Klaus SACHS-HOMBACH 


Epistemic Functions of Pictures 
Some Conceptual Preliminaries  
 It is widely indisputable that images, beyond their much praised knowledge-imparting (didactic) functions, can also perform knowledge-promoting (epistemic) functions. An epistemic function in the narrower sense does, regarding images, essentially occur in three variants: Images can become epistemically relevant as empirical basis, for 
purposes of illustrating contexts of justification or within contexts of origination. Subsequent to a brief outline of these different  possibilities, my lecture will consider a few problems linked to said possibilities and concerning especially the correlation between visualization and genesis of knowledge. This will be closely related to the subject of pictorial rhetoric. 
Klaus SACHS-HOMBACH, born in 1957, studied philosophy, psychology and German 
language and literature at the University of Münster. After his PhD in 1990 at the University of Münster and his habilitation in 2003 at the University of Magdeburg he was appointed professor of philosophy, focussed on cognitive science, at the TU Chemnitz in 2007. Since 
October 2011, he holds the chair of media studies 
at the University of Tübingen. Some main publications: Philosophische Psychologie im 19. Jahrhundert, Freiburg: Alber, 1993; Das Bild als kommunikatives Medium: Elemente einer allgemeinen 
Bildwissenschaft, Köln: Halem, 2003; Was ist Bildkompetenz? Wiesbaden: DUV, 2003 (as editor); 
Wege zur Bildwissenschaft: Interviews, Köln: Halem, 2004;  Bildwissenschaft zwischen 
Reflexion und Anwendung, Köln: Halem, 2005 (as editor); Bild und Medium: Kunstgeschichtliche und philosophische Grundlagen der interdisziplinären Bildwissenschaft, 
Köln: Halem, 2006 (as editor);  Bildwissenschaft: Disziplinen, Themen und Methoden, 
Frankfurt/Main: Suhrkamp, 2005 (as editor); Bildtheorien: Anthropologische und kulturelle Grundlagen des visualistic turn, Frankfurt/Main: Suhrkamp, 2009 (as editor); Origins of Pictures, Köln: Halem, 2013 (as editor, with Jörg Schirra). E-mail: klaus.sachshombach@uni-tuebingen.de.




Balázs BALOGH 
The Role & Possibilities of Visual Skills  
in a Technology-Driven Architecture
  
 Since the earliest times visuality had a uniquely respected role in architecture, always  
dependent on the global and local changes. 
▪ What is required to be investigated if we speak about them? 
▪ Changes became unbelievably and unfollowably fast in our age, and at the same time 
the most typical fact is uncertainty. 
▪ All of these indicate the rethinking of the human in technology-driven architecture. 
▪ What means the greatest change in architecture turning into mass-product of the construction, what is the greatest challenge, how is it possible to overcome them and where 
is the position of the visual skills in these processes? 
▪ To balance the above mentioned components, to find a real way to achieve the real 
answer, these are the goals of the presentation. 


Balázs BALOGH, Dr. habil., DLA, Architect, is Professor and 
Head of the Department of Design, Faculty of Architecture at Budapest University of Technology and Economics.  
E-mail: bbalogh@goliat.eik.bme.hu.




Norma B. GOETHE 
Reasoning about Form, Shape & Structure

 The fact that formal languages play an important role in modern mathematics
supports the view that all mathematical argument could be expressed in a single logical
idiom leading to homogeneous, canonical understanding of form, shape and structure. In
my presentation I will revisit some of the critics’ reasons why such view fails to capture
fundamental aspects of mathematical practice, in particular, our capacity to learn imagining what we don´t know by using notations, diagrams and other modes of representation
that play a shaping role for thought.
Norma B. GOETHE is University Professor of Philosophy (School of Philosophy, National University of Cordoba, Argentina). She studied philosophy, logic and epistemology of the sciences in Cordoba (National University
of Cordoba) and Munich (LMU). She did her doctoral and postdoctoral research at Harvard University, Philosophy Department. Her
research focuses on the study of Leibniz in the context of a broader
interest in the philosophy and history of the formal sciences. E-mail:
ngoethe@ffyh.unc.edu.ar.

