedersen, Søren Riis, Pelle Guldborg Hansen, Ulrik Jørgensen (eds), Technology and science, Synthese 168 (3), 2009.

Abstract

Here what I would like to accomplish is to set something of the stage from which the growing recognition of what I shall now term technoscience’s visualism—a term which can accommodate both sciences and engineering, and both imaging and design practices—takes its recognition. I shall very briefly look at the ‘godfathers and peers’ who help set this stage, and then proceed to an examination of a few moments in the development of visualism from da Vinci to computer assisted design (CAD) and beyond.