Daniel IRRGANG 

Diagrammatics as a Mode between Gedankenexperiment 
 and Thinking Medium

 Diagrams are ‘epistemic things‘ (Hans-Jörg Rheinberger) in particular: they show
the structure and relation behind the phenomenal surface of the referred object or, more
precisely, they constitute a hypothesis on the structure through displaying the reasoning
processes that led to the structure in its specific form. Charles Sanders Peirce describes
these reasoning processes through diagrams as diagrammatic reasoning. According to
him, an icon (including the subclass ‘diagrams‘) does not only represent its object but
configurates it in a specific way. This statement is especially true for diagrams, because
their represented structures are hypothetical ones. Through the reconfiguration of diagrams, as mental operations or as sketches on a piece of paper, new hypotheses about the
object can be tested and modulated, and at the same time new knowledge generated. In
this sense, diagrammatic operations and Diagrammatology (Frederik Stjernfelt) can be
described as vital dimensions of a theory of gedankenexperiment (thought experiment) in
general. The aim of the presentation is to present diagrams as (re-)thinking mediums in
sciences and arts by discussing diagrammatic sketches of Charles Darwin, Jean-François
Lyotard and George Maciunas.
Daniel Irrgang (DE) is a doctoral student at Berlin University of the Arts (UdK) and a
researcher in the project ‘Archaeology/Variantology‘ of the Media (co-editor of vol. 4 and 5 of Variantology – On Deep Time
Relations of Arts, Sciences and Technologies). In 2011 he completed his studies in Communication for Business and Society
(MA). Currently he is writing his doctoral thesis about Diagrammatics as a Cultura experimentalis, supervised by Prof. Siegfried
Zielinski (chair for media theory) at the UdK, where he also
teaches. He is a co-founder (2006) of the communication agency
‘AFKM‘, working on mediarelated projects. E-mail: irrgang@
medienhaus.udk-berlin.de.

Frederik STJERNFELT 
Peirce’s Notion of Diagrammatical Reasoning
 
 The paper will present Peirce's notions of diagram and diagrammatical reasoning
as centerpieces of his mature theory of signs. Diagrams are complex signs, a structural
subset of icons, the relations of whose parts mirror the relations of some of the parts of
their objects. This makes possible diagrammatical reasoning: the manipulation of diagram parts after certain rules may give access to new knowledge about the object. Diagrams are basically iconic, aided by general symbolic rules for their manipulation and indices for their object reference.
Frederik STJERNFELT, born 1957, is professor at the
Center for Semiotics, Aarhus University. Recent publications include  Diagrammatology (Springer 2007),  Semiotics: Critical Concept in Linguistics, I–IV (ed. with P.
Bundgaard, Routledge 2010);  The Democratic Contradictions of Multiculturalism (with J.-M. Eriksen, Telos
Press 2012). E-mail: semfelt@hum.au.dk.

Gábor PALLÓ 
The Tacit Image: 
Michael Polanyi Revisited 
  
In 1970 Michael Polanyi published a study on paintings. By that time he built up a coherent philosophy based on the philosophy of science. He worked out his particular conceptual system and extended it to various fields, including the field of arts. Gestalt psychology rendered the core of this system. 

Reflecting on some seminal works of his times, including Rudolf Arnheim, Ernst Gombrich, and others, Polanyi interpreted paintings by his generalized psychology of knowing. The paper shows the mechanism of this theory, its connections with embodiment, convictions, belief and transcendence, and Polanyi’s contribution to the non-positivist transformation of the philosophy of science that started in the late 1950s and early 1960s. 



Prof. Gábor PALLÓ, 1942 (PhD 1976, Technical University of Budapest),  DSc, is Senior Consultant at the Visual Learning Lab, Budapest University of Technology and Economics. 

His fields of research include history of chemistry and physics, 20th-century history of natural sciences in Hungary, philosophy of science, 
history of migration of scientists, the relationship between science, politics and philosophy. Some recent publications:  Zsenialitás és korszellem  [Genius and Zeitgeist], 

Budapest: Áron Kiadó, 2004; 
“The Advantage and Disadvantage of Peripheral Ignorance: The 
Gas Adsorption Controversy”, Ambix, vol. 57, no. 2, July 2010, pp. 
216–30. E-mail: Gabor.Pallo@ella.hu.



György SZABÓ 
Digital Cities – Reality, Vision, Cognition, Virtuality

 The digital city metaphor has been used in several contexts that are slightly connected. The digital city can be a representation of reality, it may be an IT infrastructure or
even a virtual community. The recent development of positioning, imaging and infocommunication technology – as a byproduct – has produced an enormous amount of continuously generated instant data that can be used to describe, register and analyze the
human environment. The bottleneck of the digital city solutions is the management of the
Petabyte range of information. The most efficient way of communication is the synthesis
and aggregation of mass data in a structured, iconic graphic map form. The cartographic
representation as a “language of the eye” constitutes a basic sign system for storing, understanding and communicating spatial information. The iconic turn, the increasing need
of efficient visualization of mass data requires the complex analysis of the geometrical,
graphical, semantical, ontological representations of geospatial phenomena. In the present
paper we analyze the visual communication requirements of digital cities, and compare
the traditional precision-oriented geometrical map representations with the cognitive
mental model of the depicted geographic space.
György SZABÓ is associate professor in geomatics engineering at the Faculty of Civil
Engineering of Budapest University of Technology and
Economics, where he teaches subjects in geospatial information science and technology for civil engineers,
environment engineers, technical managers and economists. He received his PhD in geosciences and MSc in
civil engineering from Budapest University of Technology and Economics, Hungary. His research interest covers the wide spectrum of geospatial and engineering
fields – data collection, spatial database systems, digital
cartography, geo visualization and urban modeling. He is
author and co-author of five books and numerous research papers on geographical information science. E-mail: gyszabo@eik.bme.hu.


James E. KATZ – Daniel HALPERN


Is a Tour Worth a Thousand Clicks? 
Visual Information Processing as Affected by Spatial Abilities  and Individual Differences in a Museum Environment 


Since the introduction of interactive multimedia, 3D representations and rich hypermedia annotations, the use of immersive Virtual Reality (VR) technologies has entered the educational and cultural domains. 

Museums in particular have tried to adopt these technologies to advance their educational mission via visitor learning, including those who visit their websites and, where offered, visual tours. Through computer generated environments that combine various forms of augmented reality, museums (and many other educational institutions) have started to develop immersive environments for presenting their collections. This type of immersive learning has a valuable role in motivating and empowering students to learn about art, history and even objects that never have existed or no longer do. However, its navigational demands could cause some individuals to become disoriented and become frustrated due to navigational difficulties and problems manipulating software objects. Research  indicates that to navigate successfully, 
users should rely on spatial navigation skills and must plan their movements using a spatial frame of reference, making them places where spatial ability has an impact on performance. This talk presents the results of  a study that investigates the interaction of spatial abilities with two-dimensional and virtual tour applications. It does this by comparing the extent to which spatial abilities facilitate users’ navigation and engagement with the museums. The aim of this research is to empirically investigate whether spatial 
abilities have an effect on learning across different instances of 2D and virtual reality displays.

 The results of the research have implications for the design of digital collections and for the role of visualization as a mode of representation in museums. By extension these implications spill over to areas including formal and voluntary learning as well as the role of visual material in online environments. 


James E. KATZ,  , is Board of Governors Professor of Communication at Rutgers University. Currently he is on leave to direct the division of Emerging Media Studies at Boston University where he is also establishing a new 
doctoral program. Currently Prof. Katz is investigating how personal communication technologies, such as mobile phones and the internet, affect social relationships and how cultural values influence usage patterns of these technologies. His several books include  Perpetual Contact and  Social Consequences of Internet Use  (with Ron Rice)  and he is the author or co-author of more than 60 peer-reviewed journal articles. Among his recent  awards are the 2011 Ogburn award for career achievement  from the  American  Sociological  Association  and  the 2009 Fulbright Distinguished Chair in Twentieth Century Communications History. E-mail: j.k@ rutgers.edu.


Daniel HALPERN is an assistant professor at the Catholic University of Chile. He is the author of  El Pecado de el Rucio (2008, Catalonia) and Gestion de Crisis: Teoria y Practica de un modelo comunicacional (2010, Ril). His research has been published in different journals. In 2008 he received a Fulbright Scholarship to do his PhD at Rutgers, where he is finishing his dissertation. E-mail: halperndaniel@gmail.com.




Barry SMITH 

Diagrams and Time 

Diagrams can be used in ways which parallel the different types of utterances recognized in classical speech act theory. A musical score, for example, can be used as a set of instructions for performance; or it can be used in marked-up form by a student of 
music to record her errors when performing. An architectural blueprint can be used as a set of instructions for building a building; but it can then later be used as a plan of the completed building or, in marked-up form, as a record of the work performed. But diagrams are able to perform such functions only if their users have a coordinated type of expertise. A musical score is as inert if there are not performers who have the expertise 

needed to follow its instructions. Our topic here is such diagrammatic expertise; its varieties (for instance the distributed expertise that is involved when a conductor conducts an 
orchestra); and its relation to time. We shall argue that in very many spheres our grasp of the processes unfolding in reality is mediated through diagrammatic expertise, and draw consequences for our understanding of phenomena such as music, planning, and law. 

Barry SMITH  is a prominent contributor to both theoretical and applied research in ontology. He is the author of some 500 publications on ontology and related topics, and editor of The Monist: An International Quarterly Journal of General Philosophical Inquiry. His research has been funded by the National Institutes of Health, the US, Swiss and Austrian National Science Foundations, the US Department of Defense, the Volkswagen Foundation, and 
the European Union. In 2002 he received the 2 million Euro Wolfgang Paul Award of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation.

In 2010 he was awarded the Paolo Bozzi Prize in Ontology by the 
University of Turin. Smith is SUNY Distinguished Professor in the 
Department of Philosophy and Director of the National Center for 
Ontological Research. He is also Adjunct Professor in the Departments of Neurology and of Computer Science. Smith is one of the principal scientists of 
the NIH National Center for Biomedical Ontology, a Scientific Advisor to the Gene 
Ontology Consortium, and a PI on the Protein Ontology and Infectious Disease Ontology 
projects. He also serves as consultant on multiple ontology-related projects in the defense 
and other areas. Smith’s pioneering work on the science of ontology led to the formation 
of the OBO (Open Biomedical Ontologies) Foundry, a set of resources designed to support information-driven research in biology and biomedicine. He is also leads work on 
the Basic Formal Ontology, which serves as common architecture for the OBO Foundry 
ontologies and is used in over 100 research projects throughout the world. E-mail: 
phismith@buffalo.edu